Where There's a Will

by Shirley Hailstock, Margie Walker, Bridget Anderson

- Where There's A Will was a selection of the Black Expressions Book Club.
Shirley Hailstock is a former adjunct professor of accounting at Rutgers University, and systems manager at Bristol-Myers Squibb. She lives in Plainsboro, New Jersey, with her family.
Margie Walker is a former radio personality and a journalist. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two sons.
Bridget Anderson lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shelby Lewis lives in Guthrie, Oklahoma, with her husband and two teenage sons.

379 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Shirley Hailstock loves reading. She'd like nothing better than to find a corner in the library and get lost in a book, explore new worlds and visit places she never expected to see. Now as an author, she can not only visit those places, but she can be the heroine of her own stories.

A past president of Romance Writers of America, Shirley began her writing career on a dare. Taking a year to complete her first manuscript, the writing bug bit her and she discovered telling stories of love and adventure was what she wanted to spend her life doing.

Reviews

[A'ndrea Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where There's a Will is a book containing four novellas that are intertwined by Shirley Hailstock, Margie Walker, Bridget Anderson, and Shelby Lewis, with connecting prologue, epilogue, and interludes by Donna Hill. Henry Chambers is the owner of Georgia's only African American PI firm. When he passes away, he leaves a few cases behind for his four daughters to solve.

Walker's story "Curtains" follows daughter/sister Maxine who has been left the duty of cleaning up the firm's accounting. But as she tries to get her father's "affairs" in order, she finds herself in the midst of two unexpected dilemmas, a romance with Sgt. Lucious Kimble and the target of someone who obviously wants her dead.

Hailstock's story "The Bad Penny" follows daughter/sister Taylor who ends up with an unsolved missing persons case. But as she begins digging for the truth, she realizes two things: the missing person may not want to be found and someone is working overtime to keep her from finding out the truth.

Anderson's story "Identity Crisis" follows daughter/sister Samantha who has been given the case of a fiance who may really be a con artist. But wanting to fulfill her father's last wish may cost her both her own relationship and her life.

Finally, in Lewis's "Redemption," daughter/sister Morgan refuses to take the case that's been left for her. But when women start ending up dead and the only clue has her name on it, she is forced to return to her hometown and figure out how these murders and her father's case are connected.

Where There's a Will is a mixture of romance, mystery/suspense, comedy, and drama. The authors do a good job of making each sister's story come to life. I did find some slight discrepancies amongst the four stories that made it somewhat obvious that there were four different authors telling these stories. Of course, because there were different authors, some of the stories were more engaging than others. However, overall, the book was a good read and I would recommend it to others who like suspenseful short stores.

[T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creatively written with different writers portraying different siblings. Entertaining and attention holding.

[Rachael Plymesser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! It had smaller stories within but it was one where you couldn't put it down!