These Augusta Goodnight mysteries are wonderful with a cup of tea. This third installment of this clever and unique series, introduces the reader to Arminda who is recently widowed and visiting with her grandmother. Her cousin, Otto, is murdered and she finds the body! The story weaves around an antique quilt and family members from the past and present interlock to solve this mystery.

I'm looking forward to Mignon's next Augusta Goodnight read.

Arminda Hobbs has returned to her hometown of Angel Heights after the sudden death of her husband. She needs the comfort of her family. Unfortunately, she finds the body of her cousin Otto in the Ladies Room of Holley House, formerly the Minerva Academy. She also finds a curious pin. The design is reflected in an Alma Mater sampler done by her great grandmother, and a mysterious quilt passed along from member to member of a group of friends. How does this all tie into Otto's murder? Fortunately, she has her family and a guardian angel to help her.

The Augusta Goodnight series is fast becoming one of my favorites. The temporary guardian(her real job is tending heavenly strawberry fields) once again steps in to solve another mystery, in this case, she is tying up loose ends from a previous job. I found it very hard to put this one down and can't wait until the next one.

This may be the worst moment in Minda Hobb's life because she is mourning for her young husband she loved very much who died in a freak lightening accident while they were on a picnic. She moves back to her hometown of Angel Heights, South Carolina where she has another traumatic incident. In the woman's bathroom of Holley Hall, in the stall next to the one Minda was using, she comes upon the body of Cousin Otto.

At first everyone believed he died a natural death but the coroner rules it a murder. Feeling alone and frightened, Minda moves into the family home where she meets her temporary guardian angel, the heavenly Augusta Goodnight. Working together with some help from Minda's family, it is discovered that Otto's death and an attempt on Minda's life has its origin in a secret society two generations back who made a quilt that contained a deadly message somebody today doesn't want made public.

SHADOW OF AN ANGEL is a delightful and whimsical cozy costarring a protagonist that fans will like and sympathize with and her charming guardian angel. Augusta discreetly nudges Minda in the direction she wants her to go. The mystery itself is a cerebral teaser that will confound most readers but the joy in this novel is not the answer but the quest to find it.

Harriet Klausner

"Aunt Matilda's Ghost" is a wonderfully supernatural, and gentle, mystery for young readers. Out of print for many years, this yarn about a spritely spirit should please not only children, but adults as well.

Every year Ned and Kate McBride and their daughter Josie attended the family reunion held at Uncle Ernest's home Bramblewood in Bishop's Bridge, North Carolina. Neither Kate nor Josie are looking forward to this year's reunion because Ned has asked for and gotten a separation and is living on the other side of the country. When Kate and Josie arrive at the home of Kate's parents, she is greeted by her temporary guardian angel Augusta Goodnight and her young apprentice Penelope.

Augusta thinks Kate might be in danger and events at Bramblewood seem to indicate something is very wrong. Ernest's housekeeper Ella is found injured in a ravine and just before she falls into a coma, she tells Kate someone pushed her. The police discover that the girlfriend of Kate's cousin Grady was deliberately murdered when somebody cut the brake lines on her car. Skeletal remains of a murder victim are found in the local cemetery when the church group are cleaning up the place. Kate's Aunt Violet thinks all of these events are related so the intrepid females bait a trap to catch a murderer.

The latest Augusta Goodnight mystery is a charming, often times whimsical small town angelic cozy starring characters that are so delightful and amusing that readers will want to finish the book in one sitting to see if there is a happily ever after ending for the McBrides. Mignon F. Ballard knows how to write a captivating who-done-it that doesn't depend on blood and gore to keep reader interest. THE ANGEL WHISPERED DANGER is a good wholesome mystery.

Harriet Klausner

This is a historical novel about life in rural Georgia in during the World War Two era. If you like the works of Ferrol Sams, you will also like this one. As a baby-boomer, this gave me an insite into my parents childhood. The character are charming, and well-drawn.

Having grown up in a small southern town with the curses and blessings of larger than life small town characters and their intense involvment in each other's lives, The War in Sallie's Station rang true on every front. It is a marvelous book which has more than a few turns of phrase which remind me of my literary idol, Harper Lee--I could not reccomend it more highly. The War in Sallie's Station is a story of friendship and love that span not only changing years but cultures, of evil that transends imagination, and of ultimate good that conquors all.

I know Sallies Station, in fact I know Mignon Franklin Ballard.
We grew up in the same small town that Sallies Station is based on.
She has captured my town and all other small towns in America.
I have enjoyed her angel series and eagerly await the new one due in April of next year.
Sallies Station goes between the years of WW II and present day and the characters are wonderful.
I only wish she would write faster and hope she will write a sequel to this book.

Mary George Murphy is heartbroken when her last remaining relative dies in mysterious circumstances. When she joins forces with her unusual partner, substitute guardian angel Augusta Goodnight, she is reunited with her childhood friend Sam and solves the murder of her beloved aunt. The strength of this book is the cast of charming characters and cozy setting.

Mary George Murphy's life is a mess. She's lost her job, her fiance', and now her adopted mother Aunt Caroline. Aunt Caroline fell down the attic stairs. Only, she never went up there if she didn't have to. Mary George is in dispair and decides to end it all. She is stopped by her substitute guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight. What an angel, the last time she was on earth it was the forties and she is having a hard time dealing with everything 50 years later, not that she doesn't try. She is usually in charge of the strawberries in heaven. With Augusta's help, she gets her life back on track, reconnects with an old friend, and solves the mystery of her Aunt Caroline's death, as well as a few others.

This was a very sweet cozy, Aunt Dimity's fans should I really like it. I know I did.

This is an enjoyable story about a woman whose life is upside down. Her fiance has left her, her aunt has died, and her substitute gaurdian angel pops in and out at will. BUT- her aunt's death is suspicious and with the help of her gaurdian angel Mary George Murphy manages to find an old friend, make new friends, and solve the murder of her aunt. Very interesting.

This is a nice little book to cozy up to and enjoy when you need a little chuckle. I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed Angel at Troublesome Creek as a light cozy, and was looking forward to the second installment.
Unfortunately it is disappointing. There is not enough of the charming angel, and not enough mystery.
Clues appear without effort on the part of the heroine. She just follows the path laid out before her. Her reactions to learning secrets about her sister seem unreal. There is no grief, no discovery, just rotely following the clues where they lead.
The basic plot is OK, but it is great need of a rewrite to fill in the characters, the emotions, the people we are supposed to care about.

The concept is brilliant (an angel helping out) and the book was entertaining however I just wished there was a bit more of the otherwordly included in the book. So much is made about the angel when in actuality you hear or see very little of her or her powers. She doesn't seem all that angelic.Phila

Prentice Dobson is spending time at the old family house. Her father and sister have died recently, her mother has moved away to the city,her reporter boyfriend has moved to London, and she's lost her job at a magazine in Atlanta. She has lots of time to reflect on how her life is going. On a routine visit to the family cemetery, she finds that her Uncle Faris' grave has been dug up and a strange corpse is in it's place. Fill in Guardian Angel Augusta Goodnight arrives to assist her with her troubles, when she finds out that her deceased sister may have had a child, and the child's crazy grandfather will do anything to find him.

There is alot going on in this book, and the various mysteries are not necessarily connected. I read this one from start to finish in one night. The characters are wonderful and quirky, and the angel isn't too angelic. Good, fast, read!!!