McCorkle, Jill

When a clerk at the local Quik-Pik is found murdered, the townspeople work together to find his murderer before he can strike again.

The residents, staff, and neighbors of the Pine Haven retirement center (from twelve-year-old Abby to eighty-five-year-old Sadie) share some of life's most profound discoveries. What they eventually learn about themselves and one another will transform them all.

Energetic, voluptuous, and well past sixty, Queen Mary Purdy opens a smoke-enders clinic in the resort town of Fulton, North Carolina. Her unorthodox approach (Aromatherapy? Massage?) provides much grist for the rumor mill. But Quee's new venture is the least of the many scandals brewing in Fulton: a happily married woman entrusts her illicit secrets to a dead letter file; a mad-as-hell property owner seeks revenge for his recently submerged investment; a radio talk-show host longs to hit the big time, by any means. Quee knows these folks need help with more than their nicotine fits, and their troubles are all tied to that resilient little muscle known as the heart.

Quee Purdy, a sixtyish entrepreneur, opens a no-smoking clinic in the small town of Fulton, North Carolina, and pampers people into giving up a lot more than just their nicotine habits.