Ain’t She a Peach

Harper infuses merriment into her second Southern Eclectic small-town contemporary (after Sweet Tea and Sympathy). Even sleepy little Lake Sackett, Ga., has a town eccentric: Frankie McCready, the town’s embalmer and county coroner, who sports outrageous clothes and colorful hair. Sheriff Eric Linden is fascinated by Frankie but is disconcerted by her tendency to talk to the bodies she’s working on. Frankie and Eric had a memorable one-night stand in Atlanta before he moved to Lake Sackett, but she thinks he’ll never fit into life in semirural Georgia because he’s too much a big-city cop. Eric and Frankie are extremely mismatched, as Eric follows the rules and Frankie acts first and thinks later, but their sexual chemistry is obvious. Harper gives Frankie and Eric plenty of time to find common ground as they navigate gossip and petty vendettas, letting them fall into bed when they’re good and ready. The McCready clan is quite peculiar, and Frankie’s interactions with her uncles and cousins are the most enjoyable part of this romance, as they always have her back while encouraging her to grow up. This is a very fun addition to Harper’s laid-back series. Agent: Natanya Wheeler, Nancy Yost Literary. (June)