When Will the Dead Lady Sing?

MacLaren Yarborourgh's old boyfriend shows up in town with his son who is running for governor. Joe Riddley's barn is burned down by Tad who runs away. A homeless person is found dead near the water tower. Who would want to kill her and why? Mac has to puzzle this out while being somewhat laid up with an injury. This installment of the series got off to an extremely slow start. I was quite ready to abandon it, but then it began to pick up, first slowly about halfway through the book and then more rapidly in the last third of the book. I really get annoyed by the people in the town, but then there's a Southernness about it that rings true as well. ( )

The heroine in When Will the Dead Lady Sing? is Judge MacLaren Yarbrough, a magistrate, small business owner and amateur sleuth of a certain age. The book is billed as a "thoroughly southern mystery," set in Hopemore, Georgia, which is compared (on the book's back cover) to Jan Karon's Mitford. Having read the Mitford series, I'm not sure I agree with that assessment.

When Burlin Bullock turns up in MacLaren's yard with a buffalo, no one is more surprised than the judge. Bullock was a chapter in her life she'd like to remain closed. MacLaren is most concerned because she has never told her husband, Joe Riddley Yarbrough, about her romance with the former Georgia Congressman.

Burlin is in town on a campaign visit with his son Lance (the buffalo is a campaign mascot), who is a candidate for governor. A widower, Burlin makes it pretty clear he's still smitten with his former girlfriend. When a drifter who apparently was following the Bullock's campaign trail winds up murdered, MacLaren decides to look into the death herself. Seems the police aren't all that interested in finding whoever murdered the homeless person. But when the victim is identified, it's a shock to MacLaren, the Bullocks, the police and just about everyone else in Hopemore.

When Will the Dead Lady Sing? Is a lighthearted, lightweight mystery with an interesting heroine -- a quick read for a lazy afternoon. Readers should know the story sometimes gets bogged down in the minutiae of small-town life and moves slowly at times. I always appreciate authors who provide a cast of characters for the book. Patricia Sprinkle does, although there were a few names missing in the galley proof.

By Diana. First published in Mystery News, August-September 2004. ( )