A Very Mummy Holiday

By Lynn Cahoon

Jill Gardner has left her book-and-coffee shop behind to spend Thanksgiving week in coastal Oregon with her cop boyfriend, her golden retriever Emma, and a crowd of friends and family. But before the feast can start, foul play interrupts their vacation . . .
 
The rented house was supposed to be a relaxing getaway. But Jill and her companions feel a sense of danger instead. First, they learn that their hosts’ son had a fiancée, but her disappearance remains unexplained—and then they meet some menacing members of a local trail-riding club. When one of Jill and Greg’s friends finds human remains amid the dunes—with a diamond ring around one mummified finger—things start heating up fast, and they’ll be thankful just to survive through the long weekend . . .
 
Praise for The Tourist Trap Mysteries
 
“Murder, dirty politics, pirate lore, and a hot police detective: Guidebook to Murder has it all! A cozy lover’s dream come true.”
—Susan McBride, author of The Debutante Dropout Mysteries
 
“Lynn Cahoon has created an absorbing, good fun mystery in Mission to Murder.”
—Fresh Fiction

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lyrical Press
• Release date: Oct 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781516109388

Book preview

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Lynn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap series, Jill Gardner has left her book-and-coffee shop behind to spend Thanksgiving week in coastal Oregon. But before the feast can start, foul play interrupts their vacation . . .

When Jill and Greg join another couple, Blake Jennings and Kathi Corbin, for a weeklong camping trip, Jill is delighted to have a few days to take in the beauty around them before they dive into the Thanksgiving holiday. When the foursome take the off-road vehicles out on the dunes for a local adventure, they find an unexpected treasure—a ring attached to the hand of its prior owner. Can Jill and Greg solve the mystery before they join the woman buried in the shifting sands?

Visit us at www.kensingtonbooks.com

Also by Lynn Cahoon

The Tourist Trap Mysteries

Killer Party

Hospitality and Homicide

Tea Cups and Carnage

Murder on Wheels

Killer Run

Dressed to Kill

If the Shoe Kills

Mission to Murder

Guidebook to Murder

Novellas:

A Very Mummy Holiday

Mother’s Day Mayhem

Corned Beef and Casualties

Santa Puppy

A Deadly Brew

Rockets’ Dead Glare

The Farm-to-Fork Mysteries

One Potato, Two Potato, Dead

Killer Green Tomatoes

Who Moved My Goat Cheese?

The Cat Latimer Mysteries

Slay in Character

Of Murder and Men

Fatality by Firelight

A Story to Kill

Sconed to Death

A Very Mummy Holiday

A Tourist Trap Novella

Lynn Cahoon

LYRICAL UNDERGROUND

Kensington Publishing Corp.

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Copyright © 2019 by Lynn Cahoon

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First Electronic Edition: October 2019

eISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0938-8

eISBN-10: 1-5161-0938-4

Contents

Also by Lynn Cahoon

A Very Mummy Holiday

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Recipe

Meet the Author

Preview

Chapter 1

Love Lynn Cahoon?

Guidebook to Murder

Who Moved My Goat Cheese

A Story to Kill

Dedication

To John and the rest of the side by side crew. Thanks for inviting us out to spend Thanksgiving with you.

Acknowledgments

Bringing you, the reader, along on my adventures takes a lot of thought into the story while I’m playing with my husband and friends. I may be looking like I’m having fun, but inside? I’m probably planning a murder. Or at least a fictional one. Thanks to the Kensington crew and my agent, Jill Marsal, for all the support.

Chapter 1

I stood on the cabin’s porch and looked out into the wooded area surrounding the lodging we’d be calling home for the next week. Emma sat at attention by my side, watching the chipmunks by the firepit. The smell of pines filled the air. The Oregon Coast reminded me of home but with a forest next door. Today we would be playing on the sand dunes. We’d arrived late last night in the dark so I hadn’t been able to take in the absolute stillness and beauty of the area. Until now.

The so-called cabin Blake Jennings and Kathi Corbin, South Cove’s newest couple, had rented for the week was more like a lodge but I wasn’t complaining. By the time Thanksgiving arrived in a few days, all the bedrooms would be filled with people. Aunt Jackie and Harrold were driving up and would be here Wednesday night. Amy and Justin would be here for dinner on Thursday and staying through the weekend to play. My friends and family were driving eleven plus hours to put on Thanksgiving with me this year. I hoped the change in venue didn’t change the essence of the day. I loved the holiday, especially since it was centered around food.

What can I say, I’m addicted to food. I probably should introduce myself. I’m Jill Gardner, and typically, I say I own and manage Coffee, Books, and More in South Cove, California. South Cove is a little tourist town on the central coast. We cater to large tour buses as well as the family day at the beach. But today, I was a few miles south of Reedsport, Oregon, and getting ready to ride the sand dunes with my boyfriend, Greg King.

As if I’d called him by thinking about him, Greg circled his arms around me, nuzzling my neck.

I smelled the coffee before I saw the mug he held in front of me.

