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Southern Ladies Mystery #3
Digging Up the Dirt
The New York Times bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks mysteries is back with more of those sleuthing Southern belles, the Ducote sisters...
An’gel and Dickce Ducote, busy with plans for the Athena Garden Club’s spring tour of grand old homes, are having trouble getting the other club members to help. The rest of the group is all a-flutter now that dashing and still-eligible Hadley Partridge is back to restore his family mansion. But the idle chatter soon turns deadly serious when a body turns up on the Partridge estate after a storm...
The remains might belong to Hadley’s long-lost sister-in-law, Callie, who everyone thought ran off with Hadley years ago. And if it’s not Callie, who could it be? As the Ducotes begin uncovering secrets, they discover that more than one person in Athena would kill to be Mrs. Partridge. Now An’gel and Dickce will need to get their hands dirty if they hope to reveal a killer’s deep-buried motives before someone else’s name is mud...
An’gel and Dickce Ducote, busy with plans for the Athena Garden Club’s spring tour of grand old homes, are having trouble getting the other club members to help. The rest of the group is all a-flutter now that dashing and still-eligible Hadley Partridge is back to restore his family mansion. But the idle chatter soon turns deadly serious when a body turns up on the Partridge estate after a storm...
The remains might belong to Hadley’s long-lost sister-in-law, Callie, who everyone thought ran off with Hadley years ago. And if it’s not Callie, who could it be? As the Ducotes begin uncovering secrets, they discover that more than one person in Athena would kill to be Mrs. Partridge. Now An’gel and Dickce will need to get their hands dirty if they hope to reveal a killer’s deep-buried motives before someone else’s name is mud...
296 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 6, 2016
193 people are currently reading
1211 people want to read
About the author
Miranda James
25 books1,259 followersPen name of Dean James, who also writes as Honor Hartman and Jimmie Ruth Evans
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 164 reviews
August 12, 2022
After clearing a major hurdle in my TBR with reading books I had promised reviews on, I'm now able to split my time with several existing authors and book series that I absolutely love to read and catch up on. One of those is the Southern Ladies cozy mystery series by Miranda James. This week, I read Digging Up the Dirt, published in 2016, where Dickce and An'gel are back in action sleuthing around... who wouldn't love two ~80ish year old sisters in Mississippi with a penchant for discovering murderous drama and a flair for keeping things in order?
When Hadley Partridge returns after a ~40 year absence, something is bound to happen in this small Mississippi town. Which of the grand bevy of older woman will win his affections? Or which of the women potentially killed his brother or sister-in-law years ago? In this truly cozy and enthralling caper, there's a cast of wonderful and unique characters, gorgeous southern estates, and several liars! But which one is lying about more than a few ordinary things... Miranda James strikes gold in this series for me in this book by delivering a clever and hilarious plot that twists several times before you finally learn what really happened forty years ago.
James is a gifted writer who can transport you to a setting quite adeptly. I enjoy the difference yet similarities in the two sisters, but it's the combination of their wit that makes these books sing. Often we have a single main character leading the investigation, but here, he's got to handle two clever women who each approach the mystery from different angles. Throw in a dog, a cat, and a ward... you've got plenty of action going on besides the main mystery. I'm excited to catch up on this series and will be reading the 4th one next week.
If you need a fun new series with the perfect balance of mystery and town shenanigans, this is it!
When Hadley Partridge returns after a ~40 year absence, something is bound to happen in this small Mississippi town. Which of the grand bevy of older woman will win his affections? Or which of the women potentially killed his brother or sister-in-law years ago? In this truly cozy and enthralling caper, there's a cast of wonderful and unique characters, gorgeous southern estates, and several liars! But which one is lying about more than a few ordinary things... Miranda James strikes gold in this series for me in this book by delivering a clever and hilarious plot that twists several times before you finally learn what really happened forty years ago.
James is a gifted writer who can transport you to a setting quite adeptly. I enjoy the difference yet similarities in the two sisters, but it's the combination of their wit that makes these books sing. Often we have a single main character leading the investigation, but here, he's got to handle two clever women who each approach the mystery from different angles. Throw in a dog, a cat, and a ward... you've got plenty of action going on besides the main mystery. I'm excited to catch up on this series and will be reading the 4th one next week.
If you need a fun new series with the perfect balance of mystery and town shenanigans, this is it!
October 3, 2022
I just didn’t really connect with these characters like I do with Diesel’s main series. The mystery wasn’t interesting and the ladies were all pretty annoying.
September 6, 2016
As delightful as sweet tea on a hot summer day!
With this third book in the Southern Ladies Mysteries, author Miranda James proves the third time is a charm. Sassy southern sisters, An’gel and Dickce Ducote are back and in rare form, hot on the heels of another murderer.
Writing An’gel and Dickce as the two southern aunts I would most likely have, if I indeed had southern aunts, is what first endeared me to author James and this series. Though I will admit, I think I’d only want to visit them once a year or so. LOL. They are way too much for me to handle! James does have a way with characters from the south, and I could easily hear, and see all the mannerisms of each and every one as I read them.
