Customer Reviews

Angel at Troublesome Creek

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As usual, Ballard's take on the small-town South is right on. Her infallible eye for character and ear for language help her create engaging eccentrics, colorful colloquialisms, and mouthwatering menus. Her tastes don't stop at butter beans and biscuits, however. Her penchant is for suspense, developed with puzzles of both the criminal and romantic kind. This book features the usual rainy-day mystery cast: a forlorn but spunky heroine, innumerable snoops and suspects, and a dead body or two. But the star is Augusta Goodnight, who has a knack for baking, a flair for fashion, and a halo and wings. She's not only an unusual guardian but a refreshing departure for the genre. If you're in a curl-up-in-the-windowseat-with-a-good-book mood, read Angel at Troublesome Creek.

What a delightful book this was! A good balance of mystery, a little suspense, a little romance, red herrings - this book had it all, along with a whimsical guardian angel full of spunk. The book was somewhat of a cross between an Aunt Dimity mystery or a Donna Andrews ("Murder with Peacocks"), both the "lighter" style of mystery, with an aim to entertain. The book succeeded in doing just that. A great quick read.

This is the first Ballard book that I have read, so I cannot compare it with previous works. However, I truly enjoyed this outing. The mystery isn't that complicated and the motive behind the murder is dubious. So what makes this book so wonderful you might ask? The angel that visits the protagonist. Their relationship is the most interesting thing. I found myself hurriedly reading through some of the other scenes in order to find the scenes that include the angel. I definitely plan on reading Ms. Ballard's new angel book and I will hope that it perhaps includes more of a relationship between the lead and the angel. Information about the angel's life on earth would have been a plus. Some information about the angel's life is included but just enough to wet your appetite for more.

Fresh from the 19-40s, welcome an angel who is not above irony and a few asides. Her charge, Martha George Murphy, suspects someone pushed her loveable aunt down the attic stairs. But when the duo tries to track the villian down, evil lurks where you would least expect it. But let's not forget the fun, the good food, and a bit of romance. Here's a cozy mystery sure to lull you staying up way past your bedtime.

Mary George Murphy's life is a mess. She's lost her job, her fiance', and now her adopted mother Aunt Caroline. Aunt Caroline fell down the attic stairs. Only, she never went up there if she didn't have to. Mary George is in dispair and decides to end it all. She is stopped by her substitute guardian angel, Augusta Goodnight. What an angel, the last time she was on earth it was the forties and she is having a hard time dealing with everything 50 years later, not that she doesn't try. She is usually in charge of the strawberries in heaven. With Augusta's help, she gets her life back on track, reconnects with an old friend, and solves the mystery of her Aunt Caroline's death, as well as a few others.

This was a very sweet cozy, Aunt Dimity's fans should I really like it. I know I did.

Mary George Murphy is heartbroken when her last remaining relative dies in mysterious circumstances. When she joins forces with her unusual partner, substitute guardian angel Augusta Goodnight, she is reunited with her childhood friend Sam and solves the murder of her beloved aunt. The strength of this book is the cast of charming characters and cozy setting.

This is a refreshing read - similar to the 1940 Nick Charles mystery series - full of real mystery, some murder, plots evolving around family and community characters - and fun --- lots of fun reading due to the appearance of a guardian angel by the name of Augusta Goodnight. You finish reading by wishing Augusta would pay a visit to your life. Augusta makes the story - and leaves the strawberry smell of happiness for days. I am only sorry there are just 4 books so far. Please read - these stories will give you days of pleasure.

This is an enjoyable story about a woman whose life is upside down. Her fiance has left her, her aunt has died, and her substitute gaurdian angel pops in and out at will. BUT- her aunt's death is suspicious and with the help of her gaurdian angel Mary George Murphy manages to find an old friend, make new friends, and solve the murder of her aunt. Very interesting.

This is a nice little book to cozy up to and enjoy when you need a little chuckle. I enjoyed it.

Mary George Murphy's run of bad luck is so extreme that she leans towards committing suicide, but fails to select a suitable method. While internally debating how to end her miserable existence, Mary George's guardian angel Augusta Midnight visits the earth for the first time since the forties.

Her former fiancé dumped Mary George just a few weeks before their wedding date. Not to long afterward, her beloved Aunt Caroline died from what was officially ruled an accident. Mary George thinks otherwise. Augusta has come to the mortal plane to help Mary George substantiate that someone murdered Caroline as well prove the embattled woman has plenty to live for. However, a killer decides that Mary George's snooping is too close to uncovering the truth about Caroline's death and the secret buried with the woman. That individual would not mind having Mary George join her aunt in the afterlife.

Fans of small town whimsical cozies will enjoy reading ANGEL AT TROUBLESOME CREEK, which moves "It's a Wonderful Life" into a modern day amateur sleuth tale. Augusta is an intriguing secondary character whose observations on change are entertaining and enlightening. The who-done-it is filled with plenty of suspects and red herrings, making it nearly impossible to solve the mystery. Though readers will question Mary George's early motives, she ultimately hooks her audience with her tenacity and bravery. Mignon F. Ballard writes a stimulating and pleasurable otherworldly mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Mary George Murphy has had a rough time lately. She was fired from her job, her fiance has dumped for another woman, and worse of all her Aunt Caroline, who she has always loved and has loved her has died, a strange death. Mary George is perplexed. She thinks Aunt Caroline may have been murdered. But can she prove it. And who would kill this lovely woman who everybody loved. This young woman is thinking of suicide. She has tried to kill herself three times. What is there to live for? The aunt she loved so much is gone from her life. The man she loved loves another. And she has no job, no money. Then suddenly in the attic of Aunt Caroline's large old house appears a strange woman, a very attractive woman, but dressed in clothes from back in time, possibly the forties. Stramge happening! Strange person!

This young woman has a rough time in life. When she was five, her parents were killed in an automobile accident. She wasn't hurt but had to be placed in a children's home. She is an only child with no living relatives. Then along come Aunt Caroline and Uncle Henry, a childless couple. And they loved Mary George. Now both are gone. And she can't even do a good job of killing herself.

The couple fell in love with her from a newspaper photo taken at the children's home with a little boy, her best friend.

Over comes Delia, Aunt Caroline's best friend from childhood. They are both from the small North Carolina town where they have always lived.

Delia is an animal lover and has a houseful of kitties, her kids. She helps Mary George get her household goods together. She loves Caroline also. Mary George is looking through books, dishes, table cloths, plus other household treasures that once was her deceased aunt's. But must sell, she needs the money. Delia cautions her about selling things she should keep. Keep some of Caroline's most treasured things. She would want you to
have them.

Mary George moves into an apartment owned by Fronie Templeton. Aunt Caroline's house is on the market. Fronie is a silly sixtish woman with canary yellow hair who dresses youthfully in loud, wild clothes. She cooks, her cooking is unedible, she sings in the church choir, she has a loud skreechy voice. She tells everyone she was once a great beauty which makes Mary George greatful that she is not a beauty. Another tennant is a handsome, movie star handsome man who Mary George dates briefly.

Augusta Goodnight, this angel is not her guardian angel, Mary George's angel is on vacation. Augusta Goodnight is only filling in. But she does get Mary George's life set right. Mary George takes up for herself when the ex-fiance wants to take her back. Probably the other woman drops him. Mary George sends him on his way miffed as he is. He probably felt Mary George is lucky to get him back in her life. But Mary deserves better in all parts of her life. Augusta Goodnight, who drifts in and out of Mary's life,encourages her, makes her see the truth and helps her to find out who killed her adored aunt.

This is a southern gothic mystery book and also chick-lit.