Tag Archives: Widows

by | December 31, 2009 · 6:24 pm

Joan Medlicott. A Blue and Gray Christmas. New York: Pocket Books, 2009.

When Hannah’s husband Max discovers a battered tin box in the foundation of a house he is restoring, he brings it to Hannah and her dear friends Grace and Amelia. To their delight, it contains letters and diaries from two Civil War soldiers, one from South Carolina and the other from Connecticut. What historic treasures!  But it is the human story that attracts the ladies–two young men nursed back to health by a local woman to whom they then become bound by gratitude. Not content to leave the story of these men and the kindly woman in the past, the friends make plans to bring the men’s descendants to Covington. Amelia and a local school teacher head to Connecticut to track down the Union soldier’s family.  Meanwhile, life in Covington goes on.  Hannah tries to help her sort-of daughter-in-law, Sarina, find happiness after her husband has left her.  Sarina’s romance with a local pastor stirs up the church.  When Grace is injured in a car accident, Bob is denied access to her because they are not married, causing him great pain. Will the incident cause Grace to reconsider her decision not to marry?

This is the ninth novel in Medlicott’s  Covington Novels series.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | December 23, 2009 · 1:23 pm

Elizabeth Spann Craig. A Dyeing Shame: Death at the Beauty Box. Pineland, FL: Palmland Publishing, 2006.

The fictional town of Bradley, North Carolina, is an old Southern town in which the weekly hair appointment is an eagerly anticipated outing for women such as Myrtle Clover, the octogenarian protagonist in Spann’s first novel. Unfortunately, Myrtle’s routine now has a snag: Tami, her hairdresser, has just been murdered. A few months earlier, everyone would have been sad about her death, but Tami’s recent lapse into alcoholism made her bitter and unpleasant. Myrtle, the literature-quoting former English teacher, sees this unfortunate death as an opportunity to break her boredom and to prove to her son, the Bradley police chief, that her mind is still sharp. When Myrtle finds her best friend and neighbor, Edna, bludgeoned to death in her garden, the mystery hits too close to home. Myrtle puts the clues together using her favorite soap opera, Tomorrow’s Promise, as a guide. Finally she realizes the motive for her friends’ deaths and helps her son solve the case.

A Dyeing Shame is Elizabeth Spann Craig’s first book in her Myrtle Clover mystery series.

Check this title’s availability and the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2006, Craig, Elizabeth Spann, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | November 2, 2009 · 9:04 am

James Villas. Dancing in the Lowcountry. New York: Kensington Books, 2008.

Ella Dubose, a 70-something Southern lady, has been a Charlotte resident for almost a half a century, but she left some part of her heart in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina.  When her younger children start to pester her about her her driving and her health (they thinks she’s getting senile), Ella takes off for a small inn at Myrtle Beach.  There she reflects on her early life in South Carolina, especially her relationship with the man who might be the father of her eldest son.  She summons that son to join her at the inn.  Will she have the courage to tell him about her early life, or will the prospect of a romance with another guest at the inn turn her mind to happier things?

Most of the action in this novel takes place in South Carolina.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2008, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Villas, James

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by | May 30, 2009 · 3:23 pm

Joan Medlicott. From the Heart of Covington. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2002.

From the Heart of Covington continues the stories of Hannah, Amelia, and Grace, older ladies who share a house in the fictional town of Covington, NC. In this, the third book in the series, a close friend’s cancer impacts all of the women, but each has her own issues to contend with. Amelia furthers her photography career and takes a trip to New York. Grace volunteers at the local elementary school, deals with her son’s rocky relationship, and faces a diabetes diagnosis. Hannah is reunited with her estranged daughter and the younger woman, Laura, comes to live in Covington after she is seriously injured in a boating disaster.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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by | May 28, 2009 · 12:50 pm

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Delivers the Goods. New York: Viking, 2009.

That Hazel Marie! Miss Julia has become fond of her late husband’s mistress and the couple’s son, but Hazel Marie hasn’t always made it easy.  Miss Julia was scandalized when Hazel moved in with a new boyfriend, private detective J.D. Pickens.  Hazel and J.D. are each on the stormy side, and when J.D. has had enough, he leaves town.  Now Hazel finds herself expecting twins, and Miss Julia decides she must get the couple back together.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

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by | · 10:01 am

Clay Harvey. A Flash of Red. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1996.

