Deadly Devil's Food

By Chrissy Jameson

It's Halloween and in Jolly-Mart's bakery, Juniper is working. Wearing a purple witch costume. Then, an ultra-picky customer comes in for a custom cake order. Juniper turns her back, but thinks she noticed the woman doing something odd to the cake.
The next day on the news, there's been a death. Jolly-Mart and the cake decorator are being blamed for murder. Juniper has to figure out how the cake was contaminated, who did it, and how she can prove it.
Deadly Devil's Food is a holiday short story set in Jolly-Mart. This is book one-point-five in the "Clean Up on Aisle 14 Mystery" series. "A Sample of Murder" is book one.
A five-star review: I really enjoyed this fun Halloween mystery. I like that Juniper, the main character, is a college student working at a grocery store. The grocery store is a great setting for this mystery centered around a haunted house cake. Cozy mystery lovers will enjoy this entertaining Halloween short story!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chrissy Jameson
• Release date: Oct 15, 2016

Chrissy Jameson

Chrissy Jameson writes and bakes in Florida, enjoying life with her husband and two cats. As a cozy author, she knows it is mandatory to keep at least two cats.

Book preview

Deadly Devil’s Food

by

Chrissy Jameson

Copyright © 2016 Chrissy Jameson

First published 2016 Chrissy Jameson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the author’s permission in writing, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages.

Chapter One

Halloween–here goes another holiday down the drain. This is what I get for working in a grocery store. I slammed my hand against the freezer door handle and shoved. Despite my resentment, I had to carefully balance the full-sized sheet cake I’d just retrieved from the shelf where the decorator stored all the special orders she’d completed ahead of time.

I paused at a work bench, just out of sight of public (prying) eyes, set down the cake, and tried to adjust my attitude. Stay positive, this job isn’t forever. For two years, I’d been taking prerequisite classes at USF in Tampa, just across the bridge. I just had to put in the time working at Jolly-Mart until I got a degree in psychology.

I had to adjust my witch’s hat, too. It had clipped the door frame (again) on the way out of the freezer. Wondering why I’d thought wearing a witch costume to work was a good idea, I flung the pointy, purple hat on the bench and picked up the cake. As I rounded the corner, an automatic smile materialized on my face. After two years of practice, I had the Thanks for shopping at Jolly-Mart smile down pretty good. My cheeks ached five days a week.

As I placed the cake in front of the customer, she raised an eyebrow. I took the opportunity to give her the once-over. Her clothes were more upscale than our regular discount shoppers. The neutral-colored fabric of her slip dress had been bathed in thousands of glittery sequins. It’s a wonder she didn’t go blind looking in a mirror.

I remembered seeing a dress like that a couple of years ago. A friend and I were browsing at Neiman Marcus and sipping orange Slurpees. The dress was stunning. I lifted the price tag and a squeak slipped out.

Yikes. It’s sixteen-thousand dollars!

No joke? Lemme see. My friend scooted in close.

Just then, a clerk rushed over to make sure we got our grubby hands off it, and asked us to please take our orange drinks out of her department.

Blinking away the memory, I glanced at the customer’s arm. A purse, no–a handbag, pink ostrich, hung on her elbow. The thing could have cost five-hundred dollars easy. Wait a sec…I spied a Louis Vuitton logo and would bet my next paycheck that it was the real deal. No doubt I could buy a new car for what her outfit cost. I didn’t dare look at her shoes. I might faint.

Her outfit told me that she was going to be extra picky. I glanced at the order form in my hand. A Mrs. Renaud had ordered it, so this was probably her.

The employee who took the order used a lot of exclamation points.