Miss Julia Lays Down the Law

February 16, 2015
In bestseller Ross’s pleasing 16th Miss Julia novel (after 2014’s Miss Julia’s Marvelous Makeover), Connie Clayborn, a newcomer to Abbotsville, N.C., and the well-traveled wife of a top business executive, invites Miss Julia Murdoch and a dozen other socially prominent ladies over for coffee at her house in the county’s only gated community. At the gathering, Connie proceeds to berate and belittle her guests, about whom she appears to know a lot. Needless to say, the ladies of Abbotsville aren’t pleased. At the urging of a local pastor, Larry Ledbetter, Miss Julia agrees to have a word with Connie. But when Miss Julia calls on Connie, she discovers the woman lying dead in a pool of blood on her kitchen floor. Did Pastor Ledbetter have some ulterior motive for sending her to a crime scene? Miss Julia wonders. Cozy fans who appreciate genteel Southern manners will be enthralled. Ten-city author tour. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents.

February 1, 2015
A Southern gentlewoman's nerves are shredded after she finds a body-and not for the reason you'd expect.The emphatically married Miss Julia Murdoch is beside herself after attending a coffee meeting at the home of Connie Clayborn, a newcomer to Abbotsville. Nor is she the only one offended by the oblivious Connie's rant about what's wrong with their town and how she proposes to fix it. Julia contents herself with grumbling to her like-minded friends and avoiding Connie until her pastor, swearing her to secrecy, begs her to go see Connie and ask her to apologize to his wife, Emma Sue Ledbetter, who suffers from migraines and low self-esteem. Emma Sue has been devastated ever since Connie criticized her pet project, the town park. Much against her will, Julia sallies forth, only to find Connie dead in her kitchen. Asking the guard at the gated community to call the police, she returns home and discovers that she's the leading suspect. The police have heard all about Julia's dislike of Connie's plans, but she won't break her promise to keep the reason for her visit confidential until she sees Pastor Ledbetter, who's evidently doing everything possible to avoid her. With her husband out of town, Julia does a little sleuthing of her own with help from a likable petty criminal, but her efforts to prove her innocence only get her in more trouble. Can Julia, now in her 16th installment (Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover, 2014, etc.), possibly be as naive as she continues to appear? Die-hard fans will brush this question aside and relish the surprise ending.

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March 1, 2015
Newcomer Connie Clayborn ruffles a lot of feathers when she invites the ladies of Abbotsville to her house for coffee and delivers a blistering critique of their efforts on behalf of the town. Pastor Ledbetter's wife, Emma Sue, seems especially shaken, and the pastor asks Miss Julia to call on Connie and get her to apologize. When Miss Julia arrives at Connie's house, she discovers a dead body, and because she was the last person to see Connie alive and because she promised the pastor to keep their conversation about Emma Sue confidential, she finds herself under a cloud of suspicion. Being Miss Julia, she takes matters into her own hands and does some sleuthing, with assistance from the town vagrant. Husband Sam is out of town, so Miss Julia turns for advice to Sheriff Coleman Bates, who is fence-sitting to raise money for new playground equipment while also fending off the advances of a lovesick librarian. This sixteenth novel in the popular Miss Julia series lacks some of the spark of earlier entries, but fans won't want to miss it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2014

When stuck-up newcomer Connie Clayborn has the ladies over for coffee and spends the time running down Abbotsville, Miss Julia returns to give Connie a piece of her mind and finds her lying in a pool of blood. Sixteenth in a series that's collecting more fans; the last entry, Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover, debuted at No. 10 on the New York Times best sellers list, Ross's first showing on the print list.

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