To Sunny, the whole thing is rotten. She can’t imagine that Ratkin isn’t more upset or more anxious to find his wife. Gunnar, however, is very gung-ho about the case, so Sunny agrees to go along with it. Sunny and Gunnar set up headquarters in Georgia’s cottage (a 400-acre estate) and work with her security team to try and locate the missing star. About the same time Ratkin holds a press conference, Sunny begins to get ransom calls.

With the help of the FBI, the kidnapper is tracked and Georgia is found safe and unharmed. Because of some disagreements that arise from the brief investigation, Sunny quits the agency. Several weeks later, she runs into ex-FBI agent Barrington Cherry and learns that Georgia has been murdered and that Gunnar and Ratkin have been arrested for the murder. Gunnar hires Sunny to find the real killer before his trial - just three weeks away.

Sunny hires Barrington and the two begin investigating Georgia’s and Ratkin’s lives to see if they can trace the murder back to someone other than Gunnar. Sunny focuses her investigation on a stalker that she uncovered during the first investigation. Uncovering aliases and a trail that leads to Australia brings Sunny closer to the murderer and an unbelievable tale of jealousy.

Sweet Georgia is an odd mystery in that it reads as if it were two books. The kidnapping, resolution and Sunny’s leaving Gunnar’s agency make up one story and the subsequent murder and that investigation seems like a second book and it may take a bit of work for the reader to remember it is one book.

Sunny Childs is a sassy, spunky heroine who is able to keep her wits about her throughout both investigations. In the murder investigation, she is a little blinded by the gut feeling that Gunnar couldn’t have committed the murder, very admirable, especially in the face of their recent history. Ruth Birmingham (who is really Walter Sorrells) has chosen the names for her characters carefully and appropriately, especially obvious are Sunny Childs and Jeremy Ratkin.

The pace of the book, while generally brisk, lags in a few places, lending to the overall lack of unity. A complicated mystery leaves the reader with a good idea who masterminded the murder, but still curious as to the whys and hows and who else’s. A strong heroine and the possibility of a new partnership will make readers want to return to this series.

-- Jennifer Monahan Winberry