Miss Dimple Disappears A Mystery [Paperback]

Meet Miss Dimple

It is 1942, and most of the men in the town of Elderberry, Georgia, have gone to war. One frosty morning just before Thanksgiving, young schoolmistress Charlie Carr and her fellow teachers are startled to find that the school custodian, Wilson Christmas Malone, has neglected to stoke the furnace or empty the wastebasketsand then is found dead in a broom closet, the apparent victim of a heart attack. But when Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, who is as dependable as gravity and has taught Elderberry first gradersincluding Charliefor nearly forty years, disappears the following day, town residents are shaken down to their worn, rationed shoes. Knowing that Miss Dimple would never willingly abandon her students, Charlie and her friend Annie begin sleuthingand uncover danger surprisingly close to home.

Ballard's series launch offers plenty of wonderful nostalgia and the heartbreak that only war can bring. Library Journal

Ballard writes with great warmth and sassy humor. Publishers Weekly

The details of small-town life are completely engaging. Genre veteran Ballard fills her story with wonderful characters and warm humor. Booklist

MIGNON F. BALLARD is the author of seven mysteries featuring angelic sleuth Augusta Goodnight, andThe War in Sallie's Station,a novel set in rural Georgia during World War II. She lives in Calhoun, Georgia, where she grew up.