Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Dovey Coe (Aladdin Fiction)

Dovey Coe (Aladdin Fiction)
reviewed on + 1568 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


This is a marvelously well-written story about a strong-willed North Carolina mountain girl who just 'tells it like it is.' Dovey isn't even a teen-ager yet but finds herself in jail for murdering a man--a man everyone in town knew she hated!

Dowell's novel won the EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD.

From back cover: My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it, too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn't kill him.
Dovey Coe says what's on her mind, so it's no secret that she can't stand Parnell Caraway. Parnell may be the son of the richest man in town, but he's mean and snobby, and Dovey can't stand the fact that he's courting her sister, Caroline, or the way he treats her brother, Amos, as if he were stupid just because he can't hear.
So when Parnell turns up dead, and Dovey's in the room where his body is discovered, she soon finds herself on trial for murder. Can the outspoken Dovey sit still and trust a city slicker lawyer who's still wet behind the ears to get her out of the biggest mess of her life?