Dead Before The Wedding: Carly Keene Cozy Mysteries, #1

By Ruby Blaylock

Life in a small town can be murder...

Meet Carly Keene. She's a professional photographer, part-time bakery employee, and a small town girl who loves everything about her hometown, until she discovers that there's a murderer on the loose.

Parker's Mill has a killer in its midst. The sleepy little Georgia town is full of quirky characters, but one of them is a stone-cold killer. When Carly discovers the body of one of her photography clients in his bathtub, fully clothed and snuggled up to a space heater in the dead of summer, she knows something's not right.

The dead guy had some secrets. One of which just happens to be a secret love child, and another is a redhead who smokes too much, which wouldn't be a problem if he hadn't been engaged to a brassy blonde with eighties hair and a heck of a mean temper. He also has a gorgeous twin brother who knocks Carly for six when she realizes that she might be falling for him. 

Can Carly figure out who really killed Larry Gaston before the cops nab the wrong person? Or will she let his handsome twin wander off into the sunset with one of the dead guy's former conquests?

Get cozy with the characters in this small town as Carly fights for justice as sweet as the chocolate cake at the Sweets & Eats bakery!

**Includes two recipes straight from the book!**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jessica Woods
• Release date: Aug 10, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536566741

Ruby Blaylock

Ruby Blaylock grew up in a small, southern town surrounded by colorful characters and lots of food. She loves a good helping of gossip and great food, not necessarily in that order. She is a country girl at heart and can often be found sitting on the back porch, sipping sweet tea and watching her fat hound dogs chase bugs. If she's not reading a book, she's writing one, or reading one to her kids, who can always help her think up new ways to kill off annoying characters.

Book preview

Ruby Blaylock

Dead Before the Wedding

A Carly Keene Cozy Mystery

Copyright © 2018 by Ruby Blaylock

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

First edition

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Get the next book in this series:

Shell’s Secret Recipes

Other Books By Ruby Blaylock

Chapter 1

Keith Urban was singing to her, soft and romantic, and she hoped that his wife didn’t mind. But when he leaned in to kiss her, it was a bit more than she expected. You’re having a dream, Carly Keene thought, as she rolled in her bed to hit the snooze button. Who in their right mind would want to leave Keith Urban and go face the real world? Carly settled back into the dream, nuzzling her pillow in her sleep.

Dream-Keith leaned in still closer. He was just as pretty as he was on television. His lips were soft, sweet, and wet. They began to caress her own, then they moved swiftly, kissing her cheek, kissing her nose, kissing her eyes.

Why was he kissing her eyes? And why was he licking her?

While the thought of staying in bed and being licked by a hot country music star wasn’t completely repulsive, Carly knew she had to wake up. She hesitantly opened one eye. She was rewarded with another lick, but not from Keith Urban. This hunk was shorter, hairier, and he was drooling like a maniac. She closed her eyes and covered her face, groaning at her circumstances. She longed to pull the covers over herself and just stay in Dreamland. However, one chunky, drooling blue-tick, beagle cross had other plans, and Carly found herself fighting off the affections of her goofy, overweight dog.

Aww, Bo! Get off the covers! She pushed the big, affectionate dog away, guiding him off the bed. Looking for dirty paw prints on her quilt, Carly wondered if her best friend and housemate Shell had already let Bo outside to ‘take care of business.’ One look at him prancing around her bed told her the answer was ‘no.’ She shuffled down the hall, then down the stairs, and opened up the door leading to the backyard. The dog bolted from the house with such speed it made her head spin. Her backyard was definitely the place for him right now. It was fenced in, so she let Bo go do his thing while she made her way back up to her room.

The hardwood floor was cool and comfy on her feet. It was nearly mid-May, and Carly knew that the heat wouldn’t hold off for long. Summers in the small Georgia town of Parker’s Mill could be brutal, but she loved waking up on these cool mornings, enjoying the peace of a cool morning before the heat forced its way in.

Back in her room, she dug through her closet, looking for her favorite pair of jeans. She found them piled messily on a chair where she’d tossed them the last time she’d worn them but reconsidered them as she heard the newsman on the radio announce the day’s weather. It would be hotter than she’d thought, so she grabbed a pair of lightweight capris and a cotton shirt

It was Saturday, and she had a photo shoot at the park later on. She contemplated wearing a cute pair of sandals that would let her show off the pedicure that Shell had given her the evening before but decided that a long trek through the park called for sneakers, so she grabbed hers from the closet and put them off to the side with the rest of her clothes while she jumped into the shower.

