Bitter Sweets

Introduced in Just Desserts, Savannah Reid, a Georgia transplant and former cop in Southern California, is having second thoughts about forming the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency. Her first case is a man looking for his sister, from whom he was separated as a child. Savannah locates Lisa Mallock and her daughter, Christy, and learns they are hiding from Lisa's abusive ex-husband, Earl. Then Lisa and Christy are abducted, and Savannah, certain that her investigation led to the crime, feels responsible. After she finds Lisa's mutilated body in a remote fishing resort, the Moonlight Magnolia Agency, including Savannah's former police partner Dirk, mobilizes to find Christy before she too is harmed. Savannah's visiting Granny Reid is unable to stand idly by and adds her country bromides to the proceedings. Despite the fact that the police are on the verge of arresting her every step of the way, the dessert-loving Savannah and her motley team of investigators manage to save the day and pull off a light, satisfying tale. (May)