The ladies just can't stay out of trouble. This time trouble is an old friend who returns home. ( )

Digging Up The Dirt is the third book in the A Southern Ladies Mystery series.

It’s always nice to visit with the Ducote sisters, An’gel and Dickce in Athena.

Hearts are all a flutter with the members of the board of the Athena Garden Club. Hadley Partridge is returning to Athena to settle up his brother’s estate who had recently passed. Hadley had left some 40 years ago for unknown reasons. Speculation being that there might have been a romantic link between Hadley and his brother’s wife, Callie. Then when Callie went missing shortly after Hadley left, that sent tongues to really wagging. But, Hadley claims that he has not seen or talked to Callie since shortly after he left. After Hadley had left the meeting Sarinda Hetherington claims that she knows what happened to Callie and abruptly leaves. That evening the Ducote sisters get a call from Lottie, a board member, saying that Sarinda has fallen down the stairs at her home and that there is a liquor bottle next to her lifeless body and she reeks of alcohol. The next day Hadley calls the Ducote sisters and asks them to come overview the damage that a powerful storm had done overnight. As they walking, viewing the damage, the Ducote’s dog, Peanut, finds some bones near a tree that had been uprooted from the storm. The bones are from a hand and on one of the fingers is a ring owned by Callie.

So now the sisters are off to learn who might have killed Sarinda and hopefully find out if it might be the same person who might have killed Callie.

The sisters are both in their 80’s and as spry and active as someone half their age. Its fun to listen to sisters banter between themselves. Benjy is back once again and all set to begin to start at Althena College.

I hope I will be as active as An’gel and Dickce are when I get to be their age.

Looking forward to the next book in this delightful series. ( )