Small town life should be easy and relaxing, sure there is gossip, but usually nothing too exciting usually happens. But in the little town of Willow Lane, it has unfortunately had its share of tragedies starting with a tornado which hit and damaged the town fifty years ago.
Each year the town memorializes the event by having a town service, although if you asked Cordelia Davis, there is no reason to remind everybody about what they all lived through that night. And Cordelia knows because it changed her life forever.
Cordelia, her sister Pam and their best friend Wanda, called the “twisted sisters” have been part of the town forever. They help with the activities and bake casseroles daily for those who need some comfort food or who just want some comfort.
So, when Pastor Jim is found dead the day after the memorial, crushed by Cordelia’s van on her property, needless to say the townspeople are not only stunned, but the gossip mill begins to go crazy.
Who would want to kill the beloved pastor? Cordelia and her twisted sisters decide to look into the killing, although there is one person the whole town suspects was the pastor’s killer. But Cordelia thinks there could be too many eggs in that one basket. As she begins to make her rounds, she discovers to her surprise there were some people who were not too thrilled with Pastor Jim’s tactics.
On top of this tragedy weighing on Cordelia, she has just discovered that the love of her life who left town fifty years ago has suddenly reappeared in town and has his eyes set on her. But is it possible for someone who is proud to live her life with regrets, possibly have a future with a man who left her all those years ago?
As the suspect list begins to dwindle and new and old secrets emerge, Cordelia begins to see what could possibly have been the impetus to the killing. That’s the thing about small towns. There are so many skeletons from the past, that sometimes they rear their ugly heads into the present from time to time.
Willow Lane seems like a lovely cozy town where everybody knows everybody and everybody’s business, but they all consider each other family and they take care of each other.
Cordelia and the Hippie Wagon Homicide is a warm, enjoyable mystery with a great deal of heart, soul and love.
Thank you, Mildred Abbott, for sending me the copy of this lovely story.
Lisa's Cubby 