Susan Wittig Albert is a prolific author of the China Bayles Mystery Series. The title of each book in the series is the name of a plant or herb. As a gardener myself, I was intrigued by this concept and knew I just had to pick up the first book in the series. I've enjoyed every aspect of the series ever since, from the plucky protagonist, China, a former attorney who now operates an herb shop and adjoining cafe, to her sidekick, Ruby, owner of an adjacent new-agent shop in quaint Pecan Springs, Texas.

In this volume, the newly hired football coach elicits suspicions. As usual, China is called in to investigate his past, and in the process finds some disturbing information. If you enjoy light reading and occasional herbal lore, I think you'll enjoy this series. ( )

After an anonymous tip from a mysterious caller, the principal of Pecan Springs High School asks China to investigate the background of the new football coach. In an area where high school Friday night football is held in the highest esteem and a winning coach is a bigger celebrity than the governor, China has to tread softly as the allegations of sexual misconduct start bearing fruit. And it doesn't help matters any for her personally when a long forgotten man from her distant past reappears with news that shakes the very foundation of her life.

I read this book slightly out of order (booksfree skipped sending me one), so a new character almost threw me for a loop, but I'm glad if I had to miss a book in the series, that this one wasn't it. The backstory in any series is just as important if not moreso, IMO, as the quality of the mystery itself, and I really do enjoy these characters. This book throws some changes at China, but I have a hunch it will only serve to make this series richer. ( )

#14 in the China Bayles ‘herbal’ mystery series set in the hill country of Texas in fictional Pecan Springs. This book takes on the issue of the importance of high school football in Texas, where coaches and players are gods and reign supreme and anyone standing in their way are bugs to be squashed. When an official at the local school receives an anonymous tip that the current Pecan Springs coach has a ‘thing’ for teenage girls, she asks China to investigate on the sly and see if she can come up with any concrete evidence before the Golden Boy is accused openly—which could get very messy. China begins looking into things, and also discovers some disturbing information about her own past via some letters discovered when her father’s secretary passes on. An enjoyable visit to Pecan Springs with China, Ruby, McQuaid and the gang. ( )

Not as good as it thinks it is. Even I could guess which direction the plot was turning in - and I'm no good at mysteries. Still an enjoyable, yet predictable read. ( )

From Publishers Weekly
In Albert's engrossing 15th mystery to star China Bayles, herbalist, erstwhile lawyer and occasional gumshoe (after 2005's Dead Man's Bones), everyone in China's charming hometown of Pecan Springs, Tex., is stunned when the high school football coach, Tim Duffy, is murdered. The good coach, it turns out, had a nasty habit of getting sexually involved with teenage girls, and that criminal predilection led to his death. One of Duffy's victims had died recently, too, supposedly a suicide. Her case is reopened after the coach's predatory ways are discovered. Meanwhile, China stumbles onto a packet of letters written by her father years before, letters that reveal more about his past than she really wants to know. Albert's characterization is strong—China delights as ever, as does her wacky friend, Ruby Wilcox.