Be careful where you dig; you just might find some bones.

Just when I need a little magic, a little comfort, a happy ending –  Sarah Addison Allen writes another book.  The author of Garden Spells, The Sugar Queen, and The Girl Who Chased the Moon, creates another romantic Southern mystery in her latest – The Peach Keeper – full of secrets, a murder, and the powerful forces of friendship.

In digging up an old peach tree to make room for a more stately oak at the historic Jackson estate under renovation, Paxton Osgood discovers a skeleton and an iron frying pan.  The dead remains connect Paxton to Willa Jackson, whose grandmother has been keeping a secret for seventy-five years about Tucker Devlin, a charmingly ruthless traveling salesman.

Only their two grandmothers, old friends who are now in a nursing home, know the real story, which eventually unravels, connecting the next generation and reestablishing the power of the past.  Allen’s books always have some illusions in them, and in this one, she weaves in a few strange asides – shopbells that ring when no one is there; the smell of peaches in the air; cherries eaten out of pictures.   It doesn’t matter to the plot whether you believe or not.

The Peach Keeper is a fast, sweet read – an afternoon delight.

For more Sarah Addison Allen books:   The Girl Who Chased the Moon