The Darling Dahlias and the Unlucky Clover, Paperback

It is 1934. FDR is in the White House, the New Deal is in full swing, and Prohibition has finally been repealed. Bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert returns to Darling, Alabama, where the ladies of the local garden club aren't afraid to dig a little dirt if that's what it takes to cultivate a mystery . . .When the Lucky Four Clovers run into a string of bad luck, it looks like the music may have ended for Darling's favorite barbershop quartet-just when the Dixie Regional Barbershop Competition is about to take place. To complicate things, there's a serious foul-up in Darling's telephone system-and Myra May and Violet don't have a penny for repairs. The town's party lines may have to go out of business, which would be bad news for the gossips.And it doesn't help that newspaper editor/publisher Charlie Dickens is facing a crisis of confidence in his new wife, Fannie. Or that Liz Lacy (the Dahlias' president) has to decide whether she's ready for a do-over in her ill-fated romance with Grady Alexander. And what's that secret her old friend Fremon is keeping? What does he know about what happened to the unlucky Clover on that dark night on the Jericho Road?While liquor is legal again, moonshine isn't, and as Sheriff Buddy Norris discovers when he goes into Briar Swamp to confront Cypress County's most notorious bootlegger, it helps to have a little luck. But whatever the challenge, the Dahlias know that pie fixes everything. And you will, too, when you hear what they're baking for Darling's pie supper.Once again, author Susan Wittig Albert has brought us a charming story of richly human characters who face the Great Depression with courage and grace. She reminds us that friends offer the best of themselves to each other, community is what holds us together, and luck is what you make of it.Traditional Southern pie recipes (and a little cookery history) included