Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble

At the start of Ballard's delightful fourth WWII-era mystery featuring Elderberry, Ga., first-grade teacher Miss Dimple Kilpatrick (after 2013's Miss Dimple Suspects), a scream causes Miss Dimple to pause while she's picking peaches in an orchard one summer morning. She soon learns that pretty 18-year-old Prentice Blair, who was working alone at the nearby Peach Shed, has disappeared. Could Prentice's lanky, good-natured boyfriend, Clay Jarrett, with whom she recently broke up, be involved in some way? When Prentice's body is found by the old mill, where she and Clay liked to neck, things look bad for Clay. Eccentric "Mad Hattie" McGee, who says she witnessed Prentice's abduction, could exonerate Clay, but can you trust the word of a woman who claims that Nazi spies are after her and that she knows the location of buried Confederate gold? Plenty of period Southern charm will satisfy cozy fans. Agent: Laura Langlie, Laura Langlie Agency. (Feb.)