Camellias, Clues and Cold Cases: a Delightful Cozy Mystery by Lisa Pevey

Author:Lisa Pevey [Pevey, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Sallye and Rosalind Borne were two sisters who were not twins, but were often mistaken for being exactly that. It was an easy mistake to make and was carried along by the fact that they lived in nearly identical shotgun houses, right across the street from one another. The houses were painted in much the same color, had similar decorations out front, and even matching garden gnomes tucked into their corners. In fact, their gardens were almost symmetrical, as were their hairdos. They had many of the same mannerisms and the same round and happy faces. They went to the same church, the same Rotary Club, and often even sported the same dance moves at weddings. Though, Sallye tended to be a little more outspoken and opinionated out of the two. Everyone in town agreed that this outspokenness was the main distinction between the sisters.

We went to Rosalind’s house around three, only to find both sisters sharing a late lunch out on her porch, fanning themselves with copies of the paper and listening to a gospel record coming out of the window. When they saw us, their reaction was so elated that I could tell they probably didn’t get a lot of visitors. They left their salmon plates unfinished and beckoned us over.

“Well, come on up here you two and let me get a good look at y’all, why is that Callie St. Augustine? I haven’t seen you since Jesus was a junebug, girl. Will you look at that! How have you been getting on? And Maya? My word, you turned out to be a real looker, didn’t you?”

The polite banter went on and on like that for some time, and then on some more. Even the most distant relations were asked over, all the details of my health and well-being celebrated and discussed at length. Then, there was a discussion of the weather, a quick summary of the local high school football team’s chances this season. And finally, a well-meaning but uncomfortably thorough deep dive into the fact that neither Maya nor myself had yet to find a “suitable man to marry.”

A real tragedy, according to these two sisters. They also happened to be lifelong bachelorettes, seemingly only joined with one another, but we didn’t mention that. I had to pretend to be interested in meeting distant male relatives of theirs, without going so far as letting them establish a specific date or time. A delicate balance indeed.

In such a way we played along and sipped sweet tea, smiling and returning the polite chit chat as best as we were able. The sisters really were a delight. Both were full of zest and vinegar, out-there opinions and hot takes, witty banter, and a whole lot of funny little anecdotes about gardening and the many characters of Honeysuckle Bend. Though none were pertinent to our investigation, and while I was enjoying my time with them on the porch, my mind kept circling back to the real reason I was here. It felt like it was an hour before I could get a word in edgewise.

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