Pretty is as Pretty Dies — Elizabeth Spann Craig

Parke Stockard was certainly sitting pretty. Blessed with good looks and business sense to boot, she should have been content. Instead, Parke makes trouble in her small town.

When retired octogenarian schoolteacher Myrtle Clover discovers her body, no one in Bradley is particularly upset. Myrtle decides to show up her police chief son and investigate the crime herself. And, just in time to play detective, she meets a widower newcomer who proves the perfect sidekick.