Sunday, May 23, 2021

Beyond a Reasonable Donut (A Deputy Donut Mystery) by Ginger Bolton @ginger_bolton #Cozymystery #Excerpt

 


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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