Nancy Drew Comes to Natchez

The Ducote sisters are solving mysteries again this time with ghosts involved. In Fixing to Die by Miranda James, the sisters Ducote travel to Natchez with their ward Benjy and their pets to help a friend of the family. Natchez is well known for its spirits and unusual occurrences so the sisters are prepared for odd happenings.

Mary Turner Catlin and her husband Henry Howard operate a B&B in her historic home, but odd occurrences have been happening in the house, especially in The French Room. The Room is decorated with furniture imported from France just before the Civil War. There are priceless antiques and Mary Turner doesn't want to change anything in the room.

An'gel is assigned the room and after the long journey she lies down for an afternoon nap. When she awakens she notices the dress she draped over the back of a chair is in a different place. An'gel draws on her readings of  the Nancy Drew mysteries, especially The Hidden Staircase and believes there must be a secret staircase or panel in the house which explains some of the strange goings on.

There are other strange unexplained things happening in other parts

of the house as well. There's a cold zone on the staircase, a shadow in the stairwell ceiling and objects in other rooms moving from their places. Is there a spirit roaming the halls or is there more?

While An'gel, Dickce and Benjy search for the secret panel, a woman named Primrose Pace who claims to be a pyschic medium and an expeller of unwanted spirits arrives. Shortly thereafter she is followed by Mary Turner's cousin Nathan Gamble, his obnoxious sister Serenity Foster and her lawyer Truscott Anderson Wilbanks IV. Nathan believes he has a claim to the house, which Mary Turner rejects completely. 

When someone dies, Dickce and An'gel step in like present day Nancy Drews to solve the case. These charming sisters may be in the 80s, but they know how to text and use computers. They are quite the pair. 

Another charming book from Miranda James. For my review of Bless Her Dead Little Heart click the link. For others books click here.

Southern Ladies Find Murder

In Miranda James' book Bless Her Dead Little Heart, we meet two unusual characters living in a spacious southern mansion in Athena, Mississippi. Octogenarian sisters An'gel (pronounced ahn-JELL) and Dickce (Dixie) Ducote think their days will be filled with housesitting a huge Maine coon cat and going about their daily life. But when their old sorority sister Rosabelle Sultan arrives at their home spinning a tale about someone trying to kill her, they are soon overwhelmed by Rosabelle's son, daughters, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter.

Always craving the spotlight, the sisters are not sure Rosabelle is actually in jeopardy, and they find it hard to believe someone would try to cause Rosabelle to fall down a flight of stairs. When one of the visitors is killed in a fatal fall down the marble stairs in the Ducote house, the sisters rethink their concern for Rosabelle's story.

Rosabelle's daughters and their half brother rely on her money and

they are not be able to inherit any money from their fathers' estates until Rosabelle is dead. The Ducote sisters enlist the help of the local police to try to protect Rosabelle. When a second person dies under suspicious circumstances, An'gel and Dickce suspect that maybe Rosabelle is not as innocent as she claims. Add the arrival of her estranged Italian husband and his gorgeous valet, there are more twists and turns than an amusement park ride.

The Ducote sisters are charming Southern ladies with lots of spirit. I hope I am as active as they are when I turn 80. Check out the books by Miranda James by clicking here.