Lily Callina announced the release of her new novel, Sins of the Past, today. The book is set in the small Texas town of Spit and explores how an unresolved hit-and-run continues to shape a community years later.
(Isstories Editorial):- Humble, Texas Sep 18, 2025 (Issuewire.com) – The Story:
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“Sins of the Past” opens in the small Texas town of Spit with journalist Cheyenne still haunted by a childhood tragedy: on her birthday bike ride, a car mowed down her best friend, Margarete, in front of her. The memory is visceral–Cheyenne can still hear the impact and feel Margarete’s blood cooling as she held her, a trauma that calcifies into a promise to someday find the driver.
Years later, she crosses paths again with Christopher–now an attorney and the mayor’s son–and the old pull between them reignites just as both decide to reopen the cold case. They spread police boxes across a table and start comparing evidence, determined to unearth what fourteen years obscured.
Their investigation widens quickly. After tracing Margarete’s family history and considering whether her mother might have hidden past connections, they pay a difficult visit to Ms. Margaret, seeking context that the original detectives never captured.
Christopher even floats looping in federal resources if needed–one of many hints that this will sprawl beyond a single bad night on a neighborhood road. As they work, their rapport deepens and complicates things: they keep reminding each other to solve the case first and figure out “them” second, a vow easier said than done.
A second thread emerges from Margarete’s teen diaries: Suri, a shy classmate who died a year after Margarete in what was labeled a suicide. Cheyenne finds the online tributes and wonders if fear kept the truth buried; Christopher pulls records, and an FBI contact named Donald starts quietly assisting.
Soon, a name crystallizes–Derry, a hometown football star turned lawyer–with an ominous detail: he drove a small vintage red Mustang. Cheyenne and Christopher track down Suri’s best friend, Truly, whose devastating account details threats, ritualized abuse, and the terror that kept kids silent. Donald’s background checks sketch an unsettling portrait of Derry’s family power and access to the legal system–fuel for why victims might have been ignored.
Pushing forward has a cost. Cheyenne’s home is ransacked and spray-painted with a warning–“Stop this investagation NOW bafore we come for YOU!”–and the misspellings themselves become a clue. The attackers had even cut the phone and alarm lines; later, the alarm company reports a hacking incident that conveniently erased logs for the window of the break-in.
Meanwhile, questions nibble at the town’s political edges: Christopher’s mother, the long-tenured mayor, is known for cultivating immigrant-run businesses, and a family connected to a key witness seems to have enjoyed unusual support–facts that could be benign policy or a conflict of interest, depending on what the evidence ultimately shows. As Cheyenne’s reporting rallies the community, pressure mounts, arrests follow in Suri’s case, and a harrowing trial exposes what many refused to see.
Thread by thread, the past tightens around the present: a red car, old diaries, forensic scraps, and people with power to lose. Cheyenne and Christopher’s partnership–equal parts grit and tenderness–faces both external threats and internal doubts as the investigation edges toward answers.
About the Author:
Lily Callina is a daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, and cousin–as well as a writer and former social worker. Having weathered many heartbreaks, she draws strength from her faith, her love of rock music (especially Nickelback), and a lifelong passion for storytelling. After 34 years in a helping profession, she turned to writing as a new way to connect with others and to explore the resilience of the human spirit.
Availability:
Available on Amazon, Sins of the Past examines how a long-dormant hit-and-run reverberates through a small Texas town and the lives of those who were closest to it.
This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.
