Candy Canes, Canines & Crime: A Christmas Cozy Mystery (A Dickens & Christie Mystery Book 8) by Kathy Manos Penn

Author:Kathy Manos Penn [Penn, Kathy Manos]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Manos Penn & Ink
Published: 2022-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Ellie continued to surprise me. While I was changing into warm clothes—black, of course—she brought a similar ensemble inside. I couldn’t help laughing when she called it her stakeout outfit, and wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d pulled out black face paint to daub on her cheeks and nose.

On the way, I texted Dave that I was on an adventure with Ellie. He was curious but not worried. If I’d mentioned Wendy, on the other hand, he would have called immediately. Between the two of us, she was hands down the bigger risk-taker.

I knew Ellie had thought it through when she backed into a driveway a few doors down from Mrs. Miller’s home. “Mrs. Miller said this cottage was a rental and unoccupied until Friday. This way, Leta, we can pull out in an instant.”

We started our watch talking of holiday plans and the book club selection for the next night and then spent the next several hours in companionable silence with one or the other of us occasionally voicing a random thought.

“Did you read the book Pepper’s Pies when you were a child, Leta?”

“I don’t think so. I read The Five Little Peppers. Is it about the same family?”

“No. I thought of it when you mentioned Polly and Ric volunteering at Pepper’s Animal Shelter. It opened in the ’80s when the author left a sizable sum to build a shelter on her property in Northleach, with the royalties from Pepper’s Pies going to the shelter in perpetuity to fund it long term. Her grandson, who owned a farm and was forever taking in strays, was her only beneficiary, and he put his heart and soul into carrying out her wishes. I understand the royalties are starting to dry up for some reason, and the shelter is in dire straits.”

“Did the book have something to do with animals?”

Though I couldn’t see Ellie’s face in the dark car, I detected a smile in her voice. “Oh yes. It was a beloved children’s book in the ’50s. Perhaps it never made it to America. Pepper is a lad who loves dogs and sweets. One day he sees a dog dig a hole beneath the garden gate and trot down the street. When he chases the little thing and brings it home to its owner, she rewards him with a piece of cherry pie. Soon after, he finds another dog on the loose and returns it, and once again, the reward is a slice of pie.”

I chuckled. “It sounds like a story I would have enjoyed, but it doesn’t ring a bell.”

“My sons and grandsons loved the book. Pepper gets the idea to unlatch one garden gate a day, pick up a dog, and deliver it to the owner’s front door. One day he gets greedy and opens gates and returns dogs up and down the street until he gets a tummy ache. The illustrations are priceless—a lad with his mouth covered with fruit pie, rubbing his swollen tummy. On the next page, the buttons have popped off his shirt.

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