Quote:
Dearest Mary,
Please don't think me a fool. Em does. Probably right. But
it's too many accidents. The twins' car got smashed, then
Judge Black went, all of a sudden. The t.v. had a fire and Em
got a flat. Could happen to anybody, but Roy Luther's never
mixed up my bottles before. I had a terrible time. Fine now.
Don't worry. Em says I'm silly, but I keep wondering. When
will it ever end? Wish you were here, old dear! Always able to
see clearer than I . Please write--or come! I'm not going
anywhere. Nell's here, too.
Love, Dolly
MORE
information:
In
Charleston, South Carolina, everything moves slowly. Languid
mules, pulling ancient carriages around The Battery.
Carpenters restoring buildings first refurbished long before
the Civil War. Sailboats, lazing across the bay. Bees, buzzing
away spring afternoons. Nothing hurries. Not even murder.
When
Sheila Travis flies from Chicago to Atlanta to visit her Aunt
Mary over spring break from the Markham Institute for
International Studies, where she works, Sheila envisions two
weeks of plays, concerts, and shopping. She certainly doesn't
intend to spend her vacation in Charleston, investigating why
two of Aunt Mary's elderly friends are having a run of
accidents in their family home. But soon after Aunt Mary
receives the letter above from Dolly, younger of the two
sisters, she tells Sheila, "You might start packing. I
told Dolly to expect you tomorrow afternoon."
Sheila
finds Dolly and her sister Marion in Charleston's Old Town,
where houses face sideways and "front" porches face
the neighbors' side windows. Nell, Dolly's housekeeper and
friend, is scandalized to find Sheila looking out her north
bedroom window. "Honey, here we have Northside manners.
You don't ever look out a north window. That way, everybody
has privacy on their own porches."
A
murderer takes advantage of the well-bred city to kill the
sisters' neighbor in her front yard one morning. Then one of
Dolly's granddaughters is poisoned, but was Marion the
intended victim? When Sheila herself gets abducted, it becomes
painfully clear that a particularly clever killer is at work.
Sheila calls on Aunt Mary for help--but Aunt Mary has
disappeared.
This
is one of my favorites among my books, and readers seem to
think so, too. One told me she never visits Charleston without
re-reading this book before she goes. I am also
delighted with the lovely cover Silver Dagger has created for
the book. Let me know how you like it!
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