Murder at Mabel’s Motel: A Granny Reid Mystery

Set in McGill, Ga., sometime in the 1980s, McKevett’s bittersweet third Granny Reid mystery (after 2019’s Murder in the Corn Maze) finds Stella Reid preparing for her first date with Sheriff Manny Gilford, much to the amusement of the seven grandchildren she’s raising alone. The rare night out for the overworked grandmother is interrupted when Manny is called to investigate an assault on 19-year-old Yolanda Ortez by local lowlife Billy Ray Sonner and his racist gang. The attack was interrupted before the worst could happen, but Manny is anxious to find Billy Ray before he does more damage, or Yolanda’s outraged father gets to him. When Billy Ray’s ravaged body is discovered at an abandoned motel outside of town, no cause of death is apparent, but the door is duct-taped from the outside. Stella knows only too well that even good people are capable of diabolical acts. McKevett poignantly evokes how difficult and all-consuming raising seven children can be, but in Stella she has created a woman strong and loving enough to do it. Readers will hope this series has a long run. Agent: Richard Curtis, Richard Curtis Assoc. (Feb.)