The Dearly Departed

The circumstances are a little odd when Sunny Batten returns to her hometown of King George, New Hampshire for her mother's funeral. Margaret Batten has not only died, she has died beside her fiance -- and this is the first Sunny has heard of him. As Sunny unravels the mystery of Margaret's secret in a town where it seems impossible to hide anything (there's only one diner, one doctor, one stop sign, and one motel), she starts to wonder if her mother's life might have been richer than anyone suspected. Add to the mix a chief of police whose interest in Sunny goes far beyond his civic duty, and you have the makings of an irresistibly beguiling tale from an author who writes with all the wit and wry authority of a latter-day Jane Austen.