Mignon F. Ballard's cozy mysteries are set in the World War II era and are infused with the charm of life in small Southern towns. Ballard has written four mysteries that feature Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, a veteran first-grade teacher, and seven with earthbound guardian angel Augusta Goodnight. In Miss Dimple and the Slightly Bewildered Angel, both heroines work together to solve a mystery.
In 1944, a strange newcomer--nervous, 30-something Dora Westbrook--arrives in Miss Dimple's hometown of Elderberry, Ga. She is warmly greeted at Phoebe Chadwick's rooming house, only to turn up dead at the Presbyterian church the next morning. It appears Dora fell from a ladder leading to the church steeple. Why was she climbing the steeple, and what was she doing in Elderberry in the first place?
Dora's mysterious death rocks the town and the lives of the rooming house boarders, who are also suffering the departure of their reliable, beloved cook, on leave to tend to an aging aunt. Then tart-tongued Augusta Goodnight shows up on their doorstep; the guardian angel offers domestic help and doles out practical wisdom and guidance in assisting Miss Dimple to solve what turns out to be a very puzzling crime that might be murder.
As the war rages on, misadventures abound, and Miss Dimple and her friends travel to Dora's hometown to learn more. Ballard (Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble) adds another enjoyable installment to her nostalgic cozy series. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines