| Abstract |
The leaders of the First United Methodist Church in Liverpool, North Carolina (a fictional town), are celebrating a successful fall festival when there is a sudden explosion in the cemetery. Reverend Willa Hinshaw, a transplant to the Piedmont town, seeks to solve the mystery of who put the bomb on the gravestone of Leo Kingfield and why. Willa and fellow Liverpool residents quickly suspect that members of Leo Kingfield's family are behind the attack and are trying to scare his wife, Elva, out of the fortune Leo left her. Because Willa is interested in helping Elva, she is seen as a threat and begins receiving intimidating messages. Odd and terrifying events start to take place: Elva becomes ill and requires hospitalization, her friendly caretaker, Bernice, is stabbed and left for dead, and her confrontational niece is found strangled to death in Willa's apartment complex parking lot. Finally Willa is kidnapped as the perpetrators' desperation grows. Being thrown in the midst of strained familial relationships pushes Willa to outsmart the greedy Kingfield descendants in order to save her life and help Elva. |
