The PMS Outlaws

Elizabeth MacPherson #9

by Sharyn McCrumb

Hospitalized for depression over her missing husband, forensic anthropologist Elizabeth MacPherson is pleased to discover that insanity liberates one from polite hypocrisy. Out in the real world, Elizabeth’s brother, Bill, has bought a stately old mansion to use as his law office, only to find that the house comes with a charming codger-in-residence who is far too old to be a dangerous outlaw...isn’t he? Meanwhile, Bill’s law partner is trying to track down the PMS Outlaws—an escaped convict and her fugitive attorney—who are cruising pickup joints and wreaking a peculiar vengeance on lust-crazed men.
Sharon McCrumb’s incisive wit and her genius for mirroring everyday life are once again on full display. The PMS Outlaws is an outrageous parable of modern mores—“a story of disparate parts that come together in a most satisfying way.”

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery, Suspense, Southern

312 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 9, 2000

About the author

​
    Sharyn McCrumb, an award-winning Southern writer, is best known for her Appalachian “Ballad” novels, including the New York Times best sellers The Ballad of Tom Dooley, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and The Songcatcher. Ghost Riders, which won the Wilma Dykeman Award for Literature from the East Tennessee Historical Society and the national Audie Award for Best Recorded Books. The Unquiet Grave, a well-researched novel about West Virginia's Greenbrier Ghost, will be published in September by Atria, a division of Simon &Schuster.        
       Sharyn McCrumb, named a Virginia Woman of History by the Library of Virginia and a Woman of the Arts by the national Daughters of the American Revolution,  was awarded the Mary Hobson Prize for Arts & Letters in 2014. Her books have been named New York Times and Los Angeles Times Notable Books. In addition to presenting programs at universities, libraries, and other organizations throughout the US, Sharyn McCrumb has taught a writers workshop in Paris, and served as writer-in-residence at King University in Tennessee, and at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York.

Reviews

[readinger · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lawyer and her client are blazing a trail of misplaced revenge from state to state and attorney A.P. Hill is hot on their tails. Meanwhile, her partner Bill MacPherson has just purchased an old mansion for them to use as an office/home. The grand house comes complete with a shed, a chandelier, and the last owner. And then there’s Bill’s sister, Elizabeth. Suffering from depression after her husband goes missing at sea, Elizabeth checks herself into a mental hospital.

So there you have it, three plotlines. Do they tie together? Barely. To me, it seemed as though they were three weak short stories that the author couldn’t make work so she threw them together for a book. The revenge plotline could have been amusing (wannabe Romeos left to be found the next day minus their wallets and clothes) if only more time had been taken to develop it. Elizabeth’s stay at the mental hospital falls flat as most of this line is given to her and the other patients meandering drone mostly about the role of beauty in society. The most entertaining of the three lines surrounds the purchase of the mansion. To redecorate or not redecorate, that is the question. But that is really just a ploy to gather information. The most pressing question for me was “What is that old man doing with all that sugar?”

I’ve read some of Sharyn McCrumb’s work before. I love her Ballad series set in the North Carolina Appalachian Mountains. This is the first of the Elizabeth MacPherson series for me. Sad thing is I started with #9 of the series. I hate doing that. I want to start with #1. But I didn’t realize it until after I was done. Did that have something to do with why I felt this was so lackluster? Perhaps. If I had started at the beginning of the series I may have felt more vested. Or maybe I wouldn’t have made it this far. Who knows?

One thing that really irked me was the way A.P. Hill was addressed throughout the book. A.P. Hill did this. A.P. Hill did that. Who refers to their friends by their full name? Maybe it didn’t happen all the time but it was way too much and enough that I can’t remember four times when she wasn’t referred to as A.P. Hill.

With three lackluster plotlines that don’t really mesh I’m going to give this one a 2.5 on my bookometer. I think I’ll go back to her Ballad series.

[Vilo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a different side of Sharyn McCrumb, still rather satirical. Good mystery, people you want to hang out with more, and it validates my opinion that a mystery is the best cure for depression. If you like to read series in order, try Sick of Shadows first and work your way up (another favorite is If I'd Killed Him When I Met Him).

[Nancy Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our most recent read-aloud story. Humorous and moves along quickly. Flips quickly and smoothly between characters' povs and holds your interest. Ending is rather clever and unexpected. Fun summer read.

[Phil · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this one a little less but I think that's because I have always known fairly decent men in my life. I've been fairly sheltered I guess in that respect but I see no need to take "revenge" on men in general simply because they are men.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Light, entertaining, silly. I much prefer McCrumb’s Songcatcher series.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#9 in the Elizabeth MacPherson series.

