Shadow of an Angel

May 6, 2002
Do you believe in magic, miracles and guardian angels? If so, you'll enjoy Ballard's third cozy (Angel at Troublesome Creek; An Angel to Die For) to feature ethereal Augusta Goodnight. Angel Augusta fills in as a "temp" guardian for young widow Arminda Hobbs, who finds her cousin Otto dead in a ladies' room stall at the local museum, once the home of the Minerva Academy girls' school. Childish mysticism, an overly complex plot and a cast of characters so large it requires a list at the front may put off some readers, but those willing to suspend disbelief will be engrossed by Minda's efforts to track down Otto's killer now that she's returned to her sleepy hometown of Angel Heights, S.C. Our heroine learns of the Mystic Six, a secret society formed decades ago by six young women at Minerva Academy—and of a duplicitous teacher who liked to do more to his pretty students than instruct them in their schoolwork. Minda lays her life on the line several times to find and interpret a quilt (incorporated into the primitively charming if somewhat frenetic jacket design) that the Mystic Six made and uneasily passed around to one another after graduation. Fortunately, her guardian angel is on hand to guide and protect her. By the end Augusta Goodnight fans are sure to have built up an appetite for the next book in the series, just as Minda develops a taste for her angel's homemade muffins.

May 1, 2002
Minda Hobbs goes home; her husband, Jarvis, is dead, and she seeks the comfort of her family and the family homeplace, fondly called the Nut House in Angel Heights, South Carolina. The terrific first sentence clues us in to the tone: "Things got off to a rotten start when I found Cousin Otto dead in the ladies' room." Humor, gentility, and understatement are the order of the day, even regarding the angel, Augusta Goodnight, who assists Minda not only in solving the mystery but also in returning to life and its comforts after Jarvis' death. The tenuous memories of old women, among them Vesta, Minda's grandmother, tie together a sewing circle of young women before World War I, a secret society with the symbol of a star enclosed in a flower, and a mysterious quilt that seems to have disappeared. How this all relates to the current day--and Cousin Otto's death--involves family secrets and lots of herb tea and angel-made muffins. Lighter than Augusta's nondescripts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)