A Merry Chatty Christmas: A Stella Bankwell Story

Stella Bankwell is going home for Christmas, leaving behind her quaint cottage on St. Simons Island and heading back to Turner's Corner, the farm where she happily grew up in the North Georgia mountains shadowed by the Appalachian Trail. Her best friend, Chatham Balsam Colquitt IV, aka Chatty, will be left to have Christmas in one of his opulent mansions in Sea Island, Atlanta, or a plantation outside of Savannah. An only child orphaned as a teenager, he was bequeathed a vast fortune of old money. Though Chatty enjoys his wealth, his main delight is his best friend, Stella. When Stella invites Chatty to join her, he worries about the rustic nature of the farm. "I'll make the best of an unseemly situation," he tells Stella and instructs his butler to deliver fine china, crystal, silver, and linens to the farm to enhance the holiday celebrations. Joining them are their two mystery solving friends: former Governor McCager Burnett and his sweet wife, Alva, who also own a farm near Stella's family. Alva has secretly invited Stella's crush, U.S. Marshal Jackson "Pepper" Culpepper. Expecting a relaxing, non-eventful Christmas, they find that it is anything but. The snowy Christmas they spend at Turner's Corner is surprising and challenging but will leave them deeply satisfied. For Chatty, it's nothing less than stunningly shocking. In the end, they all agree there will never be another Christmas like it--a sweetly meaningful holiday and celebration of life. Read more