Review: Great Southern Story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 8, 2014
“Sugar in my Whiskey” by Duncan McGonall is a charming and highly entertaining novel, a mystery and a comedy of manners, errors and misunderstandings. It is set in Maogupsie County, a small and rural place in the South of the US where people go back a long way and where they know each other’s business – or at least they appear to know it.The Pilkermans, a family of established distillers, are at the centre of our plot which unfolds gradually after a warrant is brought to the family’s door step. This sets in motion a hilarious trail of investigation, speculation, gossip and truths being told.McGonall wrote this story in original and authentic sounding southern slang which adds to the charm of the book, even though for me personally, for whom English is a second language, it made it at times difficult to understand and got me worried that I might miss an important detail through misinterpretation of a word or meaning.There are many beautiful and laugh-out-loud moments in the story although there is some more serious and suspenseful writing. It beautifully captures the Southern soul, good and bad, the history of the place and its old-fashioned ways.It is a very enjoyable story, cleverly told with a lot of warmth, attention to descriptive detail and with a great ending.