Miss Julia, a proper Southern lady, is just getting over the shock of her banker husband's death, who left her very wealthy, when a woman shows up on her doorstep with a little boy. The woman says that the little boy belongs to Miss Julia's husband and now that they've been evicted she must go to North Carolina to become a beautician to support them. And with that, Miss Julia is saddled with a spindly 9 year-old boy. Then the boy's mother disappears. Although Miss Julia is rather naive, she has plenty of grit. This amusing series, which should be read in order of publication, also could be classified as a mystery series, but of the cozy sort.