A young girl growing up in an Alabama town in the 1930s learns of injustice and violence when her father, a widowed lawyer, defends a black man falsely accused of rape.

Hiding her unhappiness from those who believe she has a perfect life, former beauty queen Maggie has an unexpected change of circumstances that leads to surprising discoveries and valuable lessons in friendship.

"The second installment in the extraordinary Cooper Devereaux mystery thriller series, which combines the atmosphere of James Lee Burke and Craig Johnson with the noir brilliance of Robert Crais An arsonist is targeting schools in Birmingham, Alabama--with devastating effect. Detective Devereaux--a man you can't quite trust and should never ignore--must put a stop to the elusive pyromaniac's reign of terror before more damage is done. Or worse, before...

"Spring, 1935 finds the little Alabama town of Darling excited about their new local radio station, WDAR. But there are problems brewing at the newspaper, where a trio of new hires causes headaches for editor Charlie Dickens. That's not the worst of it, though, as the Dahlias discover when the newest resident at Bessie Bloodworth's Magnolia Manor is found dead. She had overindulged in a large and very rich chocolate cake--but was something else baked...

"It's the spring of 1933 and times are tough all over. The only businessman not struggling is moonshiner Mickey LeDoux, though he still has to steer clear of federal agents. But banks are closing all over the country, and the small town of Darling is no exception. Folks are suddenly caught short on cash and everyone is in a panic. Desperate to avoid disaster, several town leaders--including Alvin Duffy, the bank's new vice president--hatch a plan...

"It's Christmas, 1934, and the citizens of Darling, Alabama, are unwrapping a big package of Christmas puzzles. Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square--if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Cute little Cupcake's talent as a singer and dancer makes her a tempting target for an...

"When his dad disappears, thirteen-year-old Cort is caught in a battle against a Gulf Coast hurricane. Cort's father is a local expert on hunting and swamp lore lower Alabama and has been teaching his son everything he knows. But when a deadly Category 3 storm makes landfall, Cort must unexpectedly put all his skills - and bravery - to the test. One catastrophe seems to lead to another, leaving Cort and two neighbor girls to face the storm as best...

It's Labor Day weekend, 1935, and members of the Darling Dahlias--the garden club in little Darling, Alabama--are trying to keep their cool at the end of a sizzling summer. This isn't easy, though, since there's a firebug on the loose in Darling. He--or she!--strikes without apparent rhyme or reason, and things have gotten to the point where nobody feels safe. What's more, a dangerous hurricane is poised to hurl itself in Darling's direction, while...

"In 1969 Alabama, eleven-year-old Dixie Dupree learns that the family she once believed was happy has deep fractures and records everything in her diary in this coming-of-age story about mothers and daughters, the guilt and pain that pass between generations, and the truths that are impossible to hide, especially from ourselves"--

"The eleven o'clock lady has always been one of garden club president Liz Lacy's favorite spring wildflowers. The plant is so named because the white blossoms don't open until the sun shines directly on them and wakes them up. But another Eleven O'Clock Lady is never going to wake up again. Rona Jean Hancock--a telephone switchboard operator who earned her nickname because her shift ended at eleven, when her nightlife was just beginning--has been...