If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O Audiobook By Sharyn McCrumb cover art

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O

By: Sharyn McCrumb
Narrated by: Sally Darling
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Written in grease pencil on a tourist postcard, the lyrics are winsome and innocent. But for famous folk singer Peggy Muryan, who has moved recently to the rural community of Hamelin, Tennessee, they are a chilling reminder of a troubled moment in her past.

©1990 Sharyn McCrumb (P)1993 Recorded Books Genre Fiction Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction
Unique Characters • Compelling Topics • Intriguing Mystery • Thoughtful Suspense • Poignant Conclusion • Lovely Singing
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I like the fact that they were hitting people in the screw way of telling what happened in 1968. I enjoyed it though.

The sheriff

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
great book kept me interested to the very end. Sharyn McCrumb is one of my favorites.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Intriguing mystery set against the backdrop of Appalachia and memories of the Vietnam war. The twining of folk songs and mountain legends and letters from a Vietnam soldier brings this tale of mystery and suspense to a poignant conclusion of self understanding.

An Intriguing Mystery

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the story, characters, and narrator. My dad is a Vietnam vet that would never discuss his experience, except with my uncle who was over at the same time as my dad. I do know he was an 18 year old kid sent into full combat, exposed to Agent Orange his entire tour. The experience shaped his early psychological life and has stolen his physical and psychological health in his later years. I felt closer to my dad hearing the experiences of the men and the people that loved them. A conversation between LaDunn (sp?) and Martha really resonated with me. LaDunn described (more eloquently than my description here 😂) how for an entire year they (the soldiers) were never able to relax, scared all of the time, never able to fully sleep, always on alert. Then they are abruptly pulled out and placed back in society to return to the person they were before they left. The author spoke to bravery, respect and tolerance in this one conversation. Bottom line, this is definitely one of my favorites.

I loved this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love Sharyn McCrumb's work. But am finding the narrator's southern accent (fake!!!) terribly difficult to hear. She is using a Deep South accent not one from East Tennessee. As a native of southwestern Virginia and a citizen in TN for 40 years, I know the difference.

Awful, awful narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the entire series, and Sally Darling is the perfect narrator. It’s a good start to a great series

compelling view of history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Sally Darling reads with a warm, down-home inflection, and I found her singing both lovely and very helpful, as I was unfamiliar with most of the ballads McCrumb referenced. Altogether , a very satisfying read.
,

Excellent reader!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
As a fan of Sharyn McCrumb's Ballad Series I was nonplussed when I noticed that the reader was Sally Darling. I had listened to her come close to ruining my two favorite books in the series and it made my choice to purchase this one more difficult than it should have been. So once the audiobook began I realized I'd been right to worry. The setting for this book is less than a hundred miles from I grew up and still live, so I know hillbilly's and the way they talk. Sally Darling sounds as though she should be reading Jane Eyre not the ballad series. I managed to endure her and get through She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket but I gave up on this one a few hours in when the story couldn't overcome the nerve jangling narrator anymore. Do yourself a favor on this one and get the print version.

Another Narrator Issue

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pretty Peggy-o has a disappointing conclusion. The vulgarity of Martha and Joe’s dinner conversation threw cold water on wishing the best for their characters. I have read other books in this same series with the Arrowwoods. I don’t recall being disappointed. I’m starting #8.

Disappointing conclusion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
"There's always a new dead girl to sing about. Always a dead girl."

3.5 stars

The characters and themes in this suspense novel were enough to keep me listening despite the weaknesses of plot. The killer was easy to guess and their motives not well-fleshed out. But the author skillfully populated her fictional Tennessee town with unique characters, using their regrets, resentments and petty revenge to explore compelling topics - casual sexism and mistreatment of women, the struggles of war veterans and the private, unsettling inner lives of ordinary people.

A thoughtfully written suspense novel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews