This is the most useful guide to collectable china that I have found. It is not only an exhaustive reference guide to Homer Laughlin's "Virginia Rose", but provides much information about other types of china as well. This book provides details and information that you can't find elsewhere.

The Mountain View Development Company began leveling Dismal Mountain, West Virginia in order to construct a mall. The firm bought out most residents but elderly Lizzie Neal refused to leave because this was the home of her ancestors and her parents were buried nearby. When the company sends trucks down from the mountaintop, an incident finally occurs. Lizzie's nephew Bobby Ray killed the driver who he swears fired at him first. Lizzie sets up the scene so it would seem she shot the driver.

Lizzie's nephew, transportation inspection consultant Owen Allison, comes home to visit his ailing mother and to help Lizzie. While Owen's mother recovers from cancer surgery, Sheriff Thad Reader explains to him that Lizzie's confession of being responsible appears phony. He asks Owen to try to learn the truth. As he makes some inquiries, Owen begins to uncover a dark conspiracy to fund the Dismal Mountain Project, which places his life in danger.

DISMAL MOUNTAIN is an exciting and relevant Owen Allison mystery that highlights the environmental versus economy issue. The story line is entertaining due to the strong secondary characters that help bring West Virginia alive while providing depth to Owen through his family members and his former college sweetheart. John Billheimer makes mystery reading fun (see HIGHWAY ROBBERY and THE CONTRARY BLUES for additional pleasure).

Harriet Klausner

This book looks like it's going to be a GREAT asset in my mineral hunting! I like the way it's set up, by state and then by county within the state. It lists the various sites, tells what has been found at each site and (by a code explained in the front of the book) where in each site the minerals were (in a field, in a mine, in the water, etc.). I have to say, there are places here I had absolutely NO IDEA were so close to me, and in one site where I've been prospecting, it lists at least 12 other places nearby that I knew nothing about!

There are directions of varying degrees to each site. That's the one thing I'd quibble about -- some of the directions aren't that precise. But I understand that some of these sites are private lands, or not completely documented, and he can't come out and say, "Go fifty feet past the blue house, down a ravine, and to your left." In general, the directions seem good enough to get you close, and after that it's up to you.

He lists the rocks and minerals found at each site and gives some information about the quality at most places, including size of crystals found, color (and quality of color), and so on.

My only regret? I don't know if I'll have time to visit each site he has listed! So many rocks, so little time........

Written in 1979 during her tenure as West Virginia's Poet Laureate, Louise McNeill's "Elderberry Flood" is an original, thoughtful collection of poems that reflect rural life and mountain heritage. A must-read for every West Virginian!

The book is simply wonderful. I have wanted it for some years and now I have it. The problem is with the price guide, I can't find the prices on a lot of the beautiful Fenton pieces. The price guide is very hard to use. I've had the Third Twenty-Five Years book for sometime and it's easy to locate the prices.

This Gangster Novel set in the mystical town of Glory West Virginia has had more than it's fair share of grinding corruption and poverty during the Great Depression.On April of 1935,3 men were released from the Glory Jail boarding a train but returning to Glory to the bank.They were carrying a satchel filled with $25,352 and 32 cents.That was Blood money for the corrupt bosses of that time.With an array of both good and evil characters,makes this an extrordinary eerie suspense novel in the same tradition of Davis Grubb's prior novel"The Night of the Hunter" which both books were made into movies.The movie classic"Fools Parade"1971 starring Jimmy Stewart,a young Kurt Russell (at the time rarely seen in a non-disney film) and George Kennedy has unfortunately never been released on video in the U S(maybe someday .... might carry it!)hopefully it might be released in the not so distant future! Meanwhile,enjoy the book!!Finally,thumbs way up for the late,great Moundsville-Clarksburg, West Virginia author" Davis Grubb" who has entertained millions with his captivating novels!!Good Show!!

A heartwarming story you'll want to read again and again. Imposible to put down. One of the best books you'll ever come accross.One for all ages.

As a safety and health practioner whose strongest ultra specific technical competency is in the area of respiratory protection, I was searching for this book for several weeks. I wanted to know the particulars of how several hundred workers could die within a few months - on a jobsite - and no one go to jail for such actions. I was also seeking this book for inclusion in evidence on several matters soon being brought before this country's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The book is the perfect length, as I completed it in about five evenings. Its style is very readable and offers its reader the perfect blend of research rolled into a documentary format. Because I have devoted countless hours at the National Library of Medicine, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, etc. I fully appreciate the hundreds - if not thousands - of hours Dr. Cherniak devoted to research. How many boxes in musty court record archives did he examine ? Read the book's bibliography and you will have some degree of understanding of his enormous effort. Better yet, track down the original (primary) sources and read these as well. The book provides an excellent analysis of the United States corporation involved in the project. For this reason alone, it is well worth reading.

Reading this book is like making a new acquaintance whom you're at first just curious about but in no time find yourself fiercely in love with. Life in small-town and hill-country Appalachia in the 50's and 60's is recounted with such humor, affection and deep understanding, and with such telling detail, that it becomes a bit of our own history. And the journey of Blair Ellen through the tumult of adolescence to the cusp of maturity is one we have all taken, regardless of time and place. This happens to be the first of a trilogy (I inadvertently read the last first with no impairment to my enjoyment) and after finishing each volume, I felt like Oliver Twist crying for more! more!`