Book Review: Fiddle Dee Death

Picked up a book on Jekyll Island, GA, a few weeks ago at Jekyll Books at the Old Infirmary. The store itself once was the infirmary for the Jekyll Club. (Click the link for history about the Jekyll Club.) I was visiting Jekyll Island on vacation and needed a book to read. I wanted something Southern with a little bit of mystery.

I chose Fiddle Dee Death by Caroline Cousins. The description on the back reads:

"Old bones, old photos, old flame.... Pinckney Plantation on Indigo Island, South Carolina, has a long history - and now a dead body. Who is he? Did he fall or was he pushed? How are cousins Lindsey and Margaret Ann going to tell Miss Augusta? Can cousin Bonnie wear green to the funeral? Southern manners mix with mystery as the three cousins ferret out secrets and scandals, old and new."

 This book was entertaining. It was filled with witty, Southern humor that had me laughing at times, and it definitely painted a decent picture of life in a small Southern town. However, I had a difficult time keeping all the characters straight, and I sometimes felt lost in the story. Worth a read, but I wouldn't go out and buy a copy for all my friends.

Fall in the South

This season tends to creep up on us Southerners. One day, it feels like full-blown summer still. 87* and so humid you can't breathe. But then one morning, you realize that the air feels thinner and cleaner. And the sky looks bluer. That's when fall starts to sneak in. It may hide a few days behind the oppressive heat, or it might show its face a few times with a light breeze or a hint of coolness in the air.

But you never realize that it's actually fall until one morning, you wake up, and suddenly you realize, "Oh! There it is!"

And you're surprised to see that the leaves are changing and the pumpkins are ripening. The dew feels heavier in the morning, and fog creeps in at night.

It's like the whole South takes a sigh of relief for having made it through another stifling hot and dry summer. And it slowly relaxes itself to enjoy this respite from the heat and prepare for the quiet cool of winter.