Guardian angel Augusta Goodnight, the star of Ballard's paranormal cozy series, lends celestial support to first-grade teacher Miss Dimple Kilpatrick in the author's feel-good fifth WWII-era mystery (after 2014's Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble). One afternoon in October 1944, Miss Dimple spots a frightened stranger, Dora Westbrook, on the porch of the Elderberry, Ga., library. When Miss Dimple learns that Dora has no place to stay, she takes the poor woman to her friend Phoebe Chadwick's boarding house for a hot meal. Dora winds up seeking shelter at the local Presbyterian church, and the next morning the part-time sexton finds her dead body on the floor below the steeple ladder. Did she attempt to climb the ladder and take a fatal fall? With the guidance of the otherworldly Augusta, Miss Dimple searches for answers. Ballard expertly weaves the lives of her endearing small-town characters with details of the wartime home front. Agent: Laura Langlie, Laura Langlie Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Miss Dimple Kilpatrick lives in Phoebe Chadwick's boardinghouse, along with several other ladies. When the body of a young woman who was seen earlier at the library is discovered in the local church, Augusta Goodnight sets out on a mission to reveal the secrets of Elderberry, GA. This latest entry follows Miss Dimple Picks a Peck of Trouble. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In October 1944, the townspeople of Elderberry, Georgia, are war weary. The ladies of Phoebe Chadwick's boardinghouse are no exception, coping with rationing and the departure of their cook. Then two women arrive in Elderberry, and everything changes. First, Phoebe opens her doors to Dora, whom Miss Dimple Kirkpatrick had found on the porch of the village library, unfamiliar with Elderberry and with no place to stay. Back at the boardinghouse, the residents offer Dora fresh clothes and a meal, but when they check on her, she is gone. The next morning, Augusta Goodnight arrives, sent to apply her guardian-angel powers to, well, she isn't quite sure about her mission. Later in the day, Dora is found dead in the steeple of the Presbyterian church. The ladies use all their contacts, as well as Augusta's special skills, to learn more about Dora and how she died. The arrival of Augusta Goodnight from another of Ballard's series will surely delight fans of Carolyn Hart's Bailey Ruth. The WWII home-front setting seems like a fast-forward of Susan Wittig Albert's 1930s-set Darling Dahlias series.--Muller, Karen Copyright 2016 Booklist