Death of a Damn Yankee Hardcover - 1999

From the publisher

Hailed as "some of the most entertaining books on the market today" (The Midwest Book Review), Toni Kelner's Laura Fleming mysteries just "keep getting better" (Kate's Mystery Newsletter). Now, in a delightful new tale of buried Southern secrets, Laura Fleming returns once again to her hometown of Byerly, North Carolina.

To the folks of Byerly, carpetbaggers rank right up there in popularity with death and taxes. So when Northerners Marshall and Grace Saunders try to buy out the town's largest mill, it's no shock the proposed sale nearly causes a second Civil War. But Laura is surprised when the mill's president, Butt Walters, confidentially asks her to muckrake through the Saunders' backgrounds, even though Big Bill Walters, Burt's dad, the controlling owner of the mill, wants to sell. Matters grow even more complicated when the Byerly fire brigade pulls Marshall Saunders' body from a burning barn, and police name Laura's cousin Linwood as the number one suspect. Now, a twisted pyromaniac is on the loose and if Laura doesn't untangle the myriad of deceptions surrounding a small city of suspects, the mill -- and her life -- may soon go up in smoke.