The Lily Barlow series is an entertaining romp through a small southern town with delightful characters and is filled with humor, wit, and funny quips.
One reader says of this author, “You, Carla, are among those who’ve been around since the first men and women gathered around primitive fires…You are a storyteller.”
Another describes her as a “funny, quirky, bohemian/hippie, colour-loving, weird gardening, fish capturing-and-releasing fly fisherwoman, welcoming, friendly author.” When asked, Vergot smiles and agrees with all of those descriptors, adding with a wink, “Don’t forget graveyard aficionado.”
That part of her writing career, connecting with her readers, has been an unexpected joy along the journey. In the process of getting her books out there, she has developed an active group of fans with whom she interacts on the daily basis.
While writing has been a life-long love, publishing a book has been a dream since attending North Carolina State University. “Shortly after graduating,” she says, “is when the dream met the back burner. Every once in a while, I’d turn the heat up to a simmer and give the dream a half-hearted stir, but I just did not have the energy or the time to write the book.”
It took two career changes and a sabbatical to get to a place in life where she did have the time. Vergot considers this Act III, after enjoying fulfilling careers in fund raising and special education. In 2016, at the gentle nudging of her husband, she put in for a one-year sabbatical from teaching to work on her book.
Vergot was well equipped. She had a degree in language arts, writing and editing. She had the support of a spouse who could cover the mortgage while she took herself out of the workforce. She had a story idea. Lastly, she finally had time to write. Scads of authors have produced great works on far less. The universe was clearly in perfect alignment for the pursuit of her dream.
Call it Murphy’s Law, call it plain old life, but she no sooner submitted the paperwork for the leave of absence when her husband got seriously ill. Writing a book, while still the dream, also became the medicine that got her through that dark time.
“I believe the playful feel of this story is directly related to what I needed at that time in my life. Lily Barlow: The Mystery of Jane Dough started out as more of a full-blooded mystery but morphed into a rom-comstery. That’s a mash-up I borrowed from another author to describe the genre—equal parts romance, comedy and mystery.”
Vergot’s takeaway is simple— “Dream seeds are very resilient. They can stay dormant for long periods of time and sometimes they require a colossal event, like pinecones in a forest fire, to open up. It is never too late to reinvent yourself.”
After she wrote and published the first book in the series, Vergot formally resigned from teaching to write the second book. “Once it got started, the story was dying to be told. It keeps on going. I’m in the middle of writing book 3 which has plenty of twists and hairpin turns, and I don’t think I can tie up all the loose ends by the end of it, so readers can look forward to a book 4.”
What’s the series about? In a sweet, funny, Southern voice 21-year-old Lily Barlow brings the reader along for a riotous ride as she attempts to extricate herself from the small town of Marshall, Virginia. Lily, focusing on her family’s shuttered business, digs to uncover the identity of a murder victim she saw online. Throw in a best friend who wants to be a boyfriend, a landlady who may or may not have buried a body out back, a flock of chickens, and the laughs keep coming. Lily is a Janet Evanovich groupie who idolizes Stephanie Plum, so she tends to ask herself what Stephanie would do whenever she encounters any situation having even the barest blush of a mystery.
These books are so much better when you read them in order, so be sure to start with the first book in the series—Lily Barlow: The Mystery of Jane Dough. Book 2 is titled Lily Barlow: The Mystery in the Mangroves and pick up the next day.
Visit https://www.carlavergot.com/ to get your hands on the books!
