National bestselling author Susan Wittig Albert takes readers back in time to small-town Darling, Alabama, in the 1930s—where the Darling Savings and Trust has just closed and the women of the Darling Dahlias’ garden club are betting their bottom dollar there’s going to be trouble…
It’s the spring of 1933 and times are tough all over. The only businessman not struggling is moonshiner Mickey LeDoux, though he still has to steer clear of federal agents. But banks are closing all over the country, and the small town of Darling is no exception. Folks are suddenly caught short on cash and everyone is in a panic.
Desperate to avoid disaster, several town leaders—including Alvin Duffy, the bank’s new vice president—hatch a plan to print Darling Dollars on newspaperman Charlie Dickens’ printing press. The “funny money” can serve as temporary currency so the town can function. But when the first printing of the scrip disappears, the Darling Dahlias set out to discover who made an unauthorized withdrawal.
Meanwhile County Treasurer Verna Tidwell questions whether she can trust Alvin Duffy—and the feelings he stirs up inside her. And Liz Lacy learns her longtime beau may be forced into a shotgun wedding. Seems other troubles don’t just go away when there’s a crisis. There’ll be no pennies from heaven, but if anyone can balance things out, folks can bank on the Darling Dahlias…
Includes Southern-Style Depression-Era Recipes
For fans of: Ann Purser
It’s April of 1933 and the country is in the grips of a crushing economic depression. The people of Darling, Alabama are barely scraping by, so when Darling Savings and Trust closes without warning, leaving its customers with nothing but the cash in their pockets, panic ensues. The bank’s owner has retreated to his house, and while the institution’s new vice president supposedly has a top-secret plan to save the day, the townsfolk are unwilling to pin all their hopes on a stranger. Is the bank closed for good? Is their money gone? What will become of Darling and its citizens?
The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush is the fifth of Susan Witting Albert’s Darling Dahlias Mysteries. It’s the third I’ve read in this series, and while I’ve grown quite fond of the characters who inhabit Albert’s fictional universe and always appreciate the chance to catch up on their lives, to call this book a mystery would be a blatant mischaracterization.
Like all of Albert’s tales, The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush is a well-mannered, character-driven tale that paints a vivid picture of a time in history about which I know very little. Albert does a marvelous job transporting the reader back to 1933 small-town Alabama, when food was scarce, owning gold was illegal, and banks could fold and take your money with them. And there’s no shortage of drama here; in fact, Albert puts the residents of Darling through the wringer. But while I generally enjoyed my read of The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush, the mystery element is so mild and accounts for so little of the story that when it came time for me to write this review, I had to think long and hard on whether there actually was one. Without a puzzle for the characters to solve, the book feels a bit unfocused. There’s no investigation to drive the narration, and as a result, the story doesn’t have a climax – it just ends.
If you read Susan Witting Albert’s Darling Dahlias Mysteries for the characters, The Darling Dahlias and the Silver Dollar Bush won’t disappoint; if you’re expecting a whodunit, though, Albert’s latest can’t help but leave you wanting.
Reviewed by Kat
