The Shelved Shocker: A Thrift Shop Cozy Mystery (Secondhand Sleuth Mysteries Book 12) by Mel Morgan

Author:Mel Morgan [Morgan, Mel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Stonefire Press
Published: 2024-01-01T16:00:00+00:00

ABBY AND LENA never did come into the downtown location that day, possibly preferring to shop at my first store. The boredom made me wish I’d brought Murder in Walnut Cove with me to read, and before long, I closed up the shop early again. The lazy winter sun was ready to call it quits, too, and I drove home in an orange glow. Maybe an early evening on the couch with McCoy was just what the situation called for. That, and a lot more reading.

I kicked off my boots and then had the presence of mind to shove them under the radiator. I wanted them dry again in the morning. Then I slipped into my pajamas at a shockingly early hour and found my couch waiting, complete with cat.

“Hey, buddy.” I scratched his ears and he meowed up at me without looking. He was too sleepy even to rise and run to the food dish, and my early arrival had confused his natural rhythm of excessive napping. I plopped down beside him for a moment, wondering about dinner. Then I realized I wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until I started reading.

Rising again from the old lime cushions while doing my best not to disturb McCoy, I went to the cabinet where I’d stashed the manuscript pages. Though he was usually beyond scampering and rabble-rousing age, I still never knew when my kitty might munch something. And since old paper was right at the top of his list of obnoxious snacks, I’d done my best to keep him out of the book that was one-of-a-kind and, as far as I knew, completely irreplaceable.

Sticking my hand into the dark space of the cabinet did not produce the book as I’d expected. What was going on here? I bent down and did my best to look inside by the light of the lamp behind me, and could see nothing that looked like those familiar yellowed pages.

Maybe I’d shoved it under the couch last time I’d read it and forgotten all about it. I sometimes read until I fell asleep, so that was possible. But the manuscript wasn’t under the couch, or the nearby chair. It also wasn’t in the table drawer beside my bed in the attic.

Disturbed by the commotion and sensing my growing distress, McCoy appeared behind me on the stairs and followed me back down to the living room. He was wide awake now, and so was I.

The book was missing.

There was no sign anywhere in my house of those manuscript pages. Murder in Walnut Cove had just become a whole new sort of mystery—one focused on a burglary.

There was nothing I could do but call the deputy.

“Hello? Mistletoe County Deputy, here.”

He sounded jolly. I hated to ruin his good mood. “Doug, something is wrong.”

“Wait, who is this?” His tone became official and his voice grew hard. “What’s going on?”

I’d been too nervous to announce myself. I realized I was trembling as I spoke to him. “This is Jessica.

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