Elizabeth MacPherson series - When we join MacPherson, she has just checked into the Cherry Hill Psychiatric Hospital to deal with depression brought on by the death of her husband. Meanwhile, struggling Virginia lawyer Bill MacPherson, Elizabeth's brother, has purchased an old mansion for his law firm's upscale office. The mansion comes with a catch: the elderly man who originally built the house (with apparently dubious funds) is still living on the sun porch. As Bill works out the real estate deal, his law partner, A.P. Powell, disappears to chase clues about the newly infamous PMS Outlaws, who have been stealing money from men and leaving them handcuffed in compromising positions. While the novel's many eccentric characters never fail to entertain, the mystery of the old man is little more than a distraction, both for the reader and for Elizabeth. As for the PMS Outlaws, they are completely transparent in their motivations: they want to get money and cut men down to size.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled across this book at BAM on clearance and I won't lie... I bought it because of the title. (And the fact that it was marked way down.) I didn't pay enough attention to the fact that it was part of a series.
I think I read this book in about a night and I really liked it but I was young and didn't really pay attention to the author's name so it wasn't til 8-10 years later that I ever read any of the earlier MacPherson novels and they just didn't stand up to the remembrance I had of this one. I was actually going to re-read this novel before I finally donated it after years of having it, but sadly, the other books by McCrumb left me bored and to keep the favorable impressions that I had of "The PMS Outlaws" so I gave it away without re-reading it.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first Elizabeth McPherson mystery and I found that Sharyn McCrumb's characters were real. They had depth. Although it might be a little unrealistic to think that Elizabeth was trying to solve a mystery from a mental institution. It was interesting to see her work through her problems after the death of her husband and granted a month was fast but all-in-all the issues being faced were pretty real. Also the story of the PMS Outlaws - an attorney and an escaped con kept moving toward A.P. Hill, Bill McPherson's (Elizabeth's brother) law partner.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Sharyn McCrumb's work.This book was a definite change from what I had been reading of her books. It seems to go into a more modern, faster flowing reading; that made a humorous journey through insanity, obsessiveness, lawyers, convicts and mystery, a journey worth taking.

[Nolan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the final book in the Elizabeth MacPherson series, and wow, is that ever a good thing! I found it mostly pointless and boring, and it almost felt like the author just wanted it to whimper into silly-plot obscurity.

Forensic Geologist Elizabeth MacPherson has committed herself to a mental hospital to get help with her intense grief over the loss of her husband, a Scottish marine biologist who presumably drowned in the North Atlantic.

MacPherson’s brother, Bill, is moving his law office to a stately mansion he bought. The mansion came with a permanent house guest, the 92-year-old original owner of the place.

Bill’s partner Amy Powell Hill, is in Richmond on some decent-paying cases when she reads about two women nicknamed the PMS outlaws who pick up sex-starved men in various places, give them just the tiniest hint of a sex buzz, incapacitate them with handcuffs and whatever else comes to mind, and take their money. One woman is a Richmond lawyer; the other a prisoner who escaped prison with the lawyer’s help.

These plots all come together in what feels like a raggedy-jaggedly way. But the book falls far short in the humor department of the first book or two in the series. Those were almost blinding in their effervescence and great writing that evoked loud laughter in a place or two. When I think of this series, it’s those early books I’ll remember. This one was mercifully quick; I blew through it between six and nine p.m. tonight. I even stayed awake! How’s that for book-review-writing discipline! But I can’t in good faith recommend it to you, and I won’t ever read it again.

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I definitely liked the earlier books in this series, which I read when I was closer to Elizabeth's age in them, much better than I did these last few. I'm always a bit sad when a series ends but I think I'm good with there not being any more books in this one.

The story itself was fine - Elizabeth has checked herself into a mental hospital to deal with the disappearance/presumed death of her husband. I wasn't sure how that would lead to her solving an anthropological case so I did like how McCrumb tied that in with the help of obnoxious cousin Jeffrey.

I've enjoyed that these last couple of books seemed to have focused more on Elizabeth's brother Bill and his partner trying to get a new law office off the ground and this was no exception. A.P. is on the trail of two women calling themselves the PMS Outlaws, exacting revenge for old college debts, and Bill is left to renovate the mansion he has purchased for their new offices, which comes with an elderly man who still thinks he lives there. Not sure why as a lawyer it didn't occur to Bill to start the eviction process but maybe this is why A.P. gets the high dollar cases and Bill decorates mansions...

I did like how Elizabeth's stay at Cherry Hill (the family mental institution of choice) tied in with Bill's unexpected tenant and Elizabeth's denial and then anguish at having to come to terms with being a 20-something year old widow was relatable (been there, done that) but I liked her character in the earlier books much better - maybe because I related more to her when I was her age than I do now that I'm old enough to be her mother.

