The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

I love the writing style of Susan Wittig Albert.  Her stories glide effortlessly with wonderful descriptions and great characters.  This is a new series that has a bit of a historical fiction flare to it and it takes place in the 1930s.  This deals with a gardening club in the fictional town of Darling Alabama.

The country may be struggling through the Great Depression, but the good ladies of Darling, Alabama, are determined to keep their chins up and their town beautiful. Their garden club, the Darling Dahlias, has just inherited a new clubhouse and garden, complete with two beautiful cucumber trees in full bloom. But life in Darling is not all garden parties and rosemary lemonade. When local blond bombshell Bunny Scott is found in a suspicious car wreck, the Dahlias decide to dig into the town's buried secrets, and club members Lizzy, Ophelia, and Verna soon find leads sprouting up faster than weeds. The town is all abuzz with news of an escaped convict from the prison farm, rumors of trouble at the bank, and tales of a ghost heard digging around the cucumber tree. If anyone can get to the root of these mysteries, it's the Darling Dahlias.