WHO BLOWED UP THE CHURCHOUSE?

Another beguiling book of Ozark tales from the author of We Always Lie to Strangers, folktales in the regional idiom. There's the halfwit who chooses the penny instead of the dime so people will keep on asking him; there's a local Bluebeard; there are men who fool with the devil and others who fool with other men's wives. The tales range from pure fantasy to local yarns of homespun wit. They are all folk, funny and told deadpan as true stories. Bibliography and sources, with notes indicating parallels in other folklore add to the scholarly value, while the gusto and bang of the story tellings, the richness of local vernacular, give them wide popular appeal.