Ten minutes later, a perkier, fresher-feeling twenty-six-year-old emerged. Carly took just enough time to dab foundation on her face and put on some mascara, then she pulled her chestnut hair into a neat ponytail and headed downstairs towards the heavenly co-mingling scents of coffee and bacon. Shell was definitely up already and filling the house with her signature scent—food.

Carly was glad to have her best friend living with her. She imagined this big old house would feel awfully empty without her. Shell could certainly fill up a space, that was for sure. Her personality was loud and warm, which made the bubbly blonde popular with most who met her. Carly’s best friend was her opposite in so many ways, but she complemented Carly’s calm, quiet nature perfectly.

When Carly had come back home to Parker’s Mill from college with an English major and no real job offer in sight, she’d been utterly relieved when her parents had suggested she take over living in her Great Aunt Trina’s old house. Trina had been one of Carly’s favorite eccentric old relatives, and although there were still a few oddballs hanging around the old family tree, Trina had been special. She’d been the one who had introduced Carly to her passion and current career, photography.

Aunt Trina’s house had always been filled with photographs of family members and places she’d traveled. A spinster her whole life, Trina had been everything Carly had wanted to be when she grew up. Her aunt had traveled around the world, taking photographs for newspapers and magazines as a freelance photographer. Later, Trina spent her years volunteering at the elementary school, helping the little kids with their reading and art projects.

Trina’s house would have been too big for a single woman, but she’d always had it full of people, from her own nieces and nephews to the children of the neighborhood and their mothers, who often looked to Trina for advice or a friendly ear to confide in. When she’d died just a few years ago, Carly had been heartbroken but had been thrilled to find out that her family was keeping the house, and she was even happier to find that she’d be taking care of it.

Carly had moved into the modest two-story house and brought Shell with her. The two of them lived like a little old married couple, minus the cuddles on the couch or bickering over breakfast. So far, they’d gotten on like a house on fire, and Carly was grateful to have her best friend living with her, especially when that best friend happened to be a neat freak with a serious baking habit. They occasionally discussed the idea of renting out one of the two tiny spare bedrooms in the house, but since Carly had never actually gotten around to clearing out the spare rooms, it had been little more than idle chatter between the two friends.

Carly had thought about turning one of the rooms into an office of sorts, somewhere she could edit photos and maybe even work on drumming up more business for her photography, but somehow, she’d never quite gotten around to it. As she made her way to the kitchen, Carly put all thoughts of spare rooms and office space out of her mind.

Shell Summers was in the kitchen expertly flipping pancakes with one hand while pouring coffee into a mug with the other. She had such a look of concentration on her face, that Carly couldn’t help but giggle. The sound broke the bubbly blonde’s concentration, and her pancake fell onto the floor.

Well, shoot, Carly…that one’s yours! Shell tried to give Carly her version of the evil eye, but to Carly, it just looked like Shell was straining to break wind. Carly tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh.

Yuk it up, buttercup. Shell’s anger had already drifted away, replaced by a look of distracted resolution. I don’t know why I make so much food. It’s like I’m asking for trouble.

Carly glanced at the tall stack of pancakes already on the table and shrugged. I guess you could freeze some. Why’d you make so many anyway?

Shell wiped her hands with a dishcloth and pulled her chair out from the table. I don’t know. It’s like…it’s like I go into a trance when I cook pancakes. It’s kinda calming, you know what I mean? Just watching all the little bubbles form on the batter like there’s nothing else in the world to think about. She shrugged and dropped into her chair, pulling her plate a little closer.

Carly drizzled pancake syrup over her pancakes and poured some half-n-half into her coffee. It tasted as good as it smelled, and before she knew it, she’d emptied the cup and cleaned her plate. Feeling a little too full, she leaned back in her chair for a minute. Shell, you’re going to have to stop cooking for me. Your food is too good and my self-control isn’t. I can’t afford to buy new jeans just because your cooking is so good.

Shell rolled her eyes at Carly’s over-the-top compliment. Ha, ha. I can’t help it if my food is that good. You’ll just have to learn to love sweatpants. Shell looked down at her own flat stomach. Meanwhile, I keep waiting for the day that my mouth overtakes my metabolism and I turn into the town’s next version of Aunt Charisse.

Carly cringed. Aunt Charisse was a bit of a running joke in Parker’s Mill. Shell’s mother’s cousin, god rest her soul, had been nearly five-hundred pounds when she died. Carly had it on good authority (Shell’s mom, Jean, told Carly herself) that Charisse had suffered from some sort of thyroid disorder, but that didn’t stop people in town from using her weight as a lesson against gluttony.

Charisse’s death had been a spectacle in the tiny town. The poor woman had been so big when she died, the county coroner had allegedly needed to take off a section of her roof and lift her body out that way. Carly felt sorry for the memory Charisse left behind. She hadn’t known the woman