While Tyler Vance is in the drive-through for his local bank one day, a fleeing bank robber points a gun at him and demands he hand over his truck.  In that instant, Vance’s unique, deadly, and very secret military training takes over.  He shoots and kills the robber, not knowing that the dead man has some “family” ties to international drug dealers, gun runners, and racketeers.  Tyler’s life as a freelance writer, recent widower, and single father quickly turns dangerous as the mobster’s connections try to exact vengeance upon him.  He turns to friends, family, and old army connections for help surviving the attacks and keeping his son safe.  Author Clay Harvey, like main character Vance, lives in North Carolina and writes articles and books about guns.  A Flash of Red is the first book in Harvey’s series about Vance.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1990-1999, 1996, Harvey, Clay, Mecklenburg, Piedmont, Romance/Relationship, Suspense/Thriller

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by | May 24, 2009 · 9:50 am

Dixie Browning. Beckett’s Cinderella. New York: Silhouette Books, 2002.

The theme of family honor makes this a satisfying read for someone looking for an old-fashioned tale. Money has been a problem for Eliza Chandler Edwards.  As a married woman she had plenty, but only because her husband was scamming his investors.  (Eliza was an innocent bystander to this.)  As a widow (her husband was killed by one of his clients), she is poor as a church mouse, in part because she felt honor-bound to sell her home and personal goods to repay her husband’s victims.  When the novel opens, Eliza is living in Currituck County with her great-uncle Fred, helping him run a produce stand.  Just as Eliza tried to right her late husband’s wrongs, the wealthy Beckett family wants to make up for a wrong committed by a family member.  Patriarch PawPaw Beckett summons handsome grandson Lancelot to track down the last heirs of Elias Chandler, a business partner cheated by PawPaw’s father.  Eliza is suspicious of Beckett and the money he wants to give her, but they are clearly attracted to each other.  A hurricane and the arrival of someone from Eliza’s Texas days help move the plot along.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2002, Browning, Dixie, Coast, Currituck, Novels in Series, Romance/Relationship

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by | May 22, 2009 · 10:00 am

Ann B. Ross. Miss Julia Hits the Road. New York: Viking, 2003.

Miss Julia can’t figure out what is wrong with her friend Sam. He is too old for a mid-life crisis and too young for senility, but he inexplicably shows up in her driveway one day wearing a leather jacket and riding a Harley. Although she can’t seem to wrap her mind around it, he also begins courting her in earnest: flowers, bad poetry, and calling “just to talk.” However, the real problem in this book is that Miss Julia’s housekeeper Lillian and all her neighbors are in danger of being evicted by their shady landlord. Miss Julia comes to the rescue by organizing a Poker Run motorcycle fundraiser, but must also dodge the unwanted attentions of the event’s biggest benefactor. This is the fourth book about the proper widow’s adventures in the fictional town of Abbotsville.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2003, Henderson, Humor, Mountains, Mystery, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places, Ross, Ann B.

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by | May 21, 2009 · 9:40 am

Betty R. Headapohl. By Love Renewed. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1987.

I’m writing this in late April, the time of the year when North Carolina is its most alluring.  Betty Headapohl puts that allure in print in this novel about a woman in need of renewal. Anne Duvall has been feeling numb since the death of her husband, but as soon as she arrives in the mountains outside of Asheville, she begins to come alive. The mountain scenery and the good, friendly folks all make her feel that she could make a home here.  And then there’s that handsome minister Jubal Turner.  There are no surprises in this Christian romance, just a satisfying story of love and healing.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 1980-1989, 1987, Headapohl, Betty R., Mountains, Religious/Inspirational, Romance/Relationship

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by | April 27, 2009 · 11:17 am

Joan Medlicott. Promises of Change. New York: Pocket Books, 2009.

Hannah found true love when she married her business partner Max in Two Days after the Wedding. Of course, Hannah still lives mostly with her friends Amelia and Grace in the house across the street from Max’s.  It’s all working fine until Max’s son Zachary and his very pregnant wife arrive in Covington.  Zachary is an unhappy soul, and his father’s failure to tell him about his marriage is just one more grievance for Zachary. Hannah does her best to make things work, as she opens her heart to Zachary’s wife Sarina and the baby Sarah. The ladies of Covington are coping with health problems, but there is still a lot of life in the novel as Max helps Jose and Anna open a restaurant, Amelia decides that she wants a dog, and the town mobilizes against a scammer who preys on senior citizens.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2000-2009, 2009, Medlicott, Joan, Mountains, Novels in Series, Novels Set in Fictional Places

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