Susan Wittig Albert

"It's Thanksgiving, and China Bayles is planning to visit her mother, Leatha, and her mother's husband, Sam, who are turning their ranch into a birder's retreat. She's also looking forward to seeing game warden Mack Chambers. Then Sam has a heart attack. How will Leatha manage if Sam can't work? She does have a helper, Sue Ellen Krause. But China discovers that Sue Ellen, who is leaving her marriage, is in trouble. Before Sue Ellen can tell China...

"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 under...

"It's Christmas, 1934, and the citizens of Darling, Alabama, are unwrapping a big package of Christmas puzzles. Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square--if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an...

"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 from harm. But McQuaid insists that she get out of town and go to the Last Chance Olive...

"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...

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...

National best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert's poetic beauty and West Texas flavor permeate her China Bayles mysteries. The high school principal asks China to secretly investigate the popular football coach who led the Panthers to six state championships. Soon after China confirms the coach's predilection for teenage girls, one of his victims turns up dead and suspicion falls upon the lecherous coach.

National best-selling author and resident of Texas, Susan Wittig Albert pens a quirky, but chilling mystery. When Casey Ford threatens to sell his property to a strip mining company, the townsfolk fear that Indigo will be lost forever. Protecting the town is important-so important that someone is willing to kill Casey to keep their home from being ruined. Now, in addition to running the town's cultural crusade, China Bayles must find Casey's murderer....

Beatrix and William's impending nuptials are delayed when the remodeling of their future home, Castle Cottage, causes more problems than anticipated in the latest installment of a series that incorporates events from the life of Beatrix Potter and her beloved characters.

The Depression-era women of a Darling, Alabama, garden club get to the bottom of a mysterious buried treasure and a young woman's murder.