Southern Bred and Dead by Angie Fox

Verity and Ellis have hit a rough patch. Their romance has been pretty idyllic so far (his mother and the fact that Verity was engaged to his younger brother notwithstanding) so how they handle thsi figh will set the tenor of the rest of their relationship. Big doings.
The central mystery though is why Josie, a good friend of Verity's grandmother, died. It is the annual fundraiser for one of the local churches and Josie has fallen from the steeple. But did she really just fall?
We also get to learn more about Frankie's relationship with his brother and exactly why Frankie died.
This was overall a very nice addition to the series. I hate the "amateur detective does stupid things and almost dies" trope and Verity is very much skirting the line of intelligence that she has generally shown in earlier books in the series. I'm hoping that doesn't continue in future books since it mostly seems like a plot device specifically in this book.

Four stars
This book came out August 28th
Follows The Ghost of Christmas Past

Followed by The Haunted Homecoming 
ARC kindly provided by Moose Island Books
Opinions are my own