Mama Cracks a Mask of Innocence

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....

About Nora DeLoach