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What inspired me to write the Witherston Murder Mystery series? My love for the north Georgia mountains, where the Cherokee people lived for a thousand years. I wanted to write a series of mysteries that would stimulate my readers intellectually, give them insight into the history of the southern Appalachians, and make them smile.
I retired from the University of Georgia after thirty-eight years, during which time I published books in the fields of literature, poetry translation (from Spanish), history of ideas, politics, ecology, and art. My most recent non-academic books are Conversations with Cosmo: At Home with an African Grey Parrot (2010), published by Sherman Asher Publishing, and four Witherston Murder Mysteries: Downstream, Fairfield's Auction, Dam Witherston, and Saxxons in Witherston, published by Black Opal Books. Fairfield's Auction won a first place in the category of Murder and Mayhem in the 2018 Chanticleer International Book Awards. Dam Witherston received an Honorable Mention in the Mysteries category of the 2017 Royal Dragonfly Book Awards and a Distinguished Favorite in Mystery in the 2018 Independent Press Awards. My latest novel Aldo, a suspense mystery, was published by Black Opal Books in 2018.
Reviewed by Anne-Marie Reynolds for Readers' Favorite
Dam Witherston by Betty Jean Craige is A Witherston Murder Mystery. Revenge and greed prevail in this dark tale as a stranger by the name of Donna Dam begins a blackmail campaign against a prominent attorney and the Mayor of Witherston over something that happened forty years earlier. The mayor is planning to dam a stream and build a recreational lake on top of an ancient Cherokee burial ground. The blackmailer wants money and for both to take paternity tests, as well as the lake project stopped. An explosion leads to murder and the finger is pointed firmly in one direction. Detective Mev Arroyo takes up the investigation with her teenage sons, but what they begin to uncover puts their own lives in danger.
Dam Witherston: A Witherston Murder Mystery by Betty Jean Craige was a good read. I believe it is the third book in a series, but I have not read the first two. However, that didn’t spoil my enjoyment of the story and I found it full of enough detail to ensure that I didn’t miss out on anything. The story itself was well written, a neat mystery with plenty of twists and turns to keep me interested in reading. It is a fascinating tale, something different for this genre which was a refreshing change. The characters were developed to the stage where I felt as though I could identify with them and they fitted into the story very well. This is an exceptionally well-crafted tale of mayhem, murder, and blackmail, a story that I would recommend to any fan of the murder mystery genre and one that I guarantee any reader will thoroughly enjoy.