DIGGING UP THE DIRT has a well written plot that will keep readers hooked until the end. There are surprises to keep you excited, false leads to keep you guessing, and a reveal worthy of the story.
If you’re a fan of the Southern Ladies Mysteries, you are going to be thrilled with DIGGING UP THE DIRT!
The only thing that I didn’t care for in this book was what I felt to be the over use of the word h*ll. Some cozies are starting to have a bit more cursing. I just don’t see where it’s needed. But this is just my own personal feeling on it. It in no way takes away from the talented writer Miranda James is.
With this third book in the Southern Ladies Mysteries, author Miranda James proves the third time is a charm. Sassy southern sisters, An’gel and Dickce Ducote are back and in rare form, hot on the heels of another murderer.
Writing An’gel and Dickce as the two southern aunts I would most likely have, if I indeed had southern aunts, is what first endeared me to author James and this series. Though I will admit, I think I’d only want to visit them once a year or so. LOL. They are way too much for me to handle! James does have a way with characters from the south, and I could easily hear, and see all the mannerisms of each and every one as I read them.
DIGGING UP THE DIRT has a well written plot that will keep readers hooked until the end. There are surprises to keep you excited, false leads to keep you guessing, and a reveal worthy of the story.
If you’re a fan of the Southern Ladies Mysteries, you are going to be thrilled with DIGGING UP THE DIRT!
The only thing that I didn’t care for in this book was what I felt to be the over use of the word h*ll. Some cozies are starting to have a bit more cursing. I just don’t see where it’s needed. But this is just my own personal feeling on it. It in no way takes away from the talented writer Miranda James is.
September 8, 2016
The Athena Garden Club is all buzzing about the return of Hadley Partridge to town. When he left forty years ago, he was the most eligible bachelor in town, and some of the ladies want to pick up where they left off. An’gel and Dickce Ducote aren’t among them, but they can’t help but be pulled in when Hadley’s return brings up a secret from the past. When a dead body and an old skeleton turn up, can these sisters solve the crime?
It was wonderful catching back up with An’gel and Dickce. I love the characters in this series, and it was fun to see Athena from a different point of view. The story starts strongly and never slows down. I did feel the ending was weaker than it could have been, although it does tie every up nicely for us.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
It was wonderful catching back up with An’gel and Dickce. I love the characters in this series, and it was fun to see Athena from a different point of view. The story starts strongly and never slows down. I did feel the ending was weaker than it could have been, although it does tie every up nicely for us.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
September 8, 2016
A fun visit with Ducote Sisters, Dickee, An'gel, Benjy, Peanut, and Endora. The Sisters visited many places in Athena as they look into the strange happenings occurring at Ashton Hall that occurred 40 years ago. Hadley Partridge has returned home after his brother death to restore Ashton Hall to its grandeur. His brother has allowed it to become rundown. The board of Athena Garden Club is in a fluster as they all had a crush on Hadley before he left the area. One of the Board members is found dead at the bottom of stairs in her home. In the aftermath of a storm, Peanut and Endora located human bones near an aged oak tree. Another Garden Club member is seriously damaged in an accident near Ashton Hall. This tale takes the sisters on a dangerous path as they explore this event. Our friend chief homicide, Kenesha has the case. The author has melted this story superbly with his Cats In Stack series. I highly recommend this book for relaxing reading.
November 12, 2016
The elderly DuCote sisters, Dickce and An'gel, along with their young ward, Benjy; and pets, Endora and Peanut; return in a new tale involving a decades old unsolved murder, blackmail, and a shocking ending you may never see coming! My favorite story, thus far, in Miranda James Southern Ladies series.
July 21, 2017
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October 12, 2016
Another great book in the series! I love the Ducote sisters and this is the newest book in the Southern Ladies series.
When Hadley Partridge comes back to town, all of the ladies in the Athena Garden Club are thrilled. He's still very handsome and eligible, and it starts a competition with the ladies to see who can garner his affections. The only ones who seem to be immune to his charms are An'gel and Dickie Ducote. However, when the Athena Garden Club members start turning up dead, the sisters feel they must investigate. Does Hadley have anything to do with it? And what happened all those years ago to his sister in law? I really enjoyed reading and finding out and I think others will too!
When Hadley Partridge comes back to town, all of the ladies in the Athena Garden Club are thrilled. He's still very handsome and eligible, and it starts a competition with the ladies to see who can garner his affections. The only ones who seem to be immune to his charms are An'gel and Dickie Ducote. However, when the Athena Garden Club members start turning up dead, the sisters feel they must investigate. Does Hadley have anything to do with it? And what happened all those years ago to his sister in law? I really enjoyed reading and finding out and I think others will too!
February 28, 2020
I have loved the Cat in the Stacks series and since this was a spin-off, I decided to give it a try. I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I found it to be fun and really good. An'gel and Dicke's garden club is preparing for their Spring garden tour. When Hadley Partridge returns after leaving town 40 years ago, it stirs things up. First, one if the garden club board members is found dead and it is suspicious. Then remains thought to be the wife of Hadley's brother are found on his property. After another woman from the garden club board is run off the road and left fighting for her life and An'gel is also hit and almost run off the road, the sisters have had enough. A thoroughly intriguing story and I will definitely need to read the rest of this series!!
