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Big Hero 6: The Series, Volume 1 by Hong Gyun An
Checked Out for Murder by Allison Brook
Coached to Death by Victoria Laurie and Rachel Dulude (Narrator)
Dead, Bath, and Beyond by Lorraine Bartlett and Laurie Cass (Narrator)
Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia and Shayna Small (Narrator)
A Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert
Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds
Finding Mighty by Sheela Chari
Gideon Falls, Volume 6: The End by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino
A Hex for Danger by Esme Addison and Emily Durante (Narrator)
Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron
Muffin But Trouble by Victoria Hamilton and Margaret Strom (Narrator)
Muffin to Fear by Victoria Hamilton and Margaret Strom (narrator)
Rules for Vanishing by Kate Alice Marshall
Samantha Spinner and the Boy in the Ball by Russell Ginns
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham
Tippy Toe Murder by Leslie Meier
What the Cat Dragged In by Miranda James
When Fairies Go Bad by Ursula Vernon
When the Grits Hit the Fan by Maddie Day and Laural Merlington (Narrator)

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A Dilly of a Death: 10/10/21

A Dilly of a Death

A Dilly of a Death by Susan Wittig Albert is the twelfth book in the China Bayles mystery series. McQuaid has switched gears to be a private investigator. His first client is Phoebe, the CEO of a the local pickle factory. But before he can get started, she goes missing.

Meanwhile China has taken in Amy, Ruby's daughter. She's pregnant and unmarried. She's uninterested in revealing who the father is and everyone who knows her are taking bets on who he might be.

To top it off, the worst rain storm Pecan Springs has seen in years has arrived. It's cancelled the Pickle Fest. It's made the roads unsafe. It's making everyone and everything wet and soggy.

This particular volume has a good sense of place and history. The pickle factory feels like a real space with real problems, including how to deal with all the brining leftovers without damaging the environment.

It also takes advantage of using the weather as an extra character, one who acts as a foil for all the parties involved. Pecan Springs often feels like a collection of sets whose relativity to each other changes as the plot demands. This time, the town feels like a single place tied to geography.

All this attention to detail, though, hides the fact that the core mystery is a very familiar one. I won't spoil that here, even though the mystery is seventeen years old.

The thirteenth book is Dead Man's Bones (2005).

Four stars

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