Susan Wittig Albert

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...

"Herbalist China Bayles' 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...

"Spring, 1935 finds the little Alabama town of Darling excited about their new local radio station, WDAR. But there are problems brewing at the newspaper, where a trio of new hires causes headaches for editor Charlie Dickens. That's not the worst of it, though, as the Dahlias discover when the newest resident at Bessie Bloodworth's Magnolia Manor is found dead. She had overindulged in a large and very rich chocolate cake--but was something else baked...

Sleuth and herbalist China Bayles of Pecan Springs, Texas, joins Mike McQuaid, the town's police chief to investigate the murder of a land developer. They have to hurry if they don't want the case to clash with their honeymoon. They are getting married.

"In this exciting new mystery from New York Times bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert, 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...

China's friends and family are urging her to get some rest-and a Kentucky Shaker village seems the ideal place for it. At Mount Zion, China can assist with some herbal workshops-while absorbing all things Shaker, from their furniture to their peaceful ways. But the restored modern version of the village, striving to become a popular tourist attraction, is plagued with misfortune and strife- some of it the likely result of sabotage. China and her friend...

While Pecan Springs, Texas bustles back to life in the warmth of spring, one woman's life is tragically brought to an end. Herbalist (and former lawyer)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,...

"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...

The country may be struggling through the Great Depression, but the good ladies of Darling, Alabama, are determined to keep their chins up and their town beautiful. Their garden club, the Darling Dahlias, has just inherited a new clubhouse and garden, complete with two beautiful cucumber trees in full bloom. But life in Darling is not all garden parties and rosemary lemonade. When local blond bombshell Bunny Scott is found in a suspicious car wreck,...

Jordan's Crossing...Just the thought of her family's Mississippi plantation is enough to set China Bayles adrift on a sea of memories. The sweet perfume of magnolia blossoms mixed with the hot, heady smells of the swamp. The house perched on the banks of the Bloodroot River, a trenchant reminder of the bitterest, bloodiest moments in the country's history. And the secrets. The shameful, stifling secrets that have kept her away for so long. A frantic...