Best-selling mystery
author and my good friend Susan Wittig Albert is offering an autographed ARC
(advance reading copy) of her new book, Darling
Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover, exclusive to readers of this blog. Leave a
comment, and Susan will use a blind number system to choose a winner. Hey, I’m
just the middleman here, but glad to do it. Susan’s a wonderful writer, and the
Darling Dahlias is a terrific series.
Take a nostalgia
trip back to 1934. FDR is in the
White House, the New Deal is in full swing, and Prohibition has finally been
repealed. In Darling, Alabama, ladies of the local garden club aren’t afraid to
dig a little dirt if that’s what it takes to cultivate a mystery. A string of
bad luck may have ended for Darling’s favorite barbershop quartet—just when the
Dixie Regional Barbershop Competition is about to take place. To complicate
things, there’s a serious foul-up in Darling’s telephone system. The town’s
party lines may have to go out of business, which would be bad news for the
gossips.
This is a charming story of richly human characters who face
the Great Depression with courage and grace. Albert reminds us that friends
offer the best of themselves to each other, community is what holds us
together, and luck is what you make of it. Traditional southern pie recipes (and a little cookery history)
included!
And my brag: I got
a new fan today. I’ve been exchanging emails about rescuing feral cats with a
neighbor I’ve never met. She’s given me great material for a piece for the
neighborhood newsletter that I edit. But today, she happened to read the slug
line after my signature—it hawks one of my books, Murder at the Bus Depot. She wrote that she’s going to
buy it right away. I thanked her and suggested it’s part of a series, and I
also have a series set right here in our part of the city. She said she’s going
to order them all. I may hire her as a publicist! But it’s proof those tag
lines work.
And a meatloaf
note: I had the best meatloaf ever last night at the Tavern on Hulen. Menu says
the Monday night special is made with USDA Prime. Served with buttery mashed
potatoes and sautéed spinach. I may have to go back every Monday night.
Don’t forget—leave
a comment on this blog (not on the Facebook listing) to be included in the
drawing for the giveaway of The Darling
Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover.
