Mama Stalks the Past

Plot complexities and improbabilities threaten to overwhelm Deloach and her readers in the first hardcover offering of a cozy series featuring African American matron Grace Covington, aka Mama, (star of the paperbacks Mama Solves a Murder and Mama Traps a Killer). The narrator is Mama's 20-something daughter, Simone. A paralegal in Atlanta, Simone visits her parents for the weekend in tiny Otis, S.C., and tastes turmoil along with her sweet potato pie. Before Mama can even start brewing a pot of coffee, Nat Mixon, her next-door neighbor, is calling her a wicked woman. Inexplicably, Nat's mother, Hannah, who never once invited Mama into her home, has willed her 250 acres of valuable land. And Nat, the prototypical ne'er-do-well son, is not happy. When it turns out Miss Hannah didn't die of old age but was poisoned, Mama sets out to find out who killed the woman before the will is made public and her neighbors start accusing her of murder. To solve the case, Mama has to locate a mysterious envelope, untangle a few generations of Mixon family history and dodge the murderer, which she does while brewing pot after pot of flavored coffee and whipping up mouthwatering meals--which are likely to stick to Simone's ribs longer than this lively but frothy tale will linger in readers' minds. (Dec.)