Emerald Springs’s former minister’s wife, Hildy Dorchester, thinks that Aggie’s life should be completely devoted to Ed and his ministry. Hildy and her husband Godwin “Win” have returned to Emerald Springs with an eye to possibly retiring there, but Win dies suddenly and Hildy makes the decision to bury him here and to stay on in the town.

Just before the memorial services ends the coroner’s office announces that Win will not be buried immediately as there has been a tip and an autopsy will now be performed. Hildy becomes outraged and then finds herself at the top of the suspect list. Aggie knows that even if Hildy is overbearing and might not have been as happy in her marriage as she proclaimed, she would never have murdered her husband.

In between church meetings and trying to sell the house she and her best friend have renovated to flip, Aggie begins looking a little more closely at Win’s life and soon realizes that Win was not the pious man of the cloth he was purported to be. As a matter of fact, he had a very dark side, as did some of his parishioners, one of whom was very displeased that Win returned home.

Aggie is a vibrant young mother who puts her husband and family first, caring for them the way she sees fit, even if it does mean homemade whole wheat pizza dough. Her elder daughter has just turned fourteen and the two are finding out how best to deal with all the changes coming down the pike. Aggie’s younger daughter is a gregarious, outgoing child with her father’s gift of gab and has all the potential makings of a fine minister one day.

Aggie and Ed are not preachy, but more down to earth; they never judge and usually look at the good in people, which is what makes tracking down Win’s murderer a little harder this time, and more surprising when the murderer is revealed. Aggie’s colorful family does not play as large a role in this book as in the past, but Aggie never forgets that they are the reasons she has ended up where she has, which all in all, seems to be in a pretty good place.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry