Mama Cracks a Mask of Innocence - Nora DeLoach

There's not a killer in the world who can hide from Mama....

Dark encounters and deadly lessons

I was happy to volunteer a few days back home to help Mama distribute clothing to the needy. But I didn't expect big-city dangers to follow me all the way to Otis, South Carolina.

Instead of doing good deeds and cooking up a storm, Mama was digging deep into shady secrets after young Brenda Long was discovered dead in a shallow grave. Someone wanted Brenda silenced bad enough to kill, and the list of suspects is long.

But is the killer the drug-dealing teacher that Brenda threatened to expose? Or can it have been the man who was sent to jail after Brenda caught him stealing - now paroled and bent on exacting his revenge?

Everyone knows that Mama has had good luck as the town's unofficial sleuth. But as a maze of tangled relationships leads to dead ends and dead bodies, time is slipping away. For our worst enemies can masquerade as friends - and even Mama's luck can run out....

Nora DeLoachwas a mystery novelist and social worker. Her novels includeMama Solves a MurderandMama Traps a Killer. She died in 2001.

"[Mama] is a delight."
- Rendezvous

"Grace Covington [has been] dubbed the African-American Miss Marple."
- The San Diego Union-Tribune

"Nora DeLoach is a wonderful storyteller.... Fans will remember Mama and Simone as two of the best stars of down-home mysteries."
- The Midwest Book Review

"[Nora DeLoach] deserves considerable credit for ... demonstrating that the convention of the English cozy can be transplanted successfully to the American South."
- Publishers Weekly