The Ballad Novels by Sharyn McCrumb

Spencer Arrowood, an Appalachian sheriff, in the Appalachian Ballad series, solves crime in the North Carolina/Tennessee mountains. These books include: If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-o, The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter,  She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, which deal with the issue of the vanishing wilderness; The Ballad of Frankie Silver, the first woman hanged for murder in North Carolina; The Songcatcher, a genealogy in music; and Ghost Riders, an account of the Civil War in the Appalachian Mountains.

The newest book out in the Ballad series, The Devil Amongst The Lawyers, comes out this month.  In 1935, an Appalachian schoolteacher goes on trial for the murder of her father.
Sharyn McCrumb has won, Nero, Anthony, Macivity, and Agatha awards for her Ballad Series.