The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose (Darling Dahlias #3) by Susan Wittig Albert (Berkley Prime Crime hardcover, 4 September 2012).
Just in time for the Confederate Day celebration, the Darling
Dahlias are ready to plant Confederate roses along the fence of the town
cemetery. Of course, Miss Dorothy Rogers, club member and town
librarian, would be quick to point out the plant is in fact a hibiscus.
The
Confederate rose is not the only thing that is not what it first
appears to be in this small Southern town. Earle Scroggins, the county
treasurer, has got the sheriff thinking that Scroggins' employee Verna
Tidwell (also the Darling Dahlias’ trusted treasurer) is behind a
missing $15,000. But Darling Dahlias president Liz Lacy is determined to
prove Verna is not a thief.
Meanwhile Miss Rogers
has discovered her own mystery—what appears to be a secret code
embroidered under the cover of a pillow, the only possession she has
from her grandmother. She enlists the help of a local newspaperman, who
begins to suspect the family heirloom may have larger significance.
With
missing money, secret codes, and the very strange behavior of one
resident, Darling, Alabama, on the eve of Confederate Day, is anything
but a sleepy little town...
***
Paris
Breathtakingly beautiful, the City of Light seduces the
senses, its cobbled streets thrumming with possibility. For American
Cade Corey, it's a dream come true, if only she can get one infuriating
French chocolatier to sign on the dotted line. . .
Chocolate
Melting,
yielding yet firm, exotic, its secrets are intimately known to Sylvain
Marquis. But turn them over to a brash American waving a fistful of
dollars? Jamais. Not unless there's something much more delectable on
the table. . .
Stolen Pleasure
Whether confections taken from a locked shop or kisses in the dark, is there anything sweeter?
***
The Ninth Step by Grant Jerkins (Berkley Prime Crime trade paperback, 4 September 2012).
Helen is a recovering alcoholic struggling through a twelve-step
program. Now it’s time to make amends for a crime she got away with—a
hit and run accident that killed the wife of school teacher Edgar
Woolrich. It’s time to face the consequences. When she finally gathers
the courage to meet him, the ninth step begins with a lie—the first of
many as their relationship grows, and Helen knows it’s far too late to
reveal the truth to a man she’s come to love. Then one day, she receives
an anonymous note: Does he know you killed his wife?
Now her devastating trail of deceit is about to lead her into the darkest place so far—that of other people’s secrets…
***
There was something about Ellie…Something dangerous. Charismatic.
Broken. Jake looked out for her. Sarah followed her lead. And Jess kept
her distance—and kept watch.
Now Ellie’s dead, and Jake, Sarah, and
Jess are left to pick up the pieces. All they have are thirty-four
clues she left behind. Thirty-four strips of paper hidden in a box
beneath her bed. Thirty-four secrets of a brief and painful life.
Jake, Sarah, and Jess all feel responsible for what happened to Ellie,
and all three have secrets of their own. As they confront the past, they
will discover not only the darkest truths about themselves, but also
what Ellie herself had been hiding all along….
***
In Badlands National Park, there is a desolate area the Lakota refer to
as the Stronghold. General Custer called it hell on earth. During World
War II, the Army Air Corps used it as a bombing range. At the end of the
war, many unexploded ordnances were swallowed up in its sweltering
sands. But that’s not all that’s buried there…
Sixty-five years
after the war, the Sioux tribe has contracted an ordnance removal
company to defuse any remaining ammunition in the Stronghold. When the
company finds a human arm near a live bomb, Tanno and the Tribal police
are called to investigate. As the body is exhumed, two more are
discovered. The remains are close together, but the murders were decades
apart—and the story behind them is about to blow up…
***
