Set in small-town Northern Georgia during WWII, this series gives a great sense of time and place; it reminds me a lot of that old TV series Homefront (early 90's?).

As for the mystery though, it was o.k., but overly-convoluted. If Ballard had been able to structure it differently it would have worked a lot better, but as is, it's more than a little hard to follow. A skeleton is discovered during a school outing, the money from a bond rally goes missing, the town slacker goes missing, Miss Dimple's landlady is getting mysterious notes and someone is shot during the follies.

There are a lot of characters in this book and, told in third person, from the POV of several of them, the first few chapters felt like a hot mess - I couldn't keep anybody straight. Even after they sorted themselves out I never felt entirely confident about who was who as the POV shifted - I had to remind myself often about how someone was related to everyone else. Each chapter starts with the internal dialogue of one of the characters, but it's never the same one, and they all remain unnamed. This is likely done on purpose because it's the criminal, but when it wasn't, it became overly confusing.

The author kept using rifle and shotgun interchangeably; for someone who knows the difference, this is a big deal: a rifle shoots a single bullet at a time; a shotgun shoots a single shell full of tiny bullets (called buckshot) that spray outwards soon after exiting the barrel. So, when a shotgun was reported missing, but later someone was shot and had a single bullet wound, it messed with the plot and my head; until the terms were used interchangeably again and it became obvious what was going on, I thought there were two weapons.

Still, I enjoyed the story and the characters. The series is "Miss Dimple" but really the mystery solving is a team effort on the part of the women holding everything together while the war rages on. At the end it becomes clear that there are several threads of mischief running through Elderberry at the same time, but really, I stuck around to see if Will would show up for Charlie one last time before being shipped off. ( )

[Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause] by Mignon F. Ballard
3★'s

From the Book:
life in small-town America during World War II springs vividly to life as schoolteacher Miss Dimple and her fellow townspeople battle valiantly against worry, rationing, and crime at home as well as abroad.

It's September 1943, and the town of Elderberry, Georgia, including their beloved first-grade teacher, Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, has exciting plans for the Bond Rally to support the troops fighting the war abroad. Miss Dimple's friend, Virginia Balliew, has agreed to chair the big event, with the help of Buddy Oglesby. But when children discover a skeleton at the edge of a field, and Buddy disappears along with the war bond money, it's clear that something is amiss in the little town; and Miss Dimple, along with her fellow teachers, is soon on the case.

My Thoughts:
First I need to say that "Cozy" Mysteries are NOT my cuppa tea...at all. I read this one for two reasons...my mother loves "Miss Dimple" and it was for a sub-genre challenge on another group.

I guess I just don't get how these non-professionals without any training that would even classify them as private investigators, can insert themselves into crime solving situations...and manage to not only catch the bad-guy but live to tell the story. Not just once, mind you, but through 20 or more books.

It does have some historical value however. A small Georgia town during WWII is the setting and Miss Dimple, the heroine is a teacher. Soon she is joined by some fellow teachers and several locals. She's not very grateful for the extra help as she considers them to be in the way. I wondered how the local police viewed her. Even though I will never go out of my way to read this genre I do have to say that Mignon Ballard has managed to produce a pretty good period piece and will appeal to those that 1. love this slant on history and 2. don't care for lots of blood, guts and violence in their reading. ( )

"Fresh Meat" by Terrie Farley Moran for Criminal Element

Mignon F. Ballard has long entertained readers with her cozy mysteries featuring Augusta Goodnight, a temporary guardian angel. Last year, in the highly acclaimed cozy, Miss Dimple Disappears, Ballard introduced us to another affable series character, Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, a no-nonsense first grade teacher in a small southern town during World War Two. In Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause, we continue to see the effects of war on small-town America.

In early autumn 1943, just as planning has begun for the war bond rally, the town of Elderberry, Georgia has closed the schools for a few days while children, mothers and teachers are all picking cotton at a local farm, hoping to get it to the gin before the rains come. The young men have long gone to war, so it’s up to those left behind to be sure the things that need doing get done.

(Read the rest at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/11/fresh-meat-miss-dimple-rallies-to-t... )

Miss Dimple is involved in the production of a pageant to raise money for war bonds in this outing. Alas, during the pageant, there is a shooting. Is it somehow related to the body that was found earlier near the edge of a cotton field? And, why is Miss Dimple's best friend so distraught? There are all kinds of mysteries for the elementary school teacher to unravel, and she does so with aplomb. This is a fun journey back to an earlier time and place in our country's history. ( )