Beyond a Reasonable Donut (A Deputy Donut Mystery) by Ginger Bolton
About Beyond a Reasonable Donut:
Beyond a Reasonable Donut (A Deputy Donut Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Publisher: Kensington (May 25, 2021)
Paperback: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1496725581
ISBN-13: 978-1496725585
Digital ASIN: B08GY9Z1PD
Selling her corn fritters at a carnival, Deputy Donut Café owner Emily Westhill faces off against a murderer who doesn’t play fair . . .
Emily and her assistant, Nina, are looking forward to manning the Deputy Donut tent at the Faker’s Dozen Carnival in Fallingbrook, Wisconsin—a festival held on Friday the thirteenth to celebrate good and bad luck. But Emily has barely dropped the corn fritters in oil when bad luck boils up. First, their bucket of confectioner’s sugar disappears—and then while a mime creates a distraction, a magician robs their cash register.
After the carnival, their misfortune continues. Emily discovers that someone has broken into artist Nina’s loft and vandalized a large painting in progress with the bucket of stolen sugar, which is now on the head of the mime, who seems to have been suffocated. Emily would bet Nina was the intended victim, but the cops think Nina silenced the mime. Now Emily must catch the killer white-handed—before someone else kicks the bucket . . .
Read an Excerpt:
After my initial surprise,
holding his hand and acting like his date was almost comfortable. We found the
Friday the Thirteenth tent and bought our tickets near a sign that said FIRST, THE GOOD LUCK . . .
Inside, we knocked on wood,
stroked an obviously fake and rather large rabbit’s foot that was still
attached to an obviously fake and rather large rabbit, touched a horseshoe mounted
with its ends pointing upward to keep the good luck trapped inside its curve,
and hunted for plastic four-leaf clovers in a tray of mostly three-leaf
clovers. Another tray was full of pennies. The ones lying faceup were the lucky
ones, and people who found one got to keep it. Finally, we had a chance to
throw coins into a fountain and make a wish. I kept my lucky penny in my shorts
pocket and threw a nickel into the fountain. Grinning, Brent flicked his lucky penny
into the fountain.
“I’ll have good luck all day,” I
teased. “You won’t.”
He took my hand again. “Maybe
lucky pennies grant bigger wishes when they’re thrown into fountains. Do we
dare go into the next section of the tent?” It was labeled: AND NOW, THE BAD LUCK.
I pulled him toward it.
“Definitely.”
Brent investigated a ladder
leaning against a wall inside the tent. “It’s securely fastened, top and bottom.”
I looked up. “And there’s no
bucket of paint on top about to spill. It’s perfectly safe.” We let go of each
other’s hands.
Bravely, I walked underneath the
ladder first.
We knocked over saltshakers,
spilling salt. We opened umbrellas inside. We touched horseshoes mounted with
the ends pointing down, letting good luck dribble out. On a track above our
heads, a motorized toy black cat puttered back and forth, crossing our path
again and again.
Someone had rigged up a way we
could break mirrors without cutting anyone. I peered through thick glass into a
box. A tiny mirror slid into view. I could see most of my nose in it
but couldn’t
make out the freckles. I pressed a lever. A hammer inside the box slammed into
the mirror. The broken pieces fell out of sight, and then Brent got a turn.
Shouting with excitement, kids pressed the lever and ran to the back of the
line to smash more mirrors.
Rocking empty rocking chairs was
popular with smaller kids. Laughing parents told them not to sit in the rocking
chairs. A father explained, “They have to be empty when they’re rocked to bring
us all bad luck.”
Brent deadpanned, “And that’s
what we came for.”
The father grinned at us. “Or
not.”
A sign at the tent’s exit
suggested going around the tent to the good luck section and starting over to
erase the bad luck we’d brought upon ourselves. “Paying admission again?” I asked.
“That would be bad luck.”
About Ginger Bolton:
Ginger Bolton writes the Deputy Donut mystery series—coffee, donuts, cops, danger, and one curious cat. The first four books in the series are SURVIVAL OF THE FRITTERS, GOODBYE CRULLER WORLD, JEALOUSY FILLED DONUTS, and the latest, BOSTON SCREAM MURDER. JEALOUSY FILLED DONUTS was chosen as the Woman’s World Best New Cozy Mystery of the week and was named as one of Dollycas’s Best Reads of 2019. BEYOND A REASONABLE DONUT will be on store shelves May 25, 2021. When Ginger isn't writing or reading, she's crocheting, knitting, sewing, or generally causing trouble. She’s also fond of donuts and coffee. As Janet Bolin, Ginger wrote the Threadville Mysteries—murder and mayhem in a village of crafty shops.
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