Up Jumps the Devil

Up Jumps the Devil, the winner of the 1996 Agatha Award for best novel, finds Deborah back home in rural Colleton County, where someone's killed one of her childhood friends, Dallas Stancil. Taking one of her aunt's famous chicken casseroles to the widow, Deborah gets in the thick of things as the police quickly arrest the woman and another relative. It seems the not-so-grieving widow and her kin killed Dallas for his valuable property, which a local developer sorely wants. Case closed...until another murder occurs and even more property issues arise. As for Deborah's love life? A man she once had a very serious relationship with at 18 shows up, tattoos, scars, and all.