Southern Secrets & Deadly Inheritance: A Mystery Born from Family and the South

Deadly Inheritance is the first book in my new Southern Secrets mystery series. There were several sources of inspiration for this series, but mainly I wanted to write about a small town in Southern Arkansas similar to the one where my mother’s family has lived for generations. We visited every year, usually around Easter. As a child of city suburbs, I loved being able to walk “downtown” or hang out with my cousins or granddaddy on the porch swing.

I’d be willing to bet that most of you haven’t read a story that takes place in Arkansas. Many
Americans don’t know where “the natural state” is located (east of Oklahoma and Texas, north of Louisiana, west of Mississippi, and south of Missouri) or how to pronounce it (AR-ken-saw). You may have heard of the Ozark Mountains, or a little ole company called Walmart that’s headquartered in Bentonville, or former President Bill Clinton, a native son. It’s a state with geographic diversity and friendly people, many of whom I’m probably related to, at least in the southern part of the state.

The fictitious town of Crossroads, the setting of Deadly Inheritance, isn’t far from the Louisiana border. This part of the state is famous for the pine forests that spawned many sawmills in the early twentieth century and later a thriving paper products industry. Like many Americans, Merritt Quinn knows next to nothing about Arkansas, but when her Aunt Mary dies, she must travel to Crossroads to learn who had been responsible for her birth mother’s death nearly thirty years ago. Mary’s will is specific: Merritt must go there and uncover the truth in order to claim her inheritance, which includes a property several parties are anxious to buy.

Merritt is a fish out of water in Crossroads, and I enjoyed writing about her new experiences in the South. Mary, she was told as a child, was an honorary aunt, a generous woman interested in her life who rarely visited. Before she died, she told Merritt who her birth mother was but not much else. “See Ernie—he knows,” she said. But, when Merritt appears for her appointment in Ernie Crowell’s law office in Crossroads, she encounters two men from feuding families oddly scheduled for appointments at the same time. They soon discover the attorney’s body. He’s been murdered, and police chief Tim Birch is quickly on the scene, questioning all three of them.

Tim Birch grew up in Crossroads, but he hasn’t been chief for long and has a lot to prove. Ernie was a beloved member of the community and a mentor to him. With Ernie’s assistant away and neither of the two men knowing what their appointments were about, all Tim can figure out is that they shared an interest in the land Merritt is due to inherit. As Merritt researches both her aunt’s and mother’s pasts in Crossroads with the help of new friends, Tim tracks a killer intent on keeping his secrets buried at any cost.

I love stories about family secrets, unsolved mysteries, and ordinary people caught up in life-changing situations. I hope you’ll enjoy Deadly Inheritance and will come back for more southern secrets when the second book in the series, Death Watch, is released by Tule in July.

Here’s a preview of the cover:

All the best,

Carol

About the author

Carol Light is an avid reader and writer of mysteries. She loves creating amateur sleuths and complicating their normal lives with a crime that they must use their talents and wits to solve. She’s traveled worldwide and lived in Australia for eight years, teaching high school English and learning to speak “Strine.” Florida is now her home. If she’s not at the beach or writing, you can find her tackling quilting in much the same way that she figures out her mysteries—piece by piece, clue by clue. You can also follow me on BlueSky.