“Bonjour!” I am so happy to be here— on Dru Ann’s stage, telling you my story. Or part of it. My best friend and partner in crime, so to speak, will tell you the rest in The House of Good and Evil. That’s Ditie Brown, as in the Mighty Ditie. She’s a pediatrician by day and a detective when no one is looking.
I’m her sidekick, usually, although I’d have to say in this story, I’m more the star. I’m the one who gets in trouble. I’m the one bent on creating a cooking school in Atlanta. It’s not that I love to cook—that’s more Ditie’s territory—but I do love to eat. And I love to give people a helping hand, a new opportunity to make something of their lives. That’s what my Aunt Theresa gave me.
If my mother had been given a second chance, maybe she could have turned away from drugs and the men who abused her. Maybe, I’d still have her in my life. I don’t dwell on maybes, but I do believe in a future of possibilities. I couldn’t save her but I can create a space, a cooking school, for women down on their luck.
And I’ve found the perfect mansion in which to do it! If you aren’t from Atlanta, Georgia you may not know about the Ponce de Leon neighborhood. it’s close to downtown Atlanta and in its heyday, it was the place to live. Early 1900s. People moved away to more trendy neighborhoods like Buckhead later in the 1900s, but they left behind some magnificent mansions.
I found one of those—an Italianate mansion begging to be resurrected and put to good purpose. It seemed as if some very good karma wanted me there. A rose garden thrived near the broken mansion. Someone loved this place and wanted me to love it too. It wasn’t all a bed of roses of course. Someone threatened me with a chalked message that said a second murder might occur in that house.
A second murder? Ooh, la la. Someone didn’t know who they were talking to. I loved nothing more than a good murder to investigate, and the first one was old as the hills. No risk involved. All participants would be long dead—including an innocent Black man who was wrongly convicted of the crime. The murder happened in 1949 when the Jim Crow South was alive and well—that meant a Black man could be hanged at the whim of white men. But this man, Lucius Brennan, survived. Someone in power didn’t want him to die for a murder he hadn’t committed.
Ditie was as curious as I was to find out what had really happened in that house in 1949. Along the way, we discovered information about the women who lived there as servants for their entire lives. They brought financial success to the owner of the mansion and were never given their due.
Ditie and I are always trying to make things a little more just in this world, to level the playing field a bit for women and others in need—even if it takes more than seventy years to rectify old wrongs.
We couldn’t make up for the fact that a woman brought over as an indentured servant was not allowed to buy her way out of servitude. And we couldn’t give Lucius Brennan back the years he spent in jail. But maybe we could help women today get what they deserved, and maybe we could clear the name of Lucius Brennan. With effort, we could identify the real murderer of Isaac Frost—a very wealthy and unpopular Atlanta entrepreneur.
I didn’t know that renovating a house might put my life in danger. I wouldn’t have done anything differently even if I had known. My Aunt Theresa always said I should follow my heart, use her money wisely, and bring light into the world where it was needed.
That’s what Ditie and I did. It didn’t hurt that I had a strong boyfriend to protect me and that Ditie was about to marry an Atlanta detective. But really, I have to say, it was the two of us women—les femmes formidables—who did the heavy lifting and found the truth behind the lies.”
The House of Good and Evil, A Ditie Brown Mystery #4
Genre: Cozy
Release: September 2021
Purchase Link
Mabel Aphrodite Brown (Ditie) is thrilled when her best friend, Lurleen, wants to buy a 1920s mansion and create a cooking school in Atlanta. An old murder in the house simply adds spice to their intentions.
“It’s a perfect plan!” Lurleen says. “A new house and an old murder, what more could a girl want?” But “a perfect storm” might be a more accurate description. Conflicting forces swirl around Lurleen even before she purchases the house. A rose garden welcomes her, but someone else threatens her with bodily harm. Ditie can’t stay in the mansion all the time to protect her friend. She has her work in the refugee clinic and two children who need her. Will the force of good or evil triumph in a house so full of secrets?
Includes Family-Friendly Recipes
About the author
Sarah Osborne is the pen name of a native Californian who lived in Atlanta for many years and now lives on Cape Cod. She’s a physician and author who writes cozy mysteries for the same reason she reads them—to find comfort in a sometimes difficult world. She writes the Ditie Brown Mysteries and the Flo and Maude Christmas Adventures. Visit her at doctorosborne.com or on Facebook at Sarah Osborne, Mystery Author. All her books are available on Amazon.
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Sarah has generously offered to give away one print copy of The House of Good and Evil. To enter, please leave a comment below. One entry per person and the giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only. Giveaway ends September 22, 2020. Good luck everyone!
All comments are welcomed.
Thanks Sarah and Lurleen for dropping by the blog and the giveaway.
Thanks, Dru, for your continued support. It means a lot to me.
It sounds like a really interesting book. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Diana, Good luck in the drawing
A mystery set in Atlanta? How have I missed this. On my way to find it now.
Hi Kathy, I’ve read a couple of your books and enjoyed them. Thanks for looking into mine
Wow, I want to read this series, sounds great!
Hi Judy, thanks for your enthusiasm. I’d love to hear what you think of them. Good luck in the drawing
This sounds so good. Thanks for the article.
Hi Violet, good luck with the drawing. Lurleen’s story comes clearest if you start at the beginning with TOO MANY CROOKS SPOIL THE PLOT
Awesome! Thanks for the chance to win!
Thanks, Linda. Good luck in the drawing
Thanks for the giveaway! I would love to win a copy of The House of Good and Evil and will definitely be checking out the other books in this series ~
Thanks, Celia. Good luck
The House of Good and Evil sounds captivating and intriguing.
Let me know you think. Thanks for reading the guest post.
Impressive story which interests me greatly. Thanks.
I really hope you like it. Let me know: Sarah@doctorosborne.com
I taught school for awhile right after college & lived in an apartment complex right off Peachtree just north of town which has now totally disappeared & the neighboorhood around it, lots of lovely old homes. I would love to read this book and thanks for the chance.
I love to find a reader from Atlanta. I lived there for years and still have good friends I visit. Ponce de Leon has some of the same story–many old house have been converted to condos. Good luck in the drawing
New to me but sounds like a good one.
Hi Alicia, Good luck in the drawing. I hope you’ll look at the whole series.
This is a new to me author–I love the idea of someone who is a doctor by day and a sleuth by night, or other times.
Thanks, Rochelle. I work hard to make my characters believable not that I know too many docs who moonlight as detectives.
New author and series for me, sounds good!
I love new readers, so I hope you enjoy the series.
I love finding new readers. You may want to start at the beginning as the story grows from book to book, but you can read this as stand alone.
I live in the Atlanta area and recognize the great setting. The story sounds interesting.
I lived in Atlanta for years and I really like revisiting it in my stories.
Looking forward to this new adventure of Ditie and Lurleen!
It sounds as if you know this crew, which is music to my ears.
I read your first book. I need to get caught up. Thanks for the chance.
Hi Sally, I hope you will get caught up. Good luck with the drawing. Thanks
New author to me. Sounds like a book I would enjoy reading. Thanks for the chance.
Thanks, Dianne. I’m happy to be a new author for you. You can see all my books on my author page on Amazon
**** WINNER ****
The House of Good and Evil is violet2233
Congratulations!