Penned In

By Lynn Cahoon

Angie Turner, chef at Idaho’s finest farm-to-table restaurant, has organized a team-building event at a haunted prison, only to find a real-life murderer in their midst. . . .
 
Contented employees make for a successful restaurant, which is why the County Seat’s crew goes on a quarterly out-of-office meeting. This time, the location is the Old Idaho Penitentiary near the Boise Foothills, a prison brimming with ghostly lore. The lock-in features actors role-playing as guards, fascinating prison stories . . . and an unscripted murder.
 
Who sentenced one of the faux guards to a very authentic death? Angie, her boyfriend, and the County Seat gang are locked in with a killer—excellent motivation for a little sleuthing. Between ghostly apparitions and flesh-and-blood suspects, Angie’s plate is full, but will her luck, and her life, hold out until the gates reopen at dawn?
 
Praise for Lynn Cahoon's 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: Aug 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9781516110278

Book preview

Penned In

By Lynn Cahoon

The Farm-to-Fork Mysteries

Deep Fried Revenge

One Potato, Two Potato, Dead

Killer Green Tomatoes

Who Moved My Goat Cheese?

Novellas

Penned In

Have a Deadly New Year

The Tourist Trap Mysteries

Guidebook to Murder

Mission to Murder

If the Shoe Kills

Dressed to Kill

Killer Run

Murder on Wheels

Tea Cups and Carnage

Hospitality and Homicide

Killer Party

Memories and Murder

Murder in Waiting

Novellas

Rockets’ Dead Glare

A Deadly Brew

Santa Puppy

Corned Beef and Casualties

Mother’s Day Mayhem

A Very Mummy Holiday

The Cat Latimer Mysteries

A Story to Kill

Fatality by Firelight

Of Murder and Men

Slay in Character

Sconed to Death

A Field Guide to Murder

Table of Contents

By Lynn Cahoon

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Dear Readers –

Special Chocolate Chip Muffins

Love the Farm-to-Fork Mysteries?

Penned In

A Farm-to-Fork Novella

Lynn Cahoon

LYRICAL PRESS

Kensington Publishing Corp.

www.kensingtonbooks.com

To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

LYRICAL PRESS BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.

119 West 40th Street

New York, NY 10018

Copyright © 2020 by Lynn Cahoon

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund-raising, educational, or institutional use.

Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Sales Manager: Kensington Publishing Corp., 119 West 40th Street, New York, NY 10018. Attn. Sales Department. Phone: [phone].

Lyrical Press and Lyrical Press logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

First Electronic Edition: August 2020

ISBN-13: 978-1-5161-1027-8 (ebook)

ISBN-10: 1-5161-1027-7 (ebook)

Dedication

This is for all the ghostly tourist traps out there. May your stories be educational as well as spooky and get your visitors in love with the history of the place. The history of us.

Acknowledgments

When I was taking classes for the MFA I didn’t finish, I took a non-fiction creative writing workshop. For one assignment, I drove up to Idaho City, which was about an hour away from my house. The town was Idaho’s first capital during the gold rush and has a lot of history on every street. I wandered through the town, then found the cemetery. One grave caught my eye. A loving tribute to the woman I called the other Mary. Researching her short life gave me a picture of the world back then and her family. Her husband remarried (another woman named Mary) and became the mayor of Boise many years later. But his early days were with this Mary. The forgotten one.

Writing this story set in the old Idaho Penitentiary, gave me the same feeling of stepping back in time as writing The Other Mary. Listening to the voices of the past gives us hope for the future.

As always big thanks to my publisher and all the people who make these books come alive. Esi Sogah, you’re amazing. And thanks to Jill Marsal for helping me with my writing/deadline schedule. She is actually more of a planner than I am—I didn’t think that was possible.

Chapter 1

Angie Turner closed the cooler that had held the salads and sandwiches the team had made for the outing. Their quarterly out of office meeting had turned into an adventure this time. With Matt Young doing the planning, they were sitting on picnic tables near the Boise Foothills and getting ready to be locked in the Old Idaho Penitentiary for the night. The good news was everyone had been able to arrange their schedules so they could participate. Of course, it helped that for their team building activities, The County Seat not only covered the out of pocket costs, but also paid an hourly wage. So basically, she’d be paying her staff to sleep this time.

She glanced around the table at her kitchen family. Matt was chatting up Hope Anderson who’d transitioned this summer from dishwasher to full-time prep cook. From the way the team was teasing her, Angie assumed Hope would always be considered the little sister. At least until they’d hired a new full-time dishwasher.

Estebe Blackstone, Felicia Williams, and Nancy Gowan were huddled around the other end of the table comparing notes on the new pumpkin salad that was in review to go onto the menu next month. And Ian McNeal, her boyfriend, was strolling back to the table with Dom, who had needed to be walked before they were locked into the jail grounds. According to the woman who’d set up their tour, Dom was welcome and they even had an inside courtyard where he could do his business. Provided Angie cleaned up after him, of course.

Dom was over a year old now and she thought he was still growing. He hadn’t gained any height, but he looked like he’d been lifting weights lately. Having a Saint Bernard as a pet wasn’t the easiest path, but Angie wouldn’t change her decision for anything. She looked up as Ian paused next to her, letting Dom lay his head on her lap.

Ian gave her a quick kiss, then sat down, looping the leash over his arm. Dom laid on the grass next to the table keeping an eye on Angie’s plate. He was a good boy. Which meant I had to stop by the rest rooms and wash up afterwards. You could have gotten a toy terrier.

Who wouldn’t have been Dom. He’s my sweet boy. Angie took a bite of the