The Hanging Stones

The Hanging Stones, Manly Wade Wellman, Berkley, 1982

Millionaire industrialist Noel Kottler plans to recreate Stonehenge, as it was several thousand years ago, on the top of Teatray Mountain and turn it into an amusement park. He also plans on hiring Silver John, half-troubadour, half-expert on local folklore, to sing for the tourists.

John doesn't much care for city folks like Kottler or for the whole theme park idea. The local wolf spirits are also not happy with the invasion of their mountain. John is a real threat to them, so his wife Evadare is kidnapped, and her release depends on his leaving Teatray Mountain. Once he is gone, scaring away the rest of the construction workers from the new Stonehenge will be easy. John is assisted by Esdras Hogue and Judge Keith Pursuivant, two others who know their way around the world of spirits and folklore. He goes off alone to find Evadare, and gets help from a very unexpected source.

Appalachian wizardry fantasy doesn't get much better than this. Wellman does an excellent job putting the reader right in the middle of the story. It's well done with just enough of an undercurrent of weird, and gets two strong thumbs up.