Miss Julia Inherits a Mess

February 22, 2016
Cozy fans more interested in character than plot should enjoy Ross’s 17th series mystery set in the small North Carolina town of Abbotsville (after 2015’s Miss Julia Lays Down the Law). When Mattie Freeman breaks her hip in a fall and goes into the hospital, elderly widow Julia Freeman, who barely knows the woman, is flabbergasted to learn that Mattie, who has no known living relations, has given her power of attorney. And Julia’s responsibilities to a relative stranger become even more onerous after Mattie dies of her injuries, having named Julia the executor of her estate. Julia finds that Mattie’s bequests exceed the estate’s value, and she becomes suspicious when a man calling himself Andrew F. Cobb turns up out of the blue and claims to be Maddie’s great-nephew. Ross provides plenty of local color, though some readers may be uncomfortable with the cartoonish portrayal of Julia’s servant, Lillian (“Yessum, they’s a whole box full in the pantry”). Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents. 


February 1, 2016
No good deed goes unpunished for Miss Julia. Like any good friend, Miss Julia is always willing to pitch in. But she's taken aback when she learns that Miss Mattie Freeman, who's fallen and broken her hip, has given her a general power of attorney. No sooner has she heard about this unsought honor than the unfortunate Miss Mattie dies, leaving Julia in even more of a pickle when her friend's attorney informs her that she's also the executor of her will. Miss Mattie's left a long string of bequests to her people, her church, and her charities, and although Julia is loath to take on the job, she knows that if she doesn't, the meager estate will have to pay someone else to do it. With the help of one of her still-living friends, she finds an appraiser to help value the items that fill Miss Mattie's apartment while she takes on the task of sorting through years of paperwork and collecting the small items that are supposed to go to charity. Enter Andrew Cobb, who claims to be a long-lost relative. He has no plans to contest the will but asks to see Miss Mattie's family papers and the needlework he claims she was famous for. Julia is pleased to learn that some of her friend's furniture is quite valuable but horrified when someone steals a lovely little cellaret. With her husband away on a fishing trip, Miss Julia enlists a friend to stay with her at night in the apartment until the auction gallery picks up the furniture. Gentle complications follow. Slow as molasses, Miss Julia's 16th (Miss Julia Lays Down the Law, 2015, etc.) barely qualifies as a mystery, counting instead on Southern charm to delight the fan base.

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November 15, 2015

Following his genre-bending Saturn Run, Sandford again preys on your mind with his series starring Lucas Davenport, who agrees to join the presidential campaign of his friend the governor. Alas, the candidate is the target of an assassin.

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