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Praise for the Southern Ladies mysteries “Filled with Southern charm.”— Richmond Times-Dispatch “Remind[s] me of Miss Marple if she were a Southern belle senior.”—Open Book Society “As charming as the day is long.”—MyShelf.com “James is a master at character development.”—Debbie’s Book Bag “Filled with humor [and] realistic dialogue…Excellent from beginning to end.”—Socrates’ Book Reviews Informationen zum Autor Miranda James Klappentext The New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks mysteries is back with more of those sleuthing Southern belles, the Ducote sisters... An'gel and Dickce Ducote, busy with plans for the Athena Garden Club's spring tour of grand old homes, are having trouble getting the other club members to help. The rest of the group is all a-flutter now that dashing and still-eligible Hadley Partridge is back to restore his family mansion. But the idle chatter soon turns deadly serious when a body turns up on the Partridge estate after a storm... The remains might belong to Hadley's long-lost sister-in-law, Callie, who everyone thought ran off with Hadley years ago. And if it's not Callie, who could it be? As the Ducotes begin uncovering secrets, they discover that more than one person in Athena would kill to be Mrs. Partridge. Now An'gel and Dickce will need to get their hands dirty if they hope to reveal a killer's deep-buried motives before someone else's name is mud...Chapter 1 Miss Dickce Ducote wanted a clear view of her sister An'gel's face when she broke the news. She wished there were a discreet way she could set up the video camera on her cell phone to record the moment. Then she could threaten to show it to the rest of the Athena Garden Club to annoy her sister. An'gel needed to be wound up occasionally, Dickce thought. Older sisters could get to be a little too stuffy otherwise. Miss An'gel Ducote looked up from where she knelt at the edge of the flower bed, trowel in one gloved hand, while the other hand brushed back a stray lock of gray hair. She grimaced. "What is it, Sister? You've obviously got something to tell me. You're practically bouncing on the ground." Dickce gave her a sweet smile. "I've been talking to Arliss McGonigal, and you'll never guess what she told me." She paused to make sure she had her sister's complete attention. "If you don't get on with it," An'gel said, "I'm going back to work on this bed." She brandished the trowel. "I have four more azaleas to plant here." "Hadley Partridge is back in town." Dickce watched her sister's face with avid interest. "That's not much of a surprise," An'gel replied, her tone cool and her expression unchanged. "Hamish died three weeks ago, and he had no other family besides his baby brother. Hadley's probably here to oversee the sale of Ashton Hall." Dickce had felt sure that news of an old beau's return would rattle her sister at least a tiny bit, but An'gel remained as infuriatingly unflappable as ever. "That's where you're wrong." Dickce had another round of ammunition to use. "Word is, Hadley has come home to Athena for good. He's going to restore Ashton Hall and the gardens. In fact, he's planning to be at the garden club board meeting this very afternoon." Whatever reply An'gel might have made to that news went unsaid, though Dickce did have the satisfaction of seeing a brief smile from her sister. A reddish-brown streak on four legs zipped through the space between the sisters. Hot on the cat Endora's trail came Peanut the Labradoodle. Endora came to a sudden halt about six feet away from where An'gel knelt, turned, and hissed at the dog. Peanut skidded to a stop an inch out of reach of Endora's swinging paw. Cat and dog stared at each other a moment, then Endora was off again with Peanut right behind. "They've already been around the house at leas...
