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Death in the Ditch: A Willie Wilder Cozy Murder Mystery
A newcomer.
A suspicious death.
A town of secrets—and one bossy cow.
Willie Wilder was just passing through Eagle Ridge on her way to a fresh start.
But when her van breaks down, she finds herself stuck in a small town hiding big secrets—and someone at the center of them winds up dead.
The victim? A cranky landowner with more enemies than friends.
The suspects? Coopers, long feuding neighbours, Baldwin, deeply indebted, or the Fenleys - cheated out of their land?
Her allies? A trio of unforgettable Talulla the tattooed mechanic, Birdie the bedazzled motel clerk, and Marnie the no-nonsense librarian.
Threatened to back off, she arms herself with a notebook, curiosity, and her strange gift for understanding animals (don’t ask), Willie becomes an accidental sleuth.
With antique keys, a cryptic cow, and a skeptical sheriff circling, Willie must dig up decades of buried secrets.
And in Eagle Ridge… even the cows know better than to talk.
A suspicious death.
A town of secrets—and one bossy cow.
Willie Wilder was just passing through Eagle Ridge on her way to a fresh start.
But when her van breaks down, she finds herself stuck in a small town hiding big secrets—and someone at the center of them winds up dead.
The victim? A cranky landowner with more enemies than friends.
The suspects? Coopers, long feuding neighbours, Baldwin, deeply indebted, or the Fenleys - cheated out of their land?
Her allies? A trio of unforgettable Talulla the tattooed mechanic, Birdie the bedazzled motel clerk, and Marnie the no-nonsense librarian.
Threatened to back off, she arms herself with a notebook, curiosity, and her strange gift for understanding animals (don’t ask), Willie becomes an accidental sleuth.
With antique keys, a cryptic cow, and a skeptical sheriff circling, Willie must dig up decades of buried secrets.
And in Eagle Ridge… even the cows know better than to talk.
97 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2025
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 10, 2025
Grab a mug of coffee or tea and snuggle up with this cozy mystery! I completely enjoyed a leisurely morning sipping my brew and reading this delightful novelette from a new and upcoming author! Willie Wilder (the main character) is truly relatable, displaying real-world emotions as she navigates a major life shift AND the shocking discovery of a dead body! Willie's engaging inner monologue keeps the reader both amused and informed.
Featherstone's writing is lyrical and deliciously descriptive, bringing the entire story to life in full technicolor and surround sound, with evocative scents lightly fragrancing the air (buckets of steaming hot coffee are poured!). There are too many great lines in this book to pick out just one, but I especially enjoyed: "...around here, bad men don't always get what's coming to them. They just get quieter funerals."
Willie occasionally uses short poems as a form of self-expression, and these are great tension-busting snippets dropped cleverly throughout that give readers additional insight without excessive exposition.
Featherstone has done an admirable job of not only presenting us with a cast of quirky and unforgettable characters, but also building our relationships with them so that we are truly invested in what happens next. I, for one, know that I will be following along closely to learn more about what happened to Sheriff CJ Corbin's former partner; what state Willie finds Uncle Bud's old homestead in; and (of course) how Willie and her newly acquired dog Axel will get along. Not to mention what sorts of situations Willie manages to stumble into next!! (I did subscribe to the author's email list so that I can be notified of when new books are released.)
I highly recommend this book, and I am looking forward to Ivy Featherstone's next offering!!
Featherstone's writing is lyrical and deliciously descriptive, bringing the entire story to life in full technicolor and surround sound, with evocative scents lightly fragrancing the air (buckets of steaming hot coffee are poured!). There are too many great lines in this book to pick out just one, but I especially enjoyed: "...around here, bad men don't always get what's coming to them. They just get quieter funerals."
Willie occasionally uses short poems as a form of self-expression, and these are great tension-busting snippets dropped cleverly throughout that give readers additional insight without excessive exposition.
Featherstone has done an admirable job of not only presenting us with a cast of quirky and unforgettable characters, but also building our relationships with them so that we are truly invested in what happens next. I, for one, know that I will be following along closely to learn more about what happened to Sheriff CJ Corbin's former partner; what state Willie finds Uncle Bud's old homestead in; and (of course) how Willie and her newly acquired dog Axel will get along. Not to mention what sorts of situations Willie manages to stumble into next!! (I did subscribe to the author's email list so that I can be notified of when new books are released.)
