Killer Chocolate: Cozy Mystery Short Story

By S. Y. Robins

Hannah has always been accident prone when it comes to the kitchen, but she is still a good chef and after she gets a job as dessert chef on a cruise ship, she feels that it is a perfect opportunity for a career boost. She has just perfected her chocolate cake, and she is excited to see what everyone thinks. Initially she loves the ship and everything on it, seeing it as a new adventure. She has some minor incidents, but when a guest she had served chocolate cake to the night before dies, police comes onboard to investigate. Two more deaths later and Hannah is a suspect because the deaths have been linked back to her chocolate cake. Determined to find out what is truly going on, and who is truly responsible, she decides to solve the case herself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lovy Books Ltd
• Release date: Aug 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223266549

Book preview

1

Hannah was exhausted from working for others in restaurants and often being the first to arrive and the last to leave. Her customers loved the desserts she prepared but her supervisors always found things wrong with what she was doing. It was why she had applied for the position on a new cruise ship when she had seen the posting, and why she was keeping her fingers crossed that she would get it. The thought of making her desserts independently from the restaurant kitchen, even though it would still be served in a specific restaurant onboard, while having enough time to enjoy everything the ship had to offer and the locations it docked at, had her beyond excited even before she heard if she even got the job.

The call had come while she was at work, which wasn’t surprising, and when she got home she quickly played the message. It asked her to call them back, without telling her anything else, but considering it was late at night she knew she had to wait until the following morning. That normally wouldn’t be an issue as she was used to missing almost all phone calls, but in this case she just wanted to know already. Morning couldn’t come fast enough, and when it finally did, she dialed the number she had been given with bated breath. This was it. Either she was going to the Caribbean or she was staying where she was.

Thirty minutes later she was sitting on her couch, gob smacked at the news she had received while trying to decide what to do. Not only had she been offered a job, she would be the main dessert chef at the main restaurant on board. It meant practically every passenger would taste her desserts at one point or another as that restaurant was included in the rooms while the others weren’t. It also meant she was expected on board in three days, when the first cruise to the Caribbean would depart a day later. She knew quitting without notice would infuriate her supervisors, but with a small smirk she did exactly that. Through text message.

She had been told she would get a list of things she would need and where to go to get her uniform, and when she saw the email pop into her inbox she quickly printed the list and started packing. She would be given a private room in the staff quarters but they had warned her the rooms were small and to limit what she brought. She would have a bed, a small wardrobe and two shelves and that was it. Housekeeping, deck hands and kitchen help slept two to a room but as chef she got her own room and for that she was forever grateful.

The three days passed quickly and before Hannah knew it she was standing in front of the ship, smiling widely at the adventure she was about to embark on.

Standing there isn’t going to change how it looks, a voice said beside her.

Hannah looked to the side to see a man in jeans and a t-shirt looking at the ship as well. "True, but