Murder in the Corn Maze

Stella Reid is raising her seven grandchildren to be good citizens, but sometimes battling sisters Vidalia and Marietta have her at wit's end. Good thing Savannah is as level headed as she is. In Murder in the Corn Maze by G.A.McKevett, the family's plans to attend a corn maze are disrupted by a body.  (Murder in the Corn Maze will be released by Kensington Publishers on September 24.)

When Stella and Savannah accidentally encounter a skeleton on the fringes of the corn maze, they don't panic, especially when Stella recognizes the remains as someone who disappeared 40 years ago. Sheriff Manny Gilford arrives on the scene, and tentatively agrees with Stella that the corpse is long-missing Becky Dingle. Stella recognizes the purple and pink flowered dress Mrs. Dingle used to wear and the leather Cherokee barrette in her hair. 

When Becky disappeared, her abusive husband told everyone she had run away with another man, now it seems that was not true. More heartbreaking for Stella is knowing how her friend Elsie, Becky's daughter, had mourned for her missing mother over the years. Now more heartbreak for Elsie was on the way as the police try to discover who murdered Becky.  

As Stella and Manny investigate, they discover similarities between Becky's death and the deaths of several other women in the area, including Stella's own mother. Could Stella's long-dead father be the killer or is it someone who is still alive in McGill, Georgia? Savannah jumps right in with the archaeology crew investigating the site and Stella is happy to have her distracted with this aspect of the case. Savannah knows she is going to be a policewoman when she grows up, and as loyal readers know, she does. 

More tales from the roots of the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency reaching back to the 1980s. A clever mystery with lots of Southern flavor. 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher. 

Murder in her Stocking

If you have read the Savannah Reid books and always loved Granny Stella Reid, here's your chance to learn how the Reid gang came to live with Grandma.  Murder in her Stocking by G.A. McKevett begins in present day as Granny Reid meets her newest great-grandchild, then takes us back to the early days of the Reid family's life.

The Reid children live with their party-girl mother while their father is a long distance truck driver who rarely comes home. The oldest child Savannah cares for the children as best she can but the times are hard and money is short. Granny Reid does the best she can, but knows her daughter-in-law Shirley just drinks away the money she receives from her husband.

It's close to Christmas and Stella has knitted hats, gloves and scarves for the children so they will at least have something for Christmas. As the family walks through town heading for the Nativity at the local church, there's a buzz of activity. It's seems someone with a wicked sense of humor and a little art ability has painted handlebar mustaches on all the characters including the Baby Jesus.

Stella has seen this handiwork before and herds the family back home to discuss how to handle the

mess. She rounds up the culprit, nine-year-old Waycross and Savannah and they creep out in the dark of night to rectify the mustache issue, While they are outdoor, they hear a car heading past them and see the Principal Neville's car driving through town. Suddenly they hear a cry of pain, Stella rushes down the street and finds the crumpled, badly injured body of Prissy Carr, the town's fallen woman.

Prissy is not the only victim in the book. Stella's next door neighbor Florence Bagley has been abused by her husband for many years, but refuses to admit it. As Stella tries to unravel the mysterious death of Prissy and help Florence, Savannah shows some early investigative talent and discovers who killed Prissy.

So much early heartache for the Reid children, but all them turned out so well, thanks largely to their grandmother. I look forward to the next book in the Granny Reid series