Publisher's Weekly Review

Stella Reid, widow and grandmother of seven, takes center stage in this tender spinoff from McKevett's Savannah Reid series (Hide and Sneak, etc.), set in McGill, Ga., in the 1980s. Stella has the misfortune to discover town floozy Prissy Carr dying in a dark alley behind a seedy tavern. The coroner later determines she was strangled. While the gossipy residents of McGill lack sympathy for the victim, who was notorious for seducing several straying husbands, the kindhearted Stella decides to help the handsome Sheriff Manny Gilford find the killer. Stella's oldest and most perceptive grandchild, 12-year-old Savannah Reid, helps uncover important clues. The duo's sleuthing ranges from studying the contents of Prissy's jewelry box, which is filled with gifts from her lovers, to investigating an abandoned farmhouse on Christmas Day. Other story lines, such as Stella's tense relationship with her alcoholic daughter-in-law and mother to her grandchildren, pack an emotional punch and add a poignant layer to this enjoyable cozy. Readers will look forward to Stella's further adventures. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.