The Darling Dahlias have all become like friends to me over the years, and I was long overdue for another visit with my favourite ladies. I love each and everyone of these ladies and their down-home charm. In this book there is a lot going on in Darling, Alabama in 1935. The Great Depression is still running rampant with no end in sight, various citizens' livestock is still getting out into people's yards, Charlie is still publishing his paper, but with new helpers, the Doctor is still seeing people, and being called to various deaths, Bessie Bloodbath is still looking after her ladies, Sheriff Buddy is still muddling his way through solving various village crimes and Cupcake has grown and gotten a little older and is keeping Violet and Myra May busy. There's a new radio station in town, which has the citizens excited. When one of Bessie's residents dies in her room at Bessie's rooming house, everyone thinks it was natural causes, and no one is too upset as she wasn't very well liked. But the talk of poisoning and murder starts making the rounds in town, and the gossip fuels the fires. Everyone in Darling goes about doing their business as usual and all the usual suspects are doing their own thing. Its looks hopeless for one of the residents who happens to a member of the Darling Dahlias Gardening Club. It takes Big Lil's, (who is a Voodoo Queen) and Liz Lacey's intervention to get things straightened out. The mystery is really quite an easy one, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of this book and this my latest, and hopefully not my last visit to Darling, Alabama.every one.

A feel good mystery set in a small town in Alabama during the Depression. This is the ninth in the Darling Dahlias series named for the local garden club. Included are references to previous books, but this book works fine as a stand-alone.
The many references to plants and herbs adds a layer of depth to the mystery as does the historical references to the Depression. ( )