Susan Wittig Albert
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As the country struggles through the Great Depression, the Darling Dahlias of Darling, Alabama, are determined to keep their chins up. Their garden club has a clubhouse, a garden, a flag, a weekly column in The Darling Dispatch, and members from across the social spectrum. But when a treasure trove of sterling silver is found buried under the town's famous Cucumber Tree, two of the Dahlias claim it - which leads to some very unladylike behavior.
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"China Bayles fears for her husband's life as an escaped convict targets him ... Max Mantel, the killer McQuaid put away years ago, has busted out of Huntsville Prison and appears to be headed for Pecan Springs. McQuaid knows there's only one way to stop the vengeful convict--set a trap with himself as bait. China wants to stay by her husband's side and keep him from harm. But McQuaid insists that she get out of town and go to the Last Chance Olive...
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While helping Ruby Wilcox clean up the loft above their shops, China Bayles comes upon a box of antique handcrafted lace and old photographs. Strange happenings start to occur in her shop, and China hears a woman humming an old Scottish ballad and smells the delicate scent of lavender. As China investigates, the tragic story of the woman in one of the old photographs unfolds.
4) Blood orange
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"... China comes to the aid of a nurse who ends up in the hospital ... It's mid-April in Pecan Springs, and China is renting her guest cottage to Kelly Kaufman, who needs a temporary place to live as she contends with a very acrimonious divorce from her husband, Rich. One nasty point of dispute is her part ownership of the Comanche Creek Brewing Company, which she is refusing to sell. At the same time, as a nurse employed by a local hospice, Kelly...
5) Hemlock
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Herbalist China Bayles's latest adventure takes her to the mountains of North Carolina, where her friend Dorothea Harper serves as the director and curator of the Hemlock House Library, a priceless collection of rare gardening books housed in a haunted mountainside mansion that once belonged to Sunny Carswell, a reclusive heiress. But the most valuable book - A Curious Herbal, created by Elizabeth Blackwell in the 1730s - is missing and Dorothea is...
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Rumors are sprouting in Depression-era Darling, Alabama. The town's newest visitors, Nona Jean Jamison and Miss Lake, may be the Naughty and Nice Sisters from the Ziegfeld Frolic, who specialize in dancing nearly naked. The Dahlias suspect more than modesty when Nona denies her association.
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It's Labor Day weekend, 1935, and members of the Darling Dahlias--the garden club in little Darling, Alabama--are trying to keep their cool at the end of a sizzling summer. This isn't easy, though, since there's a firebug on the loose in Darling. He--or she!--strikes without apparent rhyme or reason, and things have gotten to the point where nobody feels safe. What's more, a dangerous hurricane is poised to hurl itself in Darling's direction, while...
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"The Texas star herself -- Miss Lily Dare, the "fastest woman in the world" -- is bringing her Dare Devils Flying Circus to Darling. Unfortunately, she's also bringing a whole lot of trouble. As the Dahlias prepare for the annual Watermelon Festival -- where they will present the famous female aviatrix with her own Texas Star hibiscus -- rumors are flying. Dahlias president Liz Lacy learns that Miss Dare has been threatened and her plane sabotaged....
9) Cat's claw
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"Sheila Dawson has made history as the first female police chief in Pecan Springs, Texas. She's also cracked many a mystery in collaboration with local sleuth China Bayles--that's why everyone thinks she's such a smart cookie. Now, Sheila puts those smarts to work, sifting through secrets to find a killer on the prowl ... Larry Kirk, Pecan Springs' computer guru, has been shot dead in his kitchen. At first Police Chief Sheila Dawson believes it to...
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In 1940, art-world icon Georgia O'Keeffe bought a house in a mountain-rimmed New Mexico desert, planning to live there for six months every year. To manage her household, O'Keeffe invited Maria Chabot-a young writer-to join her. Their relationship endured throughout WW2; the death of Georgia's husband; and Maria's design and building of an adobe house and studio for the artist in the native village of Abiquiu. An evocative story that explores the...
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"It's the spring of 1933 and times are tough all over. The only businessman not struggling is moonshiner Mickey LeDoux, though he still has to steer clear of federal agents. But banks are closing all over the country, and the small town of Darling is no exception. Folks are suddenly caught short on cash and everyone is in a panic. Desperate to avoid disaster, several town leaders--including Alvin Duffy, the bank's new vice president--hatch a plan...
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It looks like the music has ended for Darling's favorite barbershop quartet, the Lucky Four Clovers just days before the Dixie Regional Barbershop Competition. Another unlucky break: a serious foul-up in Darling's telephone system and not a penny for repairs. And while liquor is legal again, moonshine isn't. Sheriff Buddy Norris needs a little luck when he goes into Briar Swamp to confront Cypress County's most notorious bootlegger. What he finds...
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"For the Confederate Day celebration, the Darling Dahlias are ready to plant Confederate roses along the fence of the town cemetery. 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...
14) Mourning Gloria
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"While Pecan Springs bustles back to life in the warmth of spring, one woman's life is tragically brought to an end. China Bayles happens upon a burning house trailer and hears a woman screaming for help. The evidence leaves no doubt that it's arson homicide. Jessica Nelson, an intern-reporter at the local paper, is assigned to cover the story. But she's gotten herself too deeply involved. When Jessica disappears, China is determined to find her,...
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"When China's and Ruby's friend Karen Prior is mugged in a mall parking lot and dies a few days later, China begins to suspect that her friend's death was not a random assault. Karen was a filmmaker supervising a student documentary about the fifteen-year-old murder of a woman named Christine Morris and the acquittal of the man accused of the crime. Is it possible that the same person who killed Christine Morris targeted Karen? Delving into the cold...
16) Holly blues
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China Bayles is fit to spit when her husband's troubled ex-wife, Sally, shows up at her herb shop, claiming to be broke with nowhere else to turn. When she invites Sally to stay, China starts receiving menacing calls from an "ex" of Sally's, who seems to have a connection to the murder of her parents nearly a decade ago. --
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"It's Christmas, 1934, and the citizens of Darling, Alabama, are unwrapping a big package of Christmas puzzles. Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square--if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an...
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Transports readers to the summer of 1934, when a sensational murder shakes up the small Southern town of Darling, Alabama. When a telephone switchboard operator with a wild reputation is murdered, the ladies of the Darling Dahlias garden club sort out rumors from fact to identify the killer.
19) Bittersweet
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"China is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother's husband, Sam, for Thanksgiving. She's also looking forward to catching up with a friend, game warden Mackenzie 'Mack' Chambers. But Leatha calls with bad news: Sam has had a heart attack. While Sam recuperates, Leatha does have a helper--Sue Ellen Krause. But Sue Ellen--who's leaving her husband, the assistant foreman at a trophy game ranch--has troubles of her own. Before she can tell...
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China and Ruby Wilcox are presenting their annual "Not Just Plain Vanilla Workshop," always a huge hit with customers at Thyme & Seasons Herb Shop. But someone involved with the workshop is driven by a deadly motive, and China soon finds herself teaming up with the very pregnant Pecan Springs police chief Sheila Dawson to solve a vanilla-flavored murder. Sheila, happy to get out from behind the chief's desk, is investigating the death of a botany...