SAVANNAH BLUES

Sassy gal hunts for antiques in Savannah’s street junk—and tracks down a killer.

Eloise Foley (“Weezie” to her devoted friends) has been forced to move out of the 1858 townhouse she shared with her obnoxious ex-husband, Talmadge Evans III, the blue-blooded heir to an old southern name and fortune. He got the townhouse, where he now lives with his new flame, Caroline DeSantos, and Weezie got the charming carriage house just behind it, big enough for her and her mutt Jethro, who always pees on Caroline’s camellias. Weezie’s mother frets about Weezie having no job, husband, or prospects—and then BeBe Loudermilk, Weezie’s best bud, introduces her to the sexy new chef at the restaurant she owns. Dan Stipanek is ruggedly handsome—and wouldn’t you know it, Weezie knew him way back when they used to make out under the stars at Beaulieu, an antebellum house once owned by the Mullinaxes, the last of whom recently died at 97, without an heir, so that an estate sale has been planned. Weezie sneaks into the house in the dead of night to get a better look before any choice items are snapped up by dealers, and she spots a unique corner cabinet of burled elm that may have been carved by a master carpenter, once a slave. If she could buy and resell it, she’d have enough money to open her own shop. Weezie continues to prowl through the old manse, opens a closet door—and out tumbles the body of Caroline DeSantos! For the police, Weezie’s the number one suspect, but they don’t have evidence to arrest her. Meanwhile, she keeps looking for the corner cabinet, which has disappeared. Could wicked antiques-dealer Lewis Hargeaves be mixed up in all this?

First-timer Andrews, a former journalist and once an antiques “picker” herself, offers deft plotting, sly humor, and appealing characters: pure fun.