Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle

Pardon our French, but in Miss Julia's newest nonstop adventure, "steel magnolias kick butt" (Kirkus Reviews).

Miss Julia has promised her adoring husband, Sam, to mind her own business. What a relief! Instead of trying to figure out why that dead body was found in Miss Petty's toolshed, Miss Julia can concentrate on taking care of just-in-time newlywed Hazel Marie as she prepares for her impending due date. But then Miss Julia-who has always balanced her checkbook down to the penny-suddenly finds her checks bouncing all over town. Just this once (as she tells herself ), Miss Julia starts investigating and so begin the antics that have made her one of the most beloved and irrepressible ladies-of-a-certain-age in today's fiction.