Thanks for joining us for our Fall Edition of The Girl Next Door Book Club! This time we read Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt and the first Sherlock Holmes novel, A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

"Sherlock" called for a British snack, so Erica whipped up some Trader Joe's Pumpkin Cranberry scones. "Midnight" inspired the cocktail with its southern Savannah hospitality and love for booze.

Sweet Savannah Fizz (adapted from Camille Styles)

For each drink...

• 1.5 oz sweet tea vodka (we used regular sweet tea)
• 2 blackberries
• 4 mint leaves
• 1/2 oz. honey
• champagne (we used sparkling cider)

Muddle blackberries and mint with honey. Add sweet tea vodka (or sweet tea) and shake. Strain into champagne flute and top with champagne (We used sparkling cider and put it all on ice actually). Garnish with a mint leaf and blackberry.

We have some mixed feelings on these books, so we'd love to know what you think as well. There's a jarring change of scenery to Utah Mormon country in A Study in Scarlet (We recommend reading The 19th Wife for some fascinating historical fiction if you want more of that pioneer Mormon side of things) but overall we found it to be an entertaining read.

We discuss the great Sherlock quote, "Where there is no imagination, there is no horror."

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was a bit disappointing, but maybe we're missing something? Savannah sounds beautiful, but we feel like we're missing something with this one. The movie seemed to solve some of the "problems" with the book for Erica at least, but this one wasn't quite what we expected.

We will leave you with this epic quote that we wholeheartedly enjoyed, "Always stick around for one more drink. That’s when things happen. That’s when you find out everything you want to know." Good suggestion.

What did you think? Have you read either of these books? Do you like a good murder mystery? We'll let you know as soon as we've chosen our Winter Edition books. Any recommendations?