Hog Wild

A potbellied pig gone AWOL is the least of the disruptions that beset Dacus, S.C., in Pickens's comfy third cozy in her Southern Fried mystery series starring attorney and sleuth Avery Andrews (after 2005's Done Gone Wrong ). A distraught widow, Maggy Avinger, hires Avery because Maggy's late husband, Harden, before he died of cancer, wanted a large tombstone engraved with the words: "Know all when this you see / My 'faithful' wife, she poisoned me." On top of this case, Avery deals with the threat of real estate development that could destroy fragile wetlands, the discovery of a corpse at the development site and the arrival of several ominous anonymous letters. With a rising body count, the batter thickens on this highly seasoned chicken-fried clue fest. (Mar.)