Author Jerry Peill joins Kori on the Back Porch

What do moonshine, motorbikes, misteltoe, and mountain mystery mail have to do with funerals, folklore, feline detectives, singing hounds, and secret blueberry patches? Nothing. That is until our hero and narrator, the ultimate fish-out-of-water, British folklorist, Dr. Tom Watson, finds himself doing post doctoral research in Appalachian Virginia. At first appalled by the absurdity of the language and lifestyle of the simple mountain community of Caney Forks, Dr. Watson falls in with and under the spell of beautiful mountain conjure woman and private detective, Shirley Combs and her feline companion, “Whassup?” Together they set out to solve the little mysteries of Caney Forks as this “Dr. Watson” learns to respect mountain wisdom and culture. Part farce, part detective story, part anthropological dive into the folkways of a culture and way of life that is slipping away, The Curious Case of the Conjure Woman is a wild ride.

Jerry Piell is an author and art dealer from England.