In the 5th installment of the New York Times bestselling Miss Julia series, Miss Julia has finally met her match. Don't miss Ann Ross's newest,  Miss Julia Raises the Roof , coming April 2018 from Viking.  With devoted fans across the country, Miss Julia—that endearingly sharp-tongued southern belle of a certain age—has no shortage of admirers. But in Miss Julia Meets Her Match , our feisty heroine must come to terms with her most ardent admirer of all: longtime beau Sam Murdoch, who wants to tie the knot. While it’s hard to resist Sam’s charm, Miss Julia isn’t about to give up her independence so easily. After all, there are plenty of other matters that require her attention, including a Holy Land theme park to be built on her property, a possible affair between the mayor and the preacher’s secretary, and the arrival of her housekeeper Lillian’s five-year-old pistol of a great-granddaughter. In the midst of all the commotion, can her cool-as-a-cucumber head help her heart make the decision of a lifetime? Praise for Ann B. Ross and the Miss Julia series: "Ross has a gift for elevating such everyday matters as marital strife and the hazards of middle age to high comedy, while painting her beautifully drawn characters with wit and sympathy." - Publishers Weekly “A charming, fun adventure with new relatives, old secrets and a will putting Miss Julia and the Abbotsville regulars in a true Southern mess. I loved it!”  —Duffy Brown, bestselling author of the Consignment Shop Mysteries "Ann B. Ross develops characters so expertly, through quirks, names, and mannerisms, that they easily feel familiar as the reader is gently immersed into the world Miss Ross has created. . . . A delightful read."  — Winston-Salem Journal "Miss Julia is one of the most delightful characters to come along in years. Ann B. Ross has created what is sure to become a classic Southern comic novel. Hooray for Miss Julia, I could not have liked it more."  —Fannie Flagg, author of  The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion   "Yes, Miss Julia is back, and I, for one, am one happy camper."  —J. A. Jance, author of  Cold Betrayal   Ann B. Ross   is the author of eighteen novels featuring the popular Southern heroine Miss Julia, as well as  Etta Mae's Worst Bad-Luck Day , a novel about one of Abbotsville's other most outspoken residents: Etta Mae Wiggins. Ross holds a doctorate in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has taught literature at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Chapter 1 “Where y’all gonna live?” Lillian asked, as she beat three eggs, one after the other, into a bowl of cake batter. “If you thinkin’ ’bout tyin’ the knot, somebody gonna be movin’.” “I’m not studying a move.” I was at the kitchen table, folding towels taken from the dryer. The window rattled from a gust of late April wind, and I glanced outside to see more rain clouds moving across the sky. “Huh. You better be studyin’ on it, Miss Julia. ’Cause either Mr. Sam be movin’ in here or you be movin’ in there.” “That’s too far down the road to worry about,” I said, not wanting to worry about it either down the road or at the moment. “And, see, Lillian, that’s part of the problem. Tying the knot. I don’t know that I want to be tied to anybody, even Sam, who’s as fine a man as I’ve ever known. But that’s what happens when you marry. I’ve had a taste of doing things my way, you know, since Mr. Springer passed.” I smoothed out a hand towel, smelling the packaged fresh air aroma rising from it. “Even if that freedom came too late in life to be of much use. Lillian, do you realize that I was married for almost forty-five years, and never had a moment’s peace? Always fearful of what would set him off, what would displease him, what I was doing wrong, and on and on. Now, I don’t have to answer to anybody, and I’m not at all sure I want to give that up.” “Mr. Sam, he seem like he pretty easy to get along with,” Lillian commented as she greased three cake pans, then sprinkled flour in them. “I doubt he pull on that knot too much. ’Sides, he tied up, too. Least, the man s’posed to be.” “Yes, and isn’t that the trouble?” I pushed aside the hand towels, folded, stacked, and ready for the linen closet. “Everybody expects a wife to toe the line, but a husband? I tell you, Lillian, the only change marriage makes in a man’s life is he gets his food cooked and his laundry done.” “I don’t know as I’d go that far,” she said, as she poured the batter into the cake pans, then shook each pan so the layers would bake evenly. “’Course, I jus’ look at other folkses’ marriage, not mine. ’Cause you hit the nail on the head when it come to mine.” “Oh, Lillian,” I said, just done in by all the decisions that were piling up, waiting for me to get to them. Well, actually only one decision, but from that all the others would flow. “I don’t know that I want to marry anyone again, much less have to dec