I come bearing gifts, he whispered.

I took the mug and set it on the railing. Then I returned to his embrace to kiss him. You read my mind. I was just about to go in and grab some. It’s chilly this morning.

We’re not in California. Greg had his own travel cup and he sat it next to my mug. His blue eyes were bright with excitement. To me, his sandy hair made him look like a surfer dude, but here, dressed in a flannel shirt and jeans, he took on the role of woodsman. The guy was a chameleon. Look at the way the fog settles in the trees. This could just be heaven. Do you want to retire here and build a cabin?

Retirement was a long way away. I’d always thought when the time came, I’d go south, not north, but that was before I was part of a couple. Still, it was pretty here. I gave him a totally solid response. Maybe.

Way to commit. Greg took his coffee and pulled a couple of rockers closer to the railing. Come sit with me. I want to test out the fantasy.

I think you want to retire near the sand dunes so you can sneak in a daily ride. I grabbed my mug and went to sit with him. Emma moved too, but she didn’t lie down like she normally did. All the nerves in her body were on high alert. I can’t tell if Emma likes it or not, but she’s definitely interested.

She’s smelling the different animals around the cabin. Blake said they saw a deer just down the path on Friday. He and Kathi have been here since Wednesday because he had a gig in Portland last weekend.

The newest couple in South Cove, Blake and Kathi, were also a long-distance couple most of the time. They’d met and fell in love in South Cove. Then Blake’s singing career had taken off. He was gone most weekends. Since Kathi’s shop, Tea Hee, was just across from my coffeeshop/bookstore, I often saw him show up during the week. Making a relationship took work and compromise, even if you were in the

Reviews for A Very Mummy Holiday

[Jennifer · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This one was actually a little creepy. It was a fun read and I loved seeing Blake and Kathi again. While the story was a bit predictable, I still enjoyed reading it. I'm loving this series and I can't wait to see what's next!

[kris_anderson-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A Very Mummy Holiday by Lynn Cahoon is A Tourist Trap Novella. It can be read on its own, but I recommend reading one of the full-length stories first. Jill Gardner and Greg King are off to enjoy a week in Oregon, but things do not go as planned. I like that Jill is an empathetic person. She will not stand idly by while a person gets railroaded. I thought the story was engaging with friendly, relatable main characters. I like Lynn Cahoon’s conversational writing style. A Very Mummy Holiday moves along at a fast clip and the mystery is well-plotted. When Caleb’s missing fiancé, Dania turns up in the sand dunes, Caleb is the target of the local police’s investigation. Jill does a little online sleuthing searching for clues about Dania’s life. I like that Greg does not discourage Jill and he helps Jill with her quest for the truth. Readers will have no problem identifying the guilty party in this whodunit. However, I thought the mystery suited the length of the novel and the storyline. Jill and Greg are a cute couple who are well suited. I like that Jill brought Emma along with her on the trip. The one thing I wondered, though, is why Jill and Greg went off with this couple that they hardly knew. It is especially odd since Jill has very little in common with Kathi (my mother said I was overthinking it). A Very Mummy Holiday is a chance to catch up with Jill and the gang. A Very Mummy Holiday is an engaging cozy mystery with an energized Emma, a forlorn fiancé, iniquitous individuals, a coastline cadaver and stuffing squabbles.

[cyderry · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Jill Gardner and her boyfriend set out with friends and family to celebrate Thanksgiving on the coast of Oregon. The weekend starts out with a mystery of a mummified body on the beach and Jill has to figure it out, who is it? what happened? The characters and plot were so well-written that the story just zoomed by. The Novellas are great because we as readers don't have to wait as long for our next fix of Jill and Greg!

[maydacat_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This short novella is a quick read, but still manages to contain all the ingredients for a satisfying mystery. Jill and her companions are on a week-long vacation, but a woman’s disappearance several months earlier casts a shadow on the foursome’s getaway. Their hosts explains that the disappearance of their son’s fiancée has left him despondent. When the group discovers a mummified body buried in the sand, the son becomes the number one suspect in her murder. Jill begins her own sleuthing to save the son, with Greg’s blessing and his help. It’s an intriguing and fast-paced mystery with all the essentials but no fillers, great for an afternoon’s entertainment.

[sable677 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Very Mummy Holiday was the perfect Thanksgiving read featuring a holiday getaway that definitely didn't go as planned. Jill and her friends were looking forward to a holiday weekend away when they end up finding the mummified remains of a missing woman. When the group's host for the weekend find their son the number one suspect, Jill and her friends decide to try and prove his innocence.Cahoon does a great job as usual creating such an entertaining read with such a short length. I really enjoyed seeing Kathi and Blake joining Jill and Greg for a change because it provided a different kind of dynamic to the story. Although I still did love the appearance of favorite secondary characters as well. The book's mystery is well done and definitely captures the reader's interest from the beginning and never lets go. A Very Mummy Holiday was a perfect holiday read that I would most definitely recommend. I look forward to reading Jill's next adventure.Received a copy of A Very Mummy Holiday through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.