March 23, 2021
Murder, jealous women and quit a few murders, and the 2 old southern ladies have another case to solve. With their ward Benjy and the cat and dog to hel tey set about solving this horrific crime spree. A really delightful book.
February 8, 2017
I simply adore these cozy mysteries by Miranda James. And An'gel and Dickce Ducote are up to their Southern Lady eyeballs in old and new dead bodies. These two sisters are quite charming in their golden years, solving crime in their spare time with their usual impeccable manners (and only a few minor outbursts). With Charlie Harris and Diesel making a brief guest appearance, how can you go wrong?
All of these mysteries by Miranda James are such a guilty pleasure and perfect for reading on a dark and story night!
***
"Curiosity is more powerful than good manners." ~ chapter 15
"Sometimes you simply can't treat a woman like a lady, and it takes another woman to treat her like the witch she is." ~ chapter 34
(you go An'gel!)
All of these mysteries by Miranda James are such a guilty pleasure and perfect for reading on a dark and story night!
***
"Curiosity is more powerful than good manners." ~ chapter 15
"Sometimes you simply can't treat a woman like a lady, and it takes another woman to treat her like the witch she is." ~ chapter 34
(you go An'gel!)
October 9, 2018
Another brilliant book by Miranda James, the Ducote sisters are members of the Athena Garden Club, which for years has been a female only institution, now with Hadley Partridge back in town and wanting to get Ashton Manor on the tour of gardens, he has been invited to join the committee. Everything SHOULD be plain sailing, however most of the ladies on the committee had flirted with Hadley before he left 40 years ago, and now he is back, still dashing and still unmarried, everyone is hoping to pick up where they left off, oh and if possible become the Lady of the House.
The problem is the body count, a skeleton is found buried in the grounds of Ashton Manor, one of the ladies of the Garden Committee is pushed downstairs and another is run off the road and nearly killed, now An'gel and Dickce (along with Benjy their ward, Peanut the Labradoodle and Aurora the cat) need to help Kanesha Berry figure out what is going on before someone else ends up six feet under!
The problem is the body count, a skeleton is found buried in the grounds of Ashton Manor, one of the ladies of the Garden Committee is pushed downstairs and another is run off the road and nearly killed, now An'gel and Dickce (along with Benjy their ward, Peanut the Labradoodle and Aurora the cat) need to help Kanesha Berry figure out what is going on before someone else ends up six feet under!
March 20, 2022
Cute, but not my cup o' tea
February 28, 2017
This book is a hoot. Hamish Partridge died and left his estate to his brother Hadley, who had left Athena 40 yrs. ago without a word to anyone.
Now Hadley has returned and the ladies of the garden club are literary dropping like flies around him.
Hadley is still handsome and charming and likes to flirt with the ladies but that is as far as it goes. Something that was his trademark 40 yrs. previous. All the women, including An'gel and Dickce Ducote had crushes on him before but only An"gel and Dickce had not desire for marriage as the others did.
Now that he is back and still eligible the claws are out and it's every gal for herself. But when the first murder occurs and a body which could be Hamish's wife Callie, thought to have run off with Hadley, appears under a fallen tree after questions are beginning to pile up and the Ducote sisters decide to help Keneshia Berry, Deputy Sheriff look into it. After all, who better to nose around that 2 little old ladies.
The twists and turns kept me guessing and I enjoyed the secrets that turned up even though I did figure those out just before they were reveled. The murderer for me was a surprise.
I just love they way this book was written. It showed that no matter how old the woman is, when it come to a man she wants she is willing to go all out to get him. And bad mouth her best friends. Also gone are the stereo type Miss Marple 70 and 80 yr. old characters. These are the modern 80 is the new 60. With the hair and make and clothes. No house dresses, white gloves and sensible shoes for this garden club. I can't wait for the next book.
Now Hadley has returned and the ladies of the garden club are literary dropping like flies around him.
Hadley is still handsome and charming and likes to flirt with the ladies but that is as far as it goes. Something that was his trademark 40 yrs. previous. All the women, including An'gel and Dickce Ducote had crushes on him before but only An"gel and Dickce had not desire for marriage as the others did.
Now that he is back and still eligible the claws are out and it's every gal for herself. But when the first murder occurs and a body which could be Hamish's wife Callie, thought to have run off with Hadley, appears under a fallen tree after questions are beginning to pile up and the Ducote sisters decide to help Keneshia Berry, Deputy Sheriff look into it. After all, who better to nose around that 2 little old ladies.
The twists and turns kept me guessing and I enjoyed the secrets that turned up even though I did figure those out just before they were reveled. The murderer for me was a surprise.
I just love they way this book was written. It showed that no matter how old the woman is, when it come to a man she wants she is willing to go all out to get him. And bad mouth her best friends. Also gone are the stereo type Miss Marple 70 and 80 yr. old characters. These are the modern 80 is the new 60. With the hair and make and clothes. No house dresses, white gloves and sensible shoes for this garden club. I can't wait for the next book.
March 8, 2021
One more interesting spin-off from Miranda James' Cat in the Stacks series set in small college town, Athena, Mississippi. The DuCote sisters, the doyens of Athena, once again find themselves in the midst of murder. (They shouldn't have hung around with Charlie Harris and Diesel, his Maine Coon!'-)
Anyway Hadley Partridge comes back to town 40 years after leaving abruptly. Evidently the intervening years have not dimmed his perception as a Missisippi Casanova.
The garden club ladies are lining up to see if he still has "it." Then the bodies start stacking up.
Secrets and obsession set the stage for bad, bad, bad.
I usually don't tattle but the copyeditor on this book evidently couldn't keep the two brothers Hadley and Hamish straight. Some times Hadley became Hamish which was probably very disconcerting to him since his brother Hamish was dead! Oh, well... We all make mistakes!
Anyway Hadley Partridge comes back to town 40 years after leaving abruptly. Evidently the intervening years have not dimmed his perception as a Missisippi Casanova.
The garden club ladies are lining up to see if he still has "it." Then the bodies start stacking up.
Secrets and obsession set the stage for bad, bad, bad.
I usually don't tattle but the copyeditor on this book evidently couldn't keep the two brothers Hadley and Hamish straight. Some times Hadley became Hamish which was probably very disconcerting to him since his brother Hamish was dead! Oh, well... We all make mistakes!
September 6, 2016
Digging Up The Dirt is the third book in the A Southern Ladies Mystery series.
It’s always nice to visit with the Ducote sisters, An’gel and Dickce in Athena.
Hearts are all a flutter with the members of the board of the Athena Garden Club. Hadley Partridge is returning to Athena to settle up his brother’s estate who had recently passed. Hadley had left some 40 years ago for unknown reasons. Speculation being that there might have been a romantic link between Hadley and his brother’s wife, Callie. Then when Callie went missing shortly after Hadley left, that sent tongues to really wagging. But, Hadley claims that he has not seen or talked to Callie since shortly after he left. After Hadley had left the meeting Sarinda Hetherington claims that she knows what happened to Callie and abruptly leaves. That evening the Ducote sisters get a call from Lottie, a board member, saying that Sarinda has fallen down the stairs at her home and that there is a liquor bottle next to her lifeless body and she reeks of alcohol. The next day Hadley calls the Ducote sisters and asks them to come overview the damage that a powerful storm had done overnight. As they walking, viewing the damage, the Ducote’s dog, Peanut, finds some bones near a tree that had been uprooted from the storm. The bones are from a hand and on one of the fingers is a ring owned by Callie.
So now the sisters are off to learn who might have killed Sarinda and hopefully find out if it might be the same person who might have killed Callie.
The sisters are both in their 80’s and as spry and active as someone half their age. Its fun to listen to sisters banter between themselves. Benjy is back once again and all set to begin to start at Althena College.
I hope I will be as active as An’gel and Dickce are when I get to be their age.
Looking forward to the next book in this delightful series.
It’s always nice to visit with the Ducote sisters, An’gel and Dickce in Athena.
Hearts are all a flutter with the members of the board of the Athena Garden Club. Hadley Partridge is returning to Athena to settle up his brother’s estate who had recently passed. Hadley had left some 40 years ago for unknown reasons. Speculation being that there might have been a romantic link between Hadley and his brother’s wife, Callie. Then when Callie went missing shortly after Hadley left, that sent tongues to really wagging. But, Hadley claims that he has not seen or talked to Callie since shortly after he left. After Hadley had left the meeting Sarinda Hetherington claims that she knows what happened to Callie and abruptly leaves. That evening the Ducote sisters get a call from Lottie, a board member, saying that Sarinda has fallen down the stairs at her home and that there is a liquor bottle next to her lifeless body and she reeks of alcohol. The next day Hadley calls the Ducote sisters and asks them to come overview the damage that a powerful storm had done overnight. As they walking, viewing the damage, the Ducote’s dog, Peanut, finds some bones near a tree that had been uprooted from the storm. The bones are from a hand and on one of the fingers is a ring owned by Callie.
So now the sisters are off to learn who might have killed Sarinda and hopefully find out if it might be the same person who might have killed Callie.
The sisters are both in their 80’s and as spry and active as someone half their age. Its fun to listen to sisters banter between themselves. Benjy is back once again and all set to begin to start at Althena College.
I hope I will be as active as An’gel and Dickce are when I get to be their age.
Looking forward to the next book in this delightful series.
August 17, 2017
Hadley Partridge has come back to Athena after a 40 year absence. And the ladies of Athena's Garden Club Council are all a flutter - Hadley is joining the Council! He'd been one of Athena's most handsome eligible bachelor's and somewhat a play-boyish scoundrel. And all of the ladies, including Misses Ang'el and Dickce Ducote, had succumbed to his charms to varying degrees. But Hadley's return has uncovered some old "dirt" about the reason(s) he left town and his sister in law Callie's disappearance soon after his departure from Mississippi.
The widows are scheming to get close to Hadley, and begin to drop like flies. Then a big storm hits Athena and near an old Oak on the Partridge Estate is uprooted and bones are found. Could these bones be the the missing Callie Partridge? And is one of the Garden Club Council ladies, a femme fatale whom will do anything - including murder - to get her man, Hadley Partridge?
From the 1st paragraph Miranda James grabs your attention and takes readers on a roller coaster. Digging Up the Dirt has a few surprises and twists that will take readers by surprise. James ratchets up the action and suspense and peppers the narration with humor and Miss An'gel acerbic wit. Miss Dickce has her moments too. I can't wait until Fixing to Die comes out in October 2017 to catch up with the Ducote sisters again.
The widows are scheming to get close to Hadley, and begin to drop like flies. Then a big storm hits Athena and near an old Oak on the Partridge Estate is uprooted and bones are found. Could these bones be the the missing Callie Partridge? And is one of the Garden Club Council ladies, a femme fatale whom will do anything - including murder - to get her man, Hadley Partridge?
From the 1st paragraph Miranda James grabs your attention and takes readers on a roller coaster. Digging Up the Dirt has a few surprises and twists that will take readers by surprise. James ratchets up the action and suspense and peppers the narration with humor and Miss An'gel acerbic wit. Miss Dickce has her moments too. I can't wait until Fixing to Die comes out in October 2017 to catch up with the Ducote sisters again.
September 10, 2016
Digging Up The Dirt was not only a true Title for this novel, but served as a double entendre as our beloved Ducote sisters, An'gel and Dickce find out.
The Athena MS Garden Club is all bubbling with the news of the upcoming annual "Grand Old Homes" garden tour and the homecoming of the most eligible bachelor (and heartthrob,) from a forty year exile. Hadley Partridge has come home to inherit the family manse and promises to restore the gardens and house to it's former glory of his beloved Mother's time.
An'gel and Dickce both had emotional ties to the handsome man. He is too young for them, of course being 75yrs old and the Sister's both in their early 80's. That doesn't seem to be an issue for the other members of the club council board.
Then, along with the dirt of gossip, a storm hits and an ancient Oak is uprooted in Hadley's gardens, under which bones are found...could this be the missing Sister-in-Law that had been rumored to have gone off with Hadley, (which he denies with fervor?)
This novel becomes a true page turner with more action/ rumors/ mysteries, and deadly accidents happening at a true pace and surprise to the reader. This series is better with each installment. Must we wait another year???
The Athena MS Garden Club is all bubbling with the news of the upcoming annual "Grand Old Homes" garden tour and the homecoming of the most eligible bachelor (and heartthrob,) from a forty year exile. Hadley Partridge has come home to inherit the family manse and promises to restore the gardens and house to it's former glory of his beloved Mother's time.
An'gel and Dickce both had emotional ties to the handsome man. He is too young for them, of course being 75yrs old and the Sister's both in their early 80's. That doesn't seem to be an issue for the other members of the club council board.
Then, along with the dirt of gossip, a storm hits and an ancient Oak is uprooted in Hadley's gardens, under which bones are found...could this be the missing Sister-in-Law that had been rumored to have gone off with Hadley, (which he denies with fervor?)
This novel becomes a true page turner with more action/ rumors/ mysteries, and deadly accidents happening at a true pace and surprise to the reader. This series is better with each installment. Must we wait another year???
August 30, 2016
Miranda James has the third book in the Southern Ladies Mystery Series coming out September 6th and it is my favorite of the entire series. I love that the main characters in this book are in their 80's. That these characters are so full of life and so relevant, active and important members of their community. The story behind the mystery in Digging Up the Dirt is exceptionally well written. I was easily transported to Athena, feeling like I was a guest in the Ducote sister's home as well as an active member of the Garden Club. I was very happy with the story line of their ward Benji as well as the mention of our good friends Charlie Harris and Diesel from James' Cat in the Stacks Mystery series. I hung on every southern word and heard that wonderful southern drawl come through as I read. I very much hope that the characters that are introduced in Digging Up the Dirt make appearances in up coming mysteries in book 4. I think this series really speaks to the need of characters of all ages and the Ducote Sisters are proving that main characters of older ages are viable, fun and much needed.
December 28, 2016
Ah, I do love spending time with An'gel and Dickce Ducote, as they sleuth through old mysteries with cups of sweet tea and so many delicious meals I almost drooled on my book. As always, manners are impeccable even when An'gel is losing her temper! And of course Peanut and Endora are there to lend comic relief, and add to the characters of Benjy and Clementine. If you've already been reading this series then a review like this one isn't going to help much, but first time readers should start with the Cat in the Stacks Mysteries to get a real feel for both the characters and the surrounding area.
