Date Published: 06-30-2026
Publisher: Mission Point Press
circumstances, Ann Audrey Pickering finds herself drawn—once
again—into someone else’s trouble.
A former lawyer who once helped the FBI convict her own husband for fraud, Ann
Audrey has settled into a reclusive life, until her longtime friend Flynn
Reynolds asks for help. His elderly aunts are convinced that another nephew
was murdered by his wife, Kathryn, whose second husband is now also dead. Ann
Audrey is skeptical. Still, she owes Flynn, and there are some odd questions.
Complicating matters is Kathryn’s latest mother-in-law, a woman who rose
from an impoverished background into Atlanta’s upper circles and
recognizes a kindred spirit in her dead son’s ambitious widow. She
doesn’t believe Kathryn is a murderer—but she has heard rumors,
and she wants them stopped.
Set in Atlanta in January 2000, as the city buzzes with anticipation for the
upcoming Super Bowl, Ann Audrey searches for the black widow through the
city’s frenetic bar scene, private clubs, high-rise offices, and beloved
local institutions like Mary Mac’s Tea Room and The Varsity. With help
from Flynn and her friend Theo, along with the return of sexy detective Mike
Bristol, she pieces together a twisting story of social climbing, carefully
managed appearances, marriage, and murder. As the Super Bowl kickoff draws
near, the case reaches a climax when an ice storm shuts down Atlanta’s
roads and power, leaving secrets and murderers with nowhere to hide.
 Following her mother’s lead, Mississippi native Winnie Simpson was an
avid murder mystery reader beginning in the third grade, starting with Nancy
Drew and moving through the classics of British, American, and international
crime. Winnie studied music at Duke University, later receiving an MFA in
Music at SUNY Buffalo, where she worked as an arts administrator before
throwing it all over in order to make a decent living. After finishing law
school at Emory University, she became a partner in a large firm in Atlanta
where her practice focused mainly on securities litigation. Retiring early,
Winnie relocated to Northern Michigan where she lives in a renovated
nineteenth-century building that served as a former Michigan state asylum. For
more than a decade, she has taken writing classes and participated in writing
groups. She is fond of opera, hiking, cycling, and Duke basketball, most
seasons.
https://mybook.to/DeathandtheSocialClimb
