Elderly etiquette teacher Dorietta Mosely has taught proper manners to nearly every person in her hometown of Pinewood, North Carolina at one time or another. But nobody seems interested in learning the rules of good behavior anymore, and business has dwindled to the point that she faces losing her beloved Victorian home to foreclosure.
Then Julie Blevins rolls into town and announces that her long-ago divorce from Alvin Blevins, Dorietta’s gentlemanly chess partner, is invalid. Hearing he’s still married to Miss Fancypants gets Alvin all riled up, and when Dorietta stumbles upon Julie’s body, he becomes the police’s chief suspect. Alvin offers a reward for anyone who can identify the true killer, and Dorietta jumps willy-nilly into the investigation in order to save her house, her lavish garden, and her friend.
Dorietta’s career has always required that she set an example of strict propriety. But she is forced to lie, pry, snoop, and eavesdrop in her attempts to clear Alvin’s name, which puts her struggling business at even more risk. Alvin also seems set on courting Dorietta, and she finds herself fighting an attraction to him, even if he does have a full head of hair and all his own real teeth. Due to guilt over the death of her husband, Dorietta is convinced that any man she loves will die. But she and Alvin grow closer despite her fears, and when she solves the crime, the only way to prove the killer’s guilt is to set a trap with Alvin as bait. Dorietta must decide if she is willing to risk Alvin’s life to expose the murderer.
* Manners or Mayhem is a working title.