I did love the actual mystery in this one, and wondered the entire way through until the big reveal. Won't give away any spoilers, but this was probably the best Southern Ladies mystery yet in terms of suspense and who actually dunnit. Of course I enjoyed this, I always do! Bring on February when the next Cat in the Stacks book comes out. Four stars! :)
I did love the actual mystery in this one, and wondered the entire way through until the big reveal. Won't give away any spoilers, but this was probably the best Southern Ladies mystery yet in terms of suspense and who actually dunnit. Of course I enjoyed this, I always do! Bring on February when the next Cat in the Stacks book comes out. Four stars! :)
February 5, 2017
The third adventure in the A Southern Ladies mystery series by Miranda James is another winner that keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, not wanting to put the book down until done. The ladies’ four-legged friends make for some light-hearted entertainment and a cameo by librarian Charlie Harris and main coon cat Diesel reminds of the unforgettable second series by this author, the Cat in the Stacks mysteries.
The recurring characters are by now well-established, however, newcomers need not worry about not following the storyline or what the people involved are up to and their reasoning – situations are well-explained as well as who does what and why. The suspense will grip the reader from introduction to resolve and keep everyone guessing as to who the culprit could possibly be – as is fitting for any great whodunit.
The recurring characters are by now well-established, however, newcomers need not worry about not following the storyline or what the people involved are up to and their reasoning – situations are well-explained as well as who does what and why. The suspense will grip the reader from introduction to resolve and keep everyone guessing as to who the culprit could possibly be – as is fitting for any great whodunit.
September 9, 2016
The third outing of the Ducote sisters, Miss An'gel and Miss Dickce, has definitely been worth waiting for. The sisters need to solve a mystery from 40 years ago that affects the present. It is full of Southern style and twists and turns that lead up to an eye popping climax!
July 1, 2023
Digging Up The Dirt is book three in the Southern Ladies Mystery series by Miranda James. Sisters An'gel and Dickce Ducote were looking forward to the meeting of the Athena Garden Club when An'gel told Dickce that Hadley Partridge had returned home to Ashton Hall. The return of Hadley Partridge sparked a couple of events that rocked Athena society and caused the sisters to investigate. The readers of Digging Up The Dirt will continue to follow An'gel and Dickce Ducote's investigation to discover what happens.
I have read other books by Miranda James, and I always enjoy her books. Digging Up The Dirt did not disappoint. It was funny and enjoyable to read. One of my favourite reasons for reading Miranda James's books is how she inserts cats and dogs into her stories. A lovely book to read on wet and cold afternoons, and you need to forget about your surroundings. I love Miranda James's portrayal of her characters and how they interact with each other throughout this book. Digging Up The Dirt is well-written and researched by Miranda James. I like Miranda James's description of the settings of Digging Up The Dirt that complemented the book's plot.
The readers of Digging Up The Dirt will learn about the role of a garden club. Also, the readers of Digging Up The Dirt will understand the consequences of mental illness that everyone involved has not diagnosed.
I recommend this book.
I have read other books by Miranda James, and I always enjoy her books. Digging Up The Dirt did not disappoint. It was funny and enjoyable to read. One of my favourite reasons for reading Miranda James's books is how she inserts cats and dogs into her stories. A lovely book to read on wet and cold afternoons, and you need to forget about your surroundings. I love Miranda James's portrayal of her characters and how they interact with each other throughout this book. Digging Up The Dirt is well-written and researched by Miranda James. I like Miranda James's description of the settings of Digging Up The Dirt that complemented the book's plot.
The readers of Digging Up The Dirt will learn about the role of a garden club. Also, the readers of Digging Up The Dirt will understand the consequences of mental illness that everyone involved has not diagnosed.
I recommend this book.
January 30, 2018
Review to come later.
May 22, 2020
Another fun little read. I love Miss Ang'el and Mis Dickce
September 24, 2016
Digging up the Dirt by Miranda James.
The Athena garden club is holding one of it's meetings and all the women are there. The Ducote sisters (An'gel and Dickce), Arliss, Reba, Lottie and Barbie. And...there's someone else back in town after a 40 year hiatus. Hadley Partridge, the brother of the late Hamish Partridge owner of the Ashton Hall mansion. Hadley's return after all this time was the center of attention at this meeting and it seems that all these women had been taken in by his charms in their youth. Some may have had more than just a crush on Hadley.
The first chapter seemed like just another get together of elderly women but then I kept reading. There was nothing shallow or boring about this mystery. Characters were investigated by the Southern Ladies and clues were unearthed. Soon the sisters discovered not everyone was who they were presumed to be and more surprises were on the way.
Another excellent addition to the Ducote Southern Ladies Mystery series. Highly recommended to all lovers of cozies.
The Athena garden club is holding one of it's meetings and all the women are there. The Ducote sisters (An'gel and Dickce), Arliss, Reba, Lottie and Barbie. And...there's someone else back in town after a 40 year hiatus. Hadley Partridge, the brother of the late Hamish Partridge owner of the Ashton Hall mansion. Hadley's return after all this time was the center of attention at this meeting and it seems that all these women had been taken in by his charms in their youth. Some may have had more than just a crush on Hadley.
