Travel & Book with Nancy Haddock #smalltown #mystery #Rssos #hometown

Travel & Book with

Nancy Haddock

courthouse

Magnolia, Arkansas has always interested me, mostly because one of my mother’s long-time friends, Yvonne, was born and raised there. I first went through the town with the Hubster. We only had a short time to explore the town square before we had to get on the road again, but I was charmed. And when an elderly woman called, “Honey. Oh, honey,” to me and asked a favor, I knew I had to model my fictional town, Lilyvale, after Magnolia.

I visited again to do research, and Yvonne and her husband Tom drove down from Tulsa to meet me and show me the places she lived and tell me stories of the area. I stayed in the Loft on the Square, which in turn inspired my

loft on the square

fictional Inn on the Square. I had the pleasure of meeting so many friendly people! I hated for me trip to end, and hated to part from Yvonne and Tom, too.

murals

This fall I get to go back to Magnolia. I’m having a book signing at the fabulous Columbia County Library, and I’ll get to meet my “soap lady,” Deb, and her new husband. Of course, I’ll be researching more, too, and soaking up the easy pace of life. I can hardly wait!

Nixy and her extended family, the Silver Six, invite Doralee Gordon to teach a gourd painting class. It’s dicey when Doralee’s ex crashes the class with his new fiancée, but things really get messy when the bride-to-be later turns up dead. Now Nixy and the Silver Six must use their melons to find the killer—before someone else gets painted out of the picture.

Sherry and Aster, Masie and Eleanor joined me, Dab, and Fred at the worktable, but they’d brought more than sandwiches and sweet tea. They’d cooked up the cockeyed idea that we should investigate the murder.

“No, and no again, Aunt Sherry. Absolutely not.”

“But we must investigate. You know the Stanton family dictum: When we see something that needs doing, we do it.”

“That’s the point. Investigating this death is not something we can do.”

“Of course we can. Now let’s start with a description of the crime scene. Doralee wouldn’t tell us a single detail. Did you take photos with your cell phone?”

“No cell pictures, and I am not describing the crime scene,” I said, but the image of the victim on her side, arm outstretched, her ring looking so odd on her limp finger made me shudder. I shook off the mental picture. “Let the police investigate, Sherry. We have to stay out of Eric’s way.”

 “Poo. We know Doralee is innocent. We’ll solve this case just like we solved the last one.”

I choked on my tea and carefully set the glass on Fred’s work table. “Aunt Sherry, we did not solve that murder. We blundered into the killer, and you were put in mortal danger.”

“We came out of it fine and dandy.”

“You were injured, and the whole episode took years off my life. Y’all are not sweet-talking me into snooping. Case closed.”

I knew from the eye-rolling they’d ignore every word I said.

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