No one is murdered in Cedar Mill in the summer of 1943. But a missing ration book can ruin a life just as surely.

Georgia, June 1943. Sugar is scarce, coffee is stretched with chicory, and the women of the church canning day are counting stamps, sons overseas, and one another.

Then Alma Wrenn's ration book vanishes from her handbag.

Within minutes, the whole hall has decided who took it: Lila Beth Whitley, the shy girl who's too quick to lower her eyes, whose family owes money all over town. No one says the word "thief." No one has to.

Hattie Mae Cates says nothing at all. A farm wife, widowed for nearly four years, she has learned that a woman who keeps her hands busy and her mouth closed hears more than anyone. This morning she watched Alma slip a folded note into the back of that ration book, and she noticed where Alma was looking when she did it.

Now there is a ledger with a scraped-out entry, a scrap of burned paper in the kitchen ash pail, and a churchwoman whose kindness sounds a little too much like pity. Hattie Mae has until evening prayer meeting to find the truth before Cedar Mill's gossip finishes what someone else started.

A gentle, small-town historical mystery with no gore and no murder, only secrets, sugar coupons, and a sharp-eyed widow who is about to discover what she's good at. Perfect for fans of cozy mysteries, WWII home front fiction, and amateur sleuths in the Miss Marple tradition.

Hattie Mae's First Case is the prequel to The Cedar Mill Homefront Mysteries. It is a short read, easily finished in an afternoon. Start here, and see where Hattie Mae's gift for noticing takes her.

Read it today, and find out who took the book, and why.