The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert

 I love mystery novels with a gardening theme or setting. Would you get into this one?

The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven O'Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert, published September 1, 2015; Berkley
Genre: Southern historical mystery
 ...the summer of 1934 in the small Southern town of Darling, Alabama—the ladies of the Darling Dahlias’ garden club love to solve mysteries… The eleven o’clock lady has always been one of garden club president Liz Lacy’s favorite spring wildflowers. The plant is so named because the white blossoms don’t open until the sun shines directly on them and wakes them up.

But another Eleven O’Clock Lady is never going to wake up again. Rona Jean Hancock—a telephone switchboard operator who earned her nickname because her shift ended at eleven, when her nightlife was just beginning.... (book description)

Book beginning, first paragraph:

In less than an hour, Violet Sims' well-ordered life was going to change. But right now, she was enjoying what in her opinion was the very best hour of a summer's day -- the earliest hour. That was the time when she went out to work in the vegetable garden behind the Darling Diner, which she owned and managed with her friend, Myra May Mosswell. And this hour, on this Saturday, seemed especially perfect. It had been hot and sultry all week, and the day ahead was likely to be another hot one, with the prospect of a storm in the afternoon. But the morning air was still cool and fresh, the dew was a silvery sheen on the ripe and flawless tomatoes, and the sun had just begun to peer over the rooftops of the little town of Darling to see if something of interest might be happening there on this very last day of June 1934. 

Page 56:

"Sarah's birthday?" Lizzy asked. "I've lost track. How old is she?"

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