Deep South Dead

Hunter Jones is an Atlanta girl who's taken a job at a weekly newspaper in Merchantsville, a small Georgia town where everybody knows the news long before the paper comes out. She loves her little upstairs apartment, her elderly landlady, the historic homes, and the easy pace, but she only plans to stay a year or two, to get her novel written. Then one Tuesday, just after lunch at the downtown soul food restaurant, she goes to do an interview and makes a grim discovery. She discovers the body of Mae-Lula Hilliard - the oldest member of one of Merchantsville's fine old families - lying dead in the butler's pantry of her historic mansion.Hunter is upset by the brutality, but let's be honest. There's not a reporter anywhere who doesn't dream of being right in the middle of a crime scene.By the time Sheriff Sam Bailey arrives, Hunter has taken a few dozen photos, and considered some entirely domestic questions. Who on earth would wash a cast iron griddle in the dishwasher? And why does the kitchen smell like chocolate when there's not a cake or a brownie in sight? Then she creates an unwelcome distraction for Sheriff Sam Bailey (who wants her out of there so he can keep his focus on the investigation) and they manage to get on each other's last nerve before she storms out, taking Miss Mae-Lula's very pregnant calico cat with her.Hunter's focus is now entirely on getting the big story into the newspaper by the Wednesday deadline. Little does she know that the murder she discovered will lead to still another murder, and that in the chain of events that follows, she'll become crucial to the investigation, and make new friends - including the sheriff's seven year old daughter, Bethie.And maybe, just maybe, she'll become part of Sam Bailey's life.