Publishers Weekly
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In Ballard's quietly engaging third mystery set during WWII (after 2011's Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause), Miss Dimple Kilpatrick, first-grade teacher at Elderberry (Ga.) grammar school, is quickly able to track a child lost in the woods to a remote farmhouse where she's being well cared for by reclusive artist Mae Martha Hawthorne and Mae's Asian companion, Suzy. Several days later, someone bludgeons Mae to death, and Mae's paintings, which have been increasing in value, disappear. Suspicion in the xenophobic town immediately falls on the missing Suzy, who's Japanese and named Suzu Amaya. Miss Dimple, practical and resolute, enlists the aid of two other primary school teachers to find Suzy, the canvases, and the murderer. They bungle their way through copious misadventures, putting themselves at grave risk. While a little too sweetly nostalgic and filled with stock characters, the book retains some bite and a few surprises. Agent: Laura Langlie, Laura Langlie Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Miss Dimple hunts a killer and teaches her town a lesson. Amid the fear and deprivation of World War II, Miss Dimple Kilpatrick joins the search party in her small Georgia town to look for one of her students. She finds Peggy Ashcroft, who is very ill, only as darkness falls. A friendly dog guides her to the cabin of reclusive artist Mae Martha Hawthorne and her companion, Suzy, who's been helping her recover from a leg injury. Their care helps the child survive until the phoneless home can get word to the doctor. But there's no happy ending yet, for a few days later, a frantic call from Suzy brings Miss Dimple and her friends Charlie, Virginia and Annie rushing to the cabin, where they find Mae Martha dead from a blow to the head. The police suspect Suzy, who has disappeared, but Miss Dimple thinks the gentle, caring girl's Japanese ancestry has sent her into hiding. When the desperate Suzy calls again, the ladies hide her in Virginia's house while they search for the real killer. Mae Martha's valuable painting may have provided a motive for murder, and although both her nephews seem to have loved her dearly, they must join her handyman and several neighbors as suspects. While some townsfolk denounce Suzy as a Japanese spy and a murderer, Miss Dimple and her friends continue the search for the truth. When the sleuths find Mae Martha's handyman dead, they realize that they'd better solve the crimes quickly, as their own lives may be in danger. Ballard complicates the generally heartwarming tone of her gently nostalgic mysteries (Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause, 2011, etc.) by dramatizing a shameful episode in the country's history.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Library Journal
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When a reclusive local artist is murdered, her assistant Suzy, a Japanese American woman, becomes the prime suspect. This is the third title (after Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause) in this engaging series set in rural Georgia during World War II. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

This WWII-era Georgia mystery begins with a missing sick child. First-grade teacher Miss Dimple finds the child in a winter storm and takes her to shelter at the cabin of a reclusive artist. When the artist is found murdered soon afterwards, Miss Dimple does not believe, as everyone else in the small town does, that the artist's Asian companion, Suzy, is the killer. Suzy, whose Japanese family members are being held in an American internment camp, worries about the chances of anyone believing in her innocence. Miss Dimple and her friends hide Suzy and begin asking questions, which puts them in serious danger. There is plenty of period detail, with Miss Dimple's fellow teacher sleuths discussing rationing and writing to overseas fiances. The wartime setting will appeal to a wide range of readers. The strong female characters of all ages are similar in manner to those in Tracy Kiely's Elizabeth Parker mysteries, despite that series being set in a different era.--Alessio, Amy Copyright 2010 Booklist