A prologue set on Tuesday, September 21, 1926 at 9:12 p.m. sets the stage for The Hollows, a mystery by Jess Montgomery, located in Ohio near a railroad track through the Appalachian hills. A barefoot old woman follows the trail through the moonlight toward the Moonvale Tunnel on the railroad track that she remembers from a time long ago with her father. Her mind returning to that earlier time brings a Friends meeting house, dancing slippers and sturdy walking shoes, and her father’s body hanging by a noose from a tree.
Chapter one begins two hours later with Sheriff Lily Ross responding to a telegram from the deputy stationmaster for the B&R Railroad line saying that someone had fallen from the top of the tunnel onto the train. Is this an accident or foul play?
Area ghost stories of long ago mingle into the present as Lily enlists help her solve the mystery from Hildy Cooper, her best friend and the jail mistress, and Marvena Whitcomb, who needs to get some gumption to stand up to an abusive husband. In the background, the sheriff’s election is coming up with Lily losing campaign time as she works the case without knowing if she can win the spot on her own since she was appointed to fill her deceased husband’s place.
The answer to the mystery will take all three women, a trip into an insane asylum where suspicions things are happening, and a look into the past. Part ghost story, part Appalachian tale, and part mystery, this is a good book for a rainy day and an easy chair.