I am often accused of being nosy. Especially by my uncle, travel writer Alexander Carlyle. I first accompanied Alex to Provence because of his health. He’s no spring chicken, but, truthfully, he looks out for me as much as I look out for him. We traveled to Ireland and then to Tuscany. When COVID shut down that kind of travel, he wrote a book about Nashville, a city he knew well from his younger days. He had some things to say about the “New Nashville.” I got to visit my daughter when we went to Alex’s book launch. It was a good thing I was there for Holly. But that’s another story.

Today, Alex drove in from Atlanta. He was at my house on Abercorn when Winston and I returned from our walk. I was in a hurry— Winston had stopped at every bush along our route—but I’m always glad to see Alex. “This is a nice surprise!” I said. “What are you doing in Savannah?”

Alex wanted me to be nosy.

“They’re tearing down Della Hart’s house tomorrow,” he said. “You know, Della and I went to school together, back in the day. Not long ago I visited her at the old folks’ home. She was raving about something she had to do at her house. I got permission to bring her here one more time before the bulldozers level it.”

The Hart house was a Savannah icon. I was ten years old, Jimmie Hart’s age, when his father disappeared without a trace. Clifford Hart was known to be a mean drunk and rumored to beat his wife and son when he went on a bender. Hard to believe that no one did a blessed thing for Della and Jimmie. The Harts were a prominent family. Even the nuns turned a blind eye when Jimmie came to school with bruises, saying he’d fallen down the stairs again. Della Hart was a bit of a recluse, probably because she was ashamed of her injuries. After Clifford Hart simply vanished, if Della did go out, she dressed flamboyantly, with feather boas and hair dyed a color not known to nature. Crazy, people said. Jimmie grew up and took flight. I’ve heard he’s in England. Remarkably, Della lived in her house quietly for decades, but now she was living out her days at Sunny Meadows.

“I’d appreciate your company, Jordan,” Alex said. “I admit, I’m not sure what I’m getting into.”

I checked my watch. I could spare a little time. I was curious to see the Hart house.

Della had become a frail old woman. Alex helped her up the steps to the house, and I opened the front door with her keys. The smell was what you’d imagine, musty and moldy. Walking through the halls and through the years, Della seemed much clearer than I’d expected.

Most times they kept her heavily medicated, Alex had said, but on the way over, she’d giggled. “The nurse turned her back this morning, and I spit out those pills!”

In the kitchen, she headed to the cellar door. “I suppose I shouldn’t try the stairs,” she said.

Alex and I agreed.

Della Hart opened the door and hollered into the dark, “Goodbye, Clifford. You were a real S.O.B.” Turning to us, she suddenly looked distraught. “I should have done it. Jimmie was only ten years old.”

“Oh . . . my God!” Alex whispered. “Jordan, what should we do?”

“Nothing,” I said. I’m nosy, but I know justice when I see it.


Notorious in Nashville, A Jordan Mayfair Mystery Book #4
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: October 2023
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

The old and new collide in Nashville. A crooked developer, Tommy Kahn, plans to demolish a historic building, the Eagles Nest, and build yet another sleek, new tower. At The Bluebird Cafe, where so many music careers have been launched, a washed-up drunk named Notorious interrupts Willow Goodheart’s performance, accusing her of stealing his song. Truth-teller Caleb Hunter, determined to shine a light on the corruption in New Nashville, is murdered, his body dragged from the river.

Jordan Mayfair finds herself immersed in it all when she comes to “Music City” with Alex, her travel-writer uncle, and learns that her daughter Holly, who works for Tommy Kahn, might be in danger…


Meet the author
Phyllis Gobbell writes a little bit of everything. She has received awards in both fiction and nonfiction, including Tennessee’s Individual Artist Literary Award. She taught writing and literature for twenty years at Nashville State Community College. Gobbell’s recent books are the Jordan Mayfair Mystery Series, most recently Notorious in Nashville, released in 2023. Others in the series are Treachery in Tuscany, a Silver Falchion Award winner, Secrets and Shamrocks, and Pursuit in Provence.