A Cake Worse Than Death (Deadly Morsel Mysteries Book 1) by bea kendall

Author:bea kendall [kendall, bea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cozy, british, culinary, murder mystery, amateur sleuths, cafe and bookshop, friendship fiction
Publisher: Inkfellows Publications
Published: 2023-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

A SCREAM FROM THE BOOKSHOP sent a shiver down her spine. Now what? She turned off the mixer and, armed with her trusty wooden spoon, headed in search of the next drama.

‘Nell, it’s him... in my bookshop.’ Maxie’s voice trembled, her hands shaky to match.

‘Him who?’

‘The American.’

Nell frowned, pushed back her shoulders, ready to square up to him once again. Had the man no shame, turning up when they weren’t even open to the public? ‘How did he get in?’

Maxie reached for Nell’s arm as she passed, her fingers grasping tightly as though she felt she might fall. ‘Nell, I think he’s dead.’

Nell froze, every muscle went rigid and the spoon clattered to the floor. A buzzing noise filled her ears and she patted the side of her head, convinced she’d misheard, but Maxie was breathing hard, eyes bulging with fright. ‘Dead? You’re not messing around to avoid peeling vegetables, are you?’

Maxie gave a nervous laugh and shifted from one foot to another, shaking her head. ‘No.’

Nell peeled Maxie’s hand from her arm and ventured towards the archway, her gaze falling upon a pair of men’s leather brogues pointing up to the sky. A tiny squeak slipped from her lips and she moved closer to take in the full view of Jeremiah Soames, still and supine on the floor by Maxie’s desk, sheets of paper and items of stationary surrounding and atop him. She knelt beside him and checked for a pulse. Finding none, she sat back on her haunches and groaned.

‘I was right, wasn’t I? He’s dead, isn’t he?’

‘As far as I can tell, yes. Max, can you call the emergency services?’

Her question fell upon deaf ears since Maxie was pacing through the café, mumbling to herself. ‘What was he doing in here? How did he get in?’ Then she clapped her hands, a moment of realisation dawning. ‘He came to steal my book!’ She shoved Nell aside and staggered through the arch, pausing in front of the empty drawer in her desk where she had locked the book away after the shenanigans of the previous day. ‘The drawer, it’s been forced open.’ Scanning the ground, then the debris on her desk, and everywhere within sight, her breath hitched up a notch. ‘I can’t see it. Nell, I can’t see it. He must have it.’ But before she could drop to her knees and search him, Nell dragged her away.

‘Max, stop it. You can’t touch him. Not until the police get here. This is a crime scene now.’ She steered Maxie to a bench and forced her to sit down. ‘Stay there, promise me, while I call them.’ Maxie nodded, but her constant fidgeting on the bench didn’t reassure Nell. She ran to the kitchen and yanked her phone from her bag, running back to stand guard over Maxie while she frantically pressed 999.

Call made, she followed it with further messages, asking for reinforcements in the shape of Luke and David, both of whom arrived together, Luke picking David up in his delivery van.

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