Miss Dimple Disappears
Mignon F. Ballard
Minotaur, Nov 23 2010, $24.99
ISBN 9780312614744
In 1942 on a cold November in Georgia, elderly Elderberry Grammar School teacher Miss Dimple Kilpatrick takes her usual morning walk in the town park. She is oblivious to a car quietly following her with the beams off though it is still dark outside.
Not longer after the first grade teacher of four decades was strolling in the park, the school janitor is found dead in the storage closet and Miss Dimple missing. One of her students Willie Elrod insists to his mother that he saw spies kidnap "poor Miss Dimple.” Third grade teacher Charlie Carr is worried about the disappearance of her former teacher who would never vanish during the school year. She persuades her best friend fourth grade teacher Annie Gardner to help her investigate what happened to the long time first grade teacher. She also wants to find out if there are ties to the janitor’s death though the latter is most likely due to natural causes. At the same time Charlie feels guilty that her boyfriend is serving as a corpsman while she is attracted to the boyfriend of her BFF.
The author of the charming Augusta Goodnight mysteries, Mignon F. Ballard begins a new series located in the home front of a small-town Georgia during WWII. The background is wonderful with a deep look at Elderberry preparing for war with moms, sisters and daughters knowing some of the men joining the military will not come home. The mystery of Miss Dimple Disappears is a fun cozy as the investigation is well written, but it is the townsfolk doing their part to support the war effort that makes this a winner.
Harriet Klausner
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