I highly recommend this book, and I am looking forward to Ivy Featherstone's next offering!!
January 22, 2026
This narrative would have benefited greatly from another round of editing. It is reliably inconsistent when it comes to foundational details, and its cadence is choppy.
Willie, who, as readers learn about a third of the way through this book, is in her mid-fifties, recently inherited a farm from her uncle. The farm she inherited is in North Dakota, and she’s packed her trusty van, Kathi, for a road trip to see it. Unfortunately, Kathi breaks down on an isolated country road, leaving Willie stranded with no cell service, and only a cow and a corpse for company. Willie knows that, as the finder of the body, she's going to be a suspect, but that doesn’t change the pit of dread that forms in her stomach when the sheriff tells her she’s not to leave town. The only way Willie is going to make it to her uncle’s, well it’s technically her, farm is if she can figure out what happened to the body in the ditch.
This narrative has the bones of a cozy mystery, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. As mentioned, this book would have benefited from another round of editing: character details were inconsistent, easily researchable errors of fact were left in, Willie knew details before they were present in the narrative, perspectives shifted with no distinction, the pacing was incredibly inconsistent, and conversations/interactions were uncanny.
Throughout this narrative Willie behaves in a manner inconsistent with how she is described; she is naive, and continually distracted. Her interactions with the local town folk come off as awkward, and completely lack authenticity.
This narrative reads as a synthesized approximation of a cozy, small town mystery.
Willie, who, as readers learn about a third of the way through this book, is in her mid-fifties, recently inherited a farm from her uncle. The farm she inherited is in North Dakota, and she’s packed her trusty van, Kathi, for a road trip to see it. Unfortunately, Kathi breaks down on an isolated country road, leaving Willie stranded with no cell service, and only a cow and a corpse for company. Willie knows that, as the finder of the body, she's going to be a suspect, but that doesn’t change the pit of dread that forms in her stomach when the sheriff tells her she’s not to leave town. The only way Willie is going to make it to her uncle’s, well it’s technically her, farm is if she can figure out what happened to the body in the ditch.
This narrative has the bones of a cozy mystery, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. As mentioned, this book would have benefited from another round of editing: character details were inconsistent, easily researchable errors of fact were left in, Willie knew details before they were present in the narrative, perspectives shifted with no distinction, the pacing was incredibly inconsistent, and conversations/interactions were uncanny.
Throughout this narrative Willie behaves in a manner inconsistent with how she is described; she is naive, and continually distracted. Her interactions with the local town folk come off as awkward, and completely lack authenticity.
This narrative reads as a synthesized approximation of a cozy, small town mystery.
December 21, 2025
"This town has a long memory and a short fuse."
When Willie Wilder left for Grandview ND in her old VW van she never figured out that a broken down van would lead her to a dead body ..in a ditch. And that reporting it could make her a suspect.
This short intro to what looks like a series has a number of things kind of left out. And that's why it gets a four out of five stars
[ note: The teaser pages of the next book soon to be released do fill in the blanks so to speak which made me order it]
When Willie Wilder left for Grandview ND in her old VW van she never figured out that a broken down van would lead her to a dead body ..in a ditch. And that reporting it could make her a suspect.
This short intro to what looks like a series has a number of things kind of left out. And that's why it gets a four out of five stars
[ note: The teaser pages of the next book soon to be released do fill in the blanks so to speak which made me order it]
January 12, 2026
a good introduction to Willie as she made her way to her uncle farmhouse and come accross a murder on eh way.It was fun, easy to read, she doesn't have her full power yet but we see she has a mind for mysteries
Read
January 21, 2026Willie encounters a dead body en route to her newly inherited farm...and she stops to solve the murder, with a little help from some folks and a lot of push back from others who don't look kindly on interfering strangers.
December 2, 2025
I really liked this short cozy mystery!
January 15, 2026
An alright cozy mystery. I was entertained, and it was a quick read.
January 29, 2026
I liked this book, but I quickly caught the killer.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews