Becki Willis Talks Creating The Sisters

Becki Willis, best known for her popular The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series and Forgotten Boxes, always dreamed of being an author. In November of ’13, that dream became a reality. Since that time, she has published eleven books, won first place honors for Best Mystery Series, Best Suspense Fiction and Best Audio Book, and has introduced her imaginary friends to readers around the world.

An avid history buff, Becki likes to poke around in old places and learn about the past. Other addictions include reading, writing, junking, unraveling a good mystery, and coffee. She loves to travel but believes coming home to her family and her Texas ranch is the best part of any trip. Becki is a member of the Association of Texas Authors, the National Association of Professional Women, and the Brazos Writers organization. She attended Texas A&M University and majored in Journalism.

Creating The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series

Five years ago, my son was married along the Brazos River, at a rustic ranch venue that was once part of a cotton plantation. The simple blacktop road out front squiggles through the river bottom, weaving past old cotton gins, through white fields ripe with cotton, tracing the graceful bends of the Brazos, and crossing over the iron tracks of a railroad.

On one side of the railroad is a hundred-plus-year-old ranch, registered with the State of Texas as a historical landmark. Several interesting-looking old buildings are clustered near the railroad, reminiscent of sharecroppers’ shacks.

On the other side of the tracks is an old train depot, even though the nearest town is miles away. There is also an active feed mill, with its industrial silos and bins, and an entire railroad at its disposal. The cars stop on site to load/unload their burdens.

Something about the railroad sparked an idea for a story, and I could only imagine how things might have been back in the day when cotton was king and the rails offered the ultimate source of transportation.

I imagined a cotton plantation along the river, so big and so important that the railroad came to them. Before long, I had the back-story for my series.

Bertram Randolph was the undisputed cotton king of the Brazos Valley, but he was saddled with two spoilt, selfish, impossible-to-deal-with daughters who constantly feuded with one another.

The only way to keep [the] peace was to ultimately give each of them their own namesake town; Juliet’s town lay to the south of the tracks, Naomi’s town to the north. Any chance of the sisters reconciling was forever lost when they both fell in love with the same man.

To Juliet, Darwin Blakely gave his name; to Naomi, he gave his child. And with Darwin’s untimely death, the rivalry between the two sisters – and their respective towns – exploded.

The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series is set in the modern-day communities of Naomi and Juliet and revolves around the citizens (all two thousand of them!) determined to keep that rivalry alive and well.

The main character is Madison Reynolds, who finds herself widowed and penniless at the ripe age of thirty-nine. With her teenage twins in tow, she moves home to live with her eighty-year-old grandmother, the patriarch of Juliet. Granny Bert is a live-wire, full of home-grown wisdom, cantankerous charm, witty sayings, and undying devotion toward her family and her home.

Genesis Baker, Maddy’s best friend since childhood, has recently moved back, as well, and now owns a popular café in Naomi.

With her support team firmly in place, Maddy tackles the challenges of starting over as a single mom. To make ends meet, she starts In a Pinch, but many of her clients seem to confuse her services for those of a private investigator.

No case is too small, or too quirky, for her to turn down, and she soon finds herself embroiled in a variety of unique mysteries and dangerous situations. Good thing she has Chief of Police Brash deCordova looking out for her, as well as Firefighter Cutter Montgomery and, soon, a growing number of friends and supporters.

Please join us in The Sisters, where you’ll find real-life characters, mystery, and intrigue, tossed together with a touch of romance and a dose of laughter.

Christmas in The Sisters. The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series Book 6 by Becki Willis

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Synopsis

[The] latest book in the Award-Winning The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series!

Madison Reynolds can’t wait for Christmas this year. Rebuilding her life as a single mom hasn’t been easy, but after a challenging twelve months, she’s excited about the holidays. She and her twins have settled quite nicely here in The Sisters, renovations on the house are complete, her business is slowly growing, and, best of all, Chief of Police Brash deCordova is in her life. Visions of the perfect Christmas dance in her head.

The tinsel begins to tangle when someone targets the community for a series of ‘Christmas Crimes.’ Homes are broken into and wrapped gifts are stolen from beneath trees. Even vehicles loaded with presents aren’t safe, particularly on a lone stretch of highway. Things like this just don’t happen in Naomi and Juliet. Torn between solving the rash of burglaries and shutting down the gambling ring that’s active in the area again, Brash does the only thing he can: he hires In a Pinch to help with the investigation.

Finding the common link between cases is like finding the bad bulb on a string of lights. Every lead is a short circuit. The frustration mounts when Madison and the Angel Tree she’s involved with fall victim to the crimes. Only the worst kind of Grinch steals from needy children!

Brash has plans of his own for the perfect Christmas. With the help of a new jewelry store, he thinks he’s found just the right gift for Madison, until the Grinch strikes again. This wasn’t the surprise he had in mind.
Ready or not, Christmas is on its way, and time is running out to create the holiday of their dreams. As the house fills with unexpected guests, Madison and the twins honor favorite traditions from the past while creating a few new ones of their own.

Who has time for being kidnapped by men in Santa suits and bad beards?
This is one Christmas that no one in The Sisters will ever forget!

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Don’t miss the other books in The Sisters, Texas series!

The first four books of the series will be a Free Kindle book (in order) each Saturday in Oct, with the last book, Genny’s Ballad, available for a .99 Kindle Countdown Deal Oct 24-31

Chicken Scratch The Sisters, Texas Series Book 1

| Goodreads | Amazon

When The Stars Fall The Sisters, Texas Series Book 2 | Goodreads | Amazon

Stipulations and Complications The Sisters, Texas Series Book 3 | Goodreads | Amazon

Home Again: Starting Over The Sisters, Texas Series Book 4 | Goodreads | Amazon

Genny’s Ballad The Sisters, Texas Series Book 5 | Goodreads | Amazon