Blueberry Muffins and Misfortune (Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 12) by Agatha Frost

Author:Agatha Frost [Frost, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pink Tree Publishing LTD
Published: 2018-05-08T05:00:00+00:00

10

“Is Alfie up to something?” Jessie asked, her chin resting on her hands as she watched Julia ice a chocolate cake. “He always seems to be busy.”

“He’s got a lot on his plate at the moment,” Julia replied, knowing it was not her place to reveal the truth about Kylie. “They’re re-opening the yard this week, and they’re fixing the ceiling at the library.”

“Billy isn’t too busy to text back,” Jessie huffed as she checked her phone. “Who knew siblings could be so annoying?”

“I could have told you that,” Julia said with a chuckle as she smoothed out the last lines on the glossy surface of the cake. “How does it look?”

“Perfect, as always.”

“It’s for Barker.” Julia stepped back to assess her handiwork. “His favourite double chocolate fudge cake to apologise for being a bad fiancée.”

“What have you done?”

Julia opened the nearest drawer and pulled out the stack of papers she had printed off, detailing Barker’s rise to internet fame since his book launch. She dropped the stapled stack onto the counter, forcing Jessie to sit up straight.

“And that’s only half of it,” Julia said, rubbing her eyes. “Articles, reviews, press interviews, blogs, social media. He even has a Barker Brown fan group.”

“I bet it has four members,” Jessie snorted.

“Four hundred, actually,” Julia said, the number surprising her. “And it grew every time I refreshed the page. Look at this! The Guardian gave it four stars and called it ‘the freshest British crime novel of the year’! And his interview on Chatty Women has already clocked up a hundred thousand hits online. I checked the review sites, and everyone’s raving about the book in their hundreds, and it’s in the top ten of the eBook charts! All this has been going on, and I haven’t paid it any attention. I’ve been worrying about a decade old corpse and blueberry muffins instead of supporting the man I love. I should have been by his side for all of this, but he has Izzy there to hold his hand and tell him he’s doing great.”

Jessie flicked through the pages, and even she looked impressed. “Stormzy retweeted about the book!”

“Who?”

“Never mind. You’re too old.”

Jessie pushed the papers back to Julia before looking up into the corner of the room, her eyes scrunching up as though she was deep in thought. Julia put the stack of papers back in the drawer and waited for Jessie to say what was on her mind.

“Barker is having the time of his life right now,” Jessie said after a long pause. “And he’s always busy, but you’re a busy woman too. Even when you’re not snooping about, you have a café to run, and you’re not exactly going to start taking days off to follow him to London every five minutes.”

Julia knew Jessie had a point, but it did not make her feel any better. She should have kept in the loop, or at least asked more in-depth questions about what was happening. Instead, she had allowed every other thing surrounding her to captivate her attention.

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