Bed & Breakfast and Murder (A Sunnyside Cozy Mystery)

By Rachel White

her and her husband Jim had been calling home for the past five years. She was hungry for intrigue and adventure and she wasn't getting it at the Bed and Breakfast they owned and operated. Even if it only lasted a weekend, Maggie was in search of excitement. 

So when her deceased grandmother’s old friend suddenly hands her a set of mysterious files, Maggie is more than willing to dive right in and play the role of amateur sleuth. Only, as the pieces of the puzzle are put together, Maggie slowly realizes that this mystery hits closer to home than she would've preferred and it may be too late to back out now. 

With her best friend and neighbor Sophia's help, Maggie sets out into the town of Sunnyside to uncover the truth about a family tragedy, and gets a bit more intrigue and adventure than she bargained for…!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roja Publishing
• Release date: Jan 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524250966

Book preview

Bed & Breakfast and Murder

A Sunnyside Cozy Mystery

By Rachel White

© 2015

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Bed & Breakfast and Murder

Maggie was slowly becoming unsatisfied with Sunnyside, the island community in the Florida Keys that her and her husband Jim had been calling home for the past five years. She was hungry for intrigue and adventure and she wasn't getting it at the Bed and Breakfast they owned and operated. Even if it only lasted a weekend, Maggie was in search of excitement.

So when her deceased grandmother’s old friend suddenly hands her a set of mysterious files, Maggie is more than willing to dive right in and play the role of amateur sleuth. Only, as the pieces of the puzzle are put together, Maggie slowly realizes that this mystery hits closer to home than she would've preferred and it may be too late to back out now.

With her best friend and neighbor Sophia's help, Maggie sets out into the town of Sunnyside to uncover the truth about a family tragedy, and gets a bit more intrigue and adventure than she bargained for...!

Table of Contents:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter One

The crisp scent of freshly baked apple biscuits wafted through the air before settling on Maggie Lund’s nose.

Jim is at it already? she pondered.

Jim, her husband of nine years, was nearly always in charge of the breakfast portion of running their bed and breakfast, and he was always keen to show off why that was. Freshly baked biscuits were always a good demonstration.

Maggie and Jim were the proud owners of the Sunrise Inn Bed & Breakfast in Sunnyside, Florida in the Florida Keys. They had been running the place together ever since Maggie’s grandmother, Bunny, passed away. Maggie was Bunny’s only granddaughter and, for some reason, Bunny had specifically said in her will that the Sunrise Inn could only be run by Maggie. Not that anyone else had particularly wanted to run it. To say Bunny had neglected it over the years would be kind. It was a disaster.

When Maggie and Jim packed up their lives in Wisconsin and drove all the way down to the Florida Keys to take up their new profession, they expected to find a bustling, busy hotel. Instead they were greeted with a run-down plantation-style house that looked like it hadn’t had a fresh coat of paint since her grandmother bought the place in the 1950's.

Nevertheless, Maggie and Jim were thrilled to jump in and get their hands dirty. After three solid weeks of hard work and elbow grease, the couple had the Sunrise Inn looking like a brand-new, cozy home. The wraparound porch had a nice, bright coat of white paint. The porch swing was newly bolted to the ceiling and was finally able to support more than a light breeze. Flowers and neatly trimmed bushes lined the cobblestone walkway that led to the front door. It was a most-welcoming sight for any weary-eyed traveler.

Inside the Inn, the remarkable transformation continued. Gone was the dated wallpaper and shag carpeting her grandmother had installed in the 70’s. Sparkling White Pine flooring and a modern, yet comfy, set of furniture took its place. Sophia, the next-door neighbor offered her interior decorating skills and spruced the walls up with artwork from some local Key West artists and antiquities from the island’s past.

Thanks to all of the changes, the customers started flooding Maggie and Jim with booking requests. Sophia claimed to have never heard the phone ring over the past 10 years as it did on the first day of their official re-opening, five years ago. Ever since then, the phones had never stopped ringing. Whether it was down to the house’s prime location, the complete redecoration or, as Jim liked to claim, his famous home-cooked breakfasts, the Sunrise Inn really took off and never stopped.

When the smell of crisp bacon frying on the stove mixed with the biscuits, Maggie knew it was time to get up. She had learned the hard way, many years ago, that if she didn’t grab a bit of Jim’s breakfasts before the guests awoke, she’d be left picking up the crumbs off their plates, because there were never any leftovers.

Morning, Rocket! Maggie said as she swung her feet over the bed.

Rocket, a 10-year old beagle, barely lifted his head from his soft puppy bed, which rested at the end of their bed. Maggie could never remember why Jim named him Rocket, when they found the beagle sleeping on their porch all those years ago, but it certainly had nothing to do with his activity level.

Maggie threw her robe on over her nightgown, spent a couple of seconds straightening her hair in the vanity mirror, then walked down the carpeted stairs to the kitchen.

Morning, Hun.

Maggie, morning, babe! You’re just in time – I saved you some bacon and eggs and set aside a biscuit, before anyone else could get to them. Jim said with a wink and a smile, before kissing her forehead.

Thanks. I was worried that I'd slept in just a little too late today! she said with a return wink and a loving squeeze of Jim’s big hands.

The couple was pouring their coffee when they heard the first set of feet coming down the stairs. There was only one family staying with them at the moment, two people total, for the next few days. The Morgan’s – a nice family, it seemed, who had driven down from Tampa the night before.

Good Morning, Mr. Morgan. How did you sleep? Maggie asked with a smile.

Like a rock, ma’am. That pillow is the best I’ve ever slept on...but the smell of breakfast was too strong for me to resist, Mr. Morgan answered with a deep chuckle. He was a tall man. Taller than Jim by about 3 or 4 inches, it seemed. Maggie put him around 6' 5", maybe taller.

Help yourself, Jim said. There’s bacon, eggs, some fresh fruit from the mango tree out back, and my homemade biscuits.

"You made all of this?" Mrs. Morgan’s voice sang, as she popped her head into the kitchen.

I gotta earn my keep around here somehow! Jim joked.

They all shared a laugh and found their places around the kitchen table. It was a nice morning. The ocean breeze filled the air and, for the first time in weeks, the temperature was only