The first chapter seemed like just another get together of elderly women but then I kept reading. There was nothing shallow or boring about this mystery. Characters were investigated by the Southern Ladies and clues were unearthed. Soon the sisters discovered not everyone was who they were presumed to be and more surprises were on the way.
Another excellent addition to the Ducote Southern Ladies Mystery series. Highly recommended to all lovers of cozies.
September 17, 2021
Originally published at Reading Reality
Honestly, I picked this one up because I just felt like it. I was looking for something that would be both familiar and new at the same time, and this seemed like it would be it. And it was.
Also, I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Bless Her Dead Little Heart, so even though I was a bit disappointed in Dead with the Wind I like this author more than enough to want to see if the third time would be the charm. And I had high hopes for a cameo from the main characters in the author’s other series, Cat in the Stacks, so I was very happy to see a bit – but not too much – of librarian Charlie Harris and his gentlemanly Maine Coon cat Diesel.
The story in Digging Up the Dirt reads like it’s at the intersection of two “old” sayings. The first is from the late, much-lamented Terry Pratchett, who said in the book Moving Pictures that “inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” More likely wondering what the HELL happened, but the thought is definitely there.
The quote it intersects with is something that a friend used to say fairly often when her spouse had just done something she wished he hadn’t. Her comment was that “the problem (with spouses) is that you can’t live with ‘em and you can’t bury ‘em in the backyard because the dogs will dig them up”
The Ducote sisters, An’gel and Dickce, along with the rest of the Athena Garden Club, have been rather abruptly confronted with the truth of the Pratchett quote when Hadley Partridge returns to Athena after a four-decade absence.
When Hadley left Athena all those years ago, he left the entire Garden Club in a veritable tizzy, as he was charming, handsome, rich and flirting with every single member of the club. When he left town, rumor had it that his brother threw him out of the family mansion in a fit of jealousy. Everyone in Athena, including, unfortunately for Hadley, his older brother, was just absolutely certain that Hadley was having an affair with his brother’s wife.
So when that same woman, Hadley’s sister-in-law Callie Partridge, disappeared without a trace a few days after Hadley’s abrupt departure, everyone just assumed that she ran off after Hadley.
At least that’s what everyone assumed until Hamish Partridge died and left the family manse to his brother Hadley. When Hadley returned to Athena, and got the entire Garden Club into pretty much the same tizzy he left them in, he claimed that he had not seen Callie in the intervening 40 years.
Then the Ducote sisters’ labradoodle, Peanut, digs up a body in the backyard of the Partridge estate. A body that goes a long way towards explaining where Callie Partridge has been “hiding” for all these years.
But doesn’t get either amateur sleuths An’gel and Dickce Ducote or Sherriff’s Detective Kanesha Berry much further in their hunt for the person who is killing the members of the Garden Club in the here and now.
Escape Rating A-: Except for the Ducote sisters, whose ages seem to be fixed at 80 and 84 for the entirety of this series, we don’t actually know the ages of the rest of the Athena Garden Club. Just that all of them were adults and Garden Club members 40 years previously, making all of them somewhere north of 60, if not quite as far north as An’gel and Dickce Ducote.
What I loved about all of them, even the ones that are crazy as betsy bugs, is that they are all, to a woman, vital and independent and healthy and active. (Physically healthy at least although there are one or two whose mental health may be – and have always been – a bit iffy.) And that it seems like everything they felt 40 years ago is just as alive in their heads and in their hearts – and possibly other places – now as it was then.
Their spirits are all still as willing as they ever were, even if the flesh occasionally creaks a bit. A feeling I can empathize with all too well – even if, or especially because, some of them were being really silly with it. Every bit as silly as they were 40 years ago. As another old saying goes, “we are too soon old and too late smart.”
The red herrings in this particular story are also steamed to a delectable turn. That there are murders to be solved in both the past and the present just adds to the number of different ways that the detectives and the reader can be led delightfully astray.
And we are all the way to the end. I was convinced until the very end that the present-day murderer was an entirely different party than the person who turned out to be guilty after all, although I did figure out Hadley’s secret slightly earlier than the Ducote sisters. Of course I wasn’t having any nostalgic or romantic ideas to cloud my judgment the way that they were.
There were two things that put this one head and shoulders over the previous book in the series. Except for the Ducote sisters and their traveling household of ward, dog and cat, there were very few likeable characters in Dead with the Wind. Which combined a bit too neatly with the second thing, that the story took An’gel and Dickce away from their home in Athena, robbing them of their usual support network and eliminating several people that the reader could have – and has – happily followed along with.
Which leaves me a tad worried about the final – at least so far – book in the series, Fixing to Die, which also takes the sisters and their household out of Athena. I’ll still be back for it, the next time I need the Ducote’s particular brand of reading comfort.
Honestly, I picked this one up because I just felt like it. I was looking for something that would be both familiar and new at the same time, and this seemed like it would be it. And it was.
Also, I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Bless Her Dead Little Heart, so even though I was a bit disappointed in Dead with the Wind I like this author more than enough to want to see if the third time would be the charm. And I had high hopes for a cameo from the main characters in the author’s other series, Cat in the Stacks, so I was very happy to see a bit – but not too much – of librarian Charlie Harris and his gentlemanly Maine Coon cat Diesel.