[Deb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Sharon McCrumb's Appalachian tales, but this is the only Elizabeth MacPherson I have so far read.
Elizabeth is coping with the loss of her husband in a boating accident. Or rather, not coping, since she clings to the false hope that Cameron will magically reappear, with apologies and a loving promise to never do something so stupid again. Her therapist sends her to Cherry Hill, a treatment center for the mentally ill. There, Elizabeth falls into the odd community and its routines.
Elsewhere, Elizabeth's brother Bill, a lawyer in Danville, VA, has been nudged by his distracted partner A.P. Hill to buy a house they can use as a more impressive set of offices. He stumbles into the Dolan estate, which turns out to be available for a song... except it comes with the ninety-years-old former owner, Jack Dolan, who seems likely to drop over imminently, and whom Bill can't bring himself to evict.
When an old college acquaintance of A.P.'s, P.J. Purdue, breaks a client out of jail, and goes on a revenge spree against men who think with the wrong part of their bodies, A.P. is distracted into the idea of helping Purdue not ruin her life. At Cherry Hill, Elizabeth meets a former lawman who claims still-operator Jack Dolan died in the 1950s. And Old Jack seems to be going through an awful lot of sugar... The threads all come together in the end.
I found this mildly funny, occasionally sad, and mostly a pleasant way to waste my time for a few days. Not what I expected from Sharon McCrumb. I prefer her folktales mingled with real history. Oh well.

[LyndaIn Oregon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharyn McCrumb has a facility for coming up with wonderful, zany titles, and “The PMS Outlaws” is right up there with “Bimbos of the Death Sun” and “If I’d Killed Him When I Met Him”.

Unfortunately, the stories that unroll under these titles often resemble what comes up on the screen after you click on “What they found in this trash bin will astound you!”, and “The PMS Outlaws”, unfortunately, pretty much falls into that category.

Elizabeth MacPherson, McCrumb’s amateur-sleuth / forensic anthropologist heroine is among the main characters (in fact the book is billed as “an Elizabeth MacPherson novel”), but for most of it, she’s a medicated zombie, locked into denial about the disappearance of her husband. (No, the book doesn’t deal with his disappearance, or end with him being discovered amnesiac but healthy in the Orkney Isles.) MacPherson’s brother’s law partner carries most of the story, as she gets involved with the titular bandits – a couple of young women who lure horny but unsuspecting men into embarrassing situations before taking off with their possessions.

Things don’t begin to come together until the halfway point of the book, and then they depend on ever more unlikely coincidences to draw things to their more-or-less resolution.

The best thing about this book is that it doesn’t require much of your time. It would be an okay companion on a cross-country flight or in the waiting room at the maternity ward. But don’t expect much beyond that.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book immensely! My favorite parts of the story were scenes with Emma O, the Aspergers patient that Elizabeth met. To most readers, this character was easily overlooked but this was the first book I ever read that had an Aspergers character. This is super important since I am too an Aspie!! I appreciated and loved Ms. McCrumb's description of Aspergers and I was able to share it with my best friend who now completely understands my quirkiness. I even showed the description to my therapist and she agreed that it is very accurate. My mom gave me this book when I was 16 and it has stayed in my personal library since. A must read for everyone!!

[William Howle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was a fun read, several stories intertwined to make a novel. If you don't like a book that jumps from one story to another without warning, then this is not the book for you. There was an interesting definition of friendship, " Try asking someone to do something extremely inconvenient for an insane reason, and they do it, they're your friend " I have enjoyed previous books by her set in the hills of NC and TN.

[Mary Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Sharon McCrumb's Applachian ballad series, but I did not like this novel as much. The plot may have made more sense if I had read the previous eight books in the series instead of beginning with the ninth. The plot didn't seem well planned, and the characters weren't developed well either. Again, I may have understood the story better if I had read the previous books in the story. I did find parts of the story humorous and enjoyed Sharon McCrumb's writing style.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Time Reader of Sharyn McCrumb

This was our local book club’s selection for this month. Our book club has chosen all Virginia authors to read this year. I enjoyed the book and the story line was good. Some of the characters’ stories seemed somewhat disjointed and hastily brought to conclusion but otherwise it was an easy read and entertained me.

[Terry Polston · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little chaotic but it keeps you engaged. Elizabeth in a facility due to her depression brought on by her husband's death. Bill buys an estate that comes with a 92 year old. A.P. Hill trying to find an old frenemy who is on a man hating spree with a felin she helped escape
Everything seems disparate but it does all come together.
Funny that the 92 yo is the biggest a-hole in the story

[Tommie Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous book. I think it is the last of the Elizabeth MacPherson book. I don't know what could be a better finish to that body of work. I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. Couldn't put it down

[Clyde · Rating 4 out of 5]

good, several giggles!!

[Beth E · Rating 1 out of 5]

Depressing book.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several stories were going on at once. This is #9 in an interesting series. I am looking forward to reading more about these people.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my 11 best mysteries read in 2000.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is hard to describe this book. No big truths to tell, just a quick fun read.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sharyn McCrumb is one of my fav authors, but I prefer her ballad series. This is a fun book, give it a try.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun but jumped around too much, a bit schizoid, as it were!

[Merle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story. A lot of quirky characters, the mystery and humor.

[Shawn Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty entertaining, however, I don't like all the back and forth between characters. she does bring it all together at the end.

[Nate Steblay · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 ⭐️ cousin Geoffrey is the goat

[Becky Holum-B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange collection of characters. OK light read.