The story in Digging Up the Dirt reads like it’s at the intersection of two “old” sayings. The first is from the late, much-lamented Terry Pratchett, who said in the book Moving Pictures that “inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” More likely wondering what the HELL happened, but the thought is definitely there.
The quote it intersects with is something that a friend used to say fairly often when her spouse had just done something she wished he hadn’t. Her comment was that “the problem (with spouses) is that you can’t live with ‘em and you can’t bury ‘em in the backyard because the dogs will dig them up”
The Ducote sisters, An’gel and Dickce, along with the rest of the Athena Garden Club, have been rather abruptly confronted with the truth of the Pratchett quote when Hadley Partridge returns to Athena after a four-decade absence.
When Hadley left Athena all those years ago, he left the entire Garden Club in a veritable tizzy, as he was charming, handsome, rich and flirting with every single member of the club. When he left town, rumor had it that his brother threw him out of the family mansion in a fit of jealousy. Everyone in Athena, including, unfortunately for Hadley, his older brother, was just absolutely certain that Hadley was having an affair with his brother’s wife.
So when that same woman, Hadley’s sister-in-law Callie Partridge, disappeared without a trace a few days after Hadley’s abrupt departure, everyone just assumed that she ran off after Hadley.
At least that’s what everyone assumed until Hamish Partridge died and left the family manse to his brother Hadley. When Hadley returned to Athena, and got the entire Garden Club into pretty much the same tizzy he left them in, he claimed that he had not seen Callie in the intervening 40 years.
Then the Ducote sisters’ labradoodle, Peanut, digs up a body in the backyard of the Partridge estate. A body that goes a long way towards explaining where Callie Partridge has been “hiding” for all these years.
But doesn’t get either amateur sleuths An’gel and Dickce Ducote or Sherriff’s Detective Kanesha Berry much further in their hunt for the person who is killing the members of the Garden Club in the here and now.
Escape Rating A-: Except for the Ducote sisters, whose ages seem to be fixed at 80 and 84 for the entirety of this series, we don’t actually know the ages of the rest of the Athena Garden Club. Just that all of them were adults and Garden Club members 40 years previously, making all of them somewhere north of 60, if not quite as far north as An’gel and Dickce Ducote.
What I loved about all of them, even the ones that are crazy as betsy bugs, is that they are all, to a woman, vital and independent and healthy and active. (Physically healthy at least although there are one or two whose mental health may be – and have always been – a bit iffy.) And that it seems like everything they felt 40 years ago is just as alive in their heads and in their hearts – and possibly other places – now as it was then.
Their spirits are all still as willing as they ever were, even if the flesh occasionally creaks a bit. A feeling I can empathize with all too well – even if, or especially because, some of them were being really silly with it. Every bit as silly as they were 40 years ago. As another old saying goes, “we are too soon old and too late smart.”
The red herrings in this particular story are also steamed to a delectable turn. That there are murders to be solved in both the past and the present just adds to the number of different ways that the detectives and the reader can be led delightfully astray.
And we are all the way to the end. I was convinced until the very end that the present-day murderer was an entirely different party than the person who turned out to be guilty after all, although I did figure out Hadley’s secret slightly earlier than the Ducote sisters. Of course I wasn’t having any nostalgic or romantic ideas to cloud my judgment the way that they were.
There were two things that put this one head and shoulders over the previous book in the series. Except for the Ducote sisters and their traveling household of ward, dog and cat, there were very few likeable characters in Dead with the Wind. Which combined a bit too neatly with the second thing, that the story took An’gel and Dickce away from their home in Athena, robbing them of their usual support network and eliminating several people that the reader could have – and has – happily followed along with.
Which leaves me a tad worried about the final – at least so far – book in the series, Fixing to Die, which also takes the sisters and their household out of Athena. I’ll still be back for it, the next time I need the Ducote’s particular brand of reading comfort.
December 5, 2016
Another wonderful book from Miranda James.
In this one a gentleman who made the hearts of the ladies of Athena flutter, has returned home. And he has not been forgotten by the ladies...and one of them will stop at nothing to become his wife, even after 40 years!
Well written, well plotted, and thoroughly entertaining.
Highly recommended.
In this one a gentleman who made the hearts of the ladies of Athena flutter, has returned home. And he has not been forgotten by the ladies...and one of them will stop at nothing to become his wife, even after 40 years!
Well written, well plotted, and thoroughly entertaining.
Highly recommended.
December 30, 2016
Love Miss Angel and Miss Dickce. This spin off from Cat in the stacks mysteries is a delight. The two southern ladies are as prim and proper as can be but they always solve the crime. Lovely view of the south.
January 21, 2025
A good with mystery with a charming duo of senior Southern sisters who prove that older doesn't mean put out to pasture along with their troublemaking dog and cat set out to solve the mystery of a body that turns up on the yard of a man recently returned to Athena after years of being away.
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