Avery Now and Then

Book 4: Grace Texas Cozy Mysteries

by Cherry Northcutt

Genres: Animal Cozy Mysteries; Culinary Cozy Mysteries; culinary cozy; cozy animal mystery; humorous cozy

Synopsis

The County Fair and Rodeo have come to Grace, Texas. Jess is reporting on all the events, including the Strawberry Tart Bake Off. Her best friend Avery hopes to win, but when one of the bakers is found dead, Avery’s boyfriend Caden becomes the top suspect!

Jess is on the case, trying to connect the clues and find the killer. With a town full of suspects, it’s not easy. Jess wants to believe Caden is innocent, but he has no alibi. After a series of break-ins, pranks at the fair, and a mysterious woman seen around town, there are more questions than answers.

Can Jess lasso the outlaw before she gets hogtied?

Avery Now and Then is the fourth book in the Grace Texas Cozy Mystery series. If you like fun, small-town whodunits with a cast of quirky characters and crazy shenanigans, then you’ll love Cherry Northcutt’s charming mystery.

Buy Avery Now and Then to read the latest adventure today!

Avery Now and Then is Coming Soon to Amazon! 

Release date: July 12, 2023

Publisher: Cherry Northcutt

Print pages: 254

Sample

Avery Now and Then

 

Chapter 1 – Friday, April 20 – 2:00 pm – Knickers in a Twist

 

                “I’m just here for the sex,” Jess said, reading the caption on the T-shirt Chace was holding out to her and Avery. “You expect me to wear this?”

                The three friends were standing in front of Corporation T-Shirt. Chace had a shopping bag full of her specially ordered black T-shirts with the caption and little pink and blue baby footprints along the bottom.

                “It’s for the gender reveal party,” Chace explained. “All my friends are wearing them.”

                “I think it’s cute,” Avery said as she held her shirt up to gauge the fit.

                “I know, the party is next weekend. I just want to get this task out of the way. I’ll be so busy this week with the Fair and the guests at the B&B,” she exhaled and turned to Avery. “You know we’ve got your professor, Chef Pierre, staying for the weekend. There’s someone else from your class too, Ricky something?”

                Avery rolled her eyes. “Ricky Garcia? Don’t remind me. He’s so full of himself. He thinks he’s going to win the Strawberry Pie Bake-Off, but I’ve got news for him. That trophy is mine!”

                Chace laughed. “Well, he’s a paying guest so I don’t mind. I’m just a little nervous about making breakfast for a notable chef and one of his top students.” Chace pushed her shoulder length, dark hair behind her ears.

It was a beautiful spring day in Grace, Texas. You could even say it was starting to get hot. Chace shifted the shopping bag and put a hand on her hip, which had the effect of making her look even more pregnant.

                “It looks like that baby’s coming any day now,” Avery said.

                “Oh no. I’ve still got two months to go,” Chace said.

                “Okay, I’ll wear the T-shirt,” Jess said, folding the shirt and placing it into her tote. “I just don’t know what Aunt Patsy will say.”

                Avery gave Chace a look of concern. “Should we find you a chair? Are you watching the parade form here?” The Bonner County Fair Parade would be starting in about an hour, but people were already gathering and setting up lawn chairs along the parade route to watch.

                Chace’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, the parade! I’ve got to get home and get Duchess. We’re marching in the parade with the other puppers in the dog race.” Duchess was Chace’s Great Dane puppy, already huge at 8-months-old.

                “I thought you would be on the Fair Queen Float,” Jess said.

                Chace smiled. “No, the Fair Queen Pageant is for high school girls. My beauty contest days are over, but, as a former Miss Texas, they have asked me to be a judge and I am happy to oblige.”

                “Is it a beauty contest or a scholarship program?” Avery asked, jokingly.

                “It’s a scholarship program,” Jess exclaimed, mimicking Candice Bergen from the movie Miss Congeniality.

                Chace laughed. “I better get going,” she said as she turned toward her car.

                “I’ll try and take your picture when the parade goes by,” Jess called out after her. She held up her camera and gave it a little wave. Jess had been given the task of taking photos of the Bonner County Fair Parade for the Grace Gazette, the newspaper where she freelanced. The Gazette office was just across the corner from Corporation T-Shirt on the town square. The parade route would start at the high school parking lot and proceed into the town square, marching around the courthouse. The parade would end at the parking lot for the First Church of Grace.  

                As Chace drove away, Avery asked, “You’re coming over tonight, right?”

                “Of course. I can’t wait to meet your new boyfriend,” Jess said. “What’s his name again? Aiden, Hayden?”

                Avery smiled. “His name is Braden Caden. Don’t make fun of him because of his name.”

                Jess chuckled and raised her hand innocently. “I would never do that. So, he’s meeting your parents. It must be getting serious.”

                “Yeah, it’s getting pretty intense,” Avery said, smiling. “I really like him.”

                “But you’ve only been going out for a month or so,” Jess said.

                “We had our six-week anniversary on Tuesday,” Avery said. “Don’t forget, I knew him from SMU, and we worked at the same restaurant in Dallas.”

                Jess nodded her head, realizing her best friend was besotted with this new man in her life. “Oh my, your six-week anniversary? Well then, I guess all that’s left is to pick out the china pattern.”

                Avery laughed. “Alright then. Let’s talk about you and that sexy detective. What’s going on there?” Avery raised an eyebrow suggestively. 

                Jess sucked in a breath. “Chris and me? We’re just taking it kind of … slow right now.”

                “Excuse me? Slow?” Avery pulled her glasses down her nose and gave her friend a dubious look. “What does that mean?”

                Jess was looking away and being evasive. She didn’t like personal questions. “Well, his divorce isn’t exactly final yet and then there’s the whole ten-year age difference, so… we’re waiting.”

                Avery got right to the point. “Y’all haven’t had sex yet?”

                “No,” Jess said. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

                “Girl, what are you waiting for?”

                Jess shook her head and rolled her eyes. “I guess I want to be sure that he’s the one.”

                Avery chuckled. “So, you’re looking for Mr. Right, not Mr. Right Now?”

                Jess laughed. “It’s not that, necessarily.” Jess paused, taking a moment to think. “Do you remember a few weeks ago I told you that he wants to have kids someday soon? He said he’s thirty-five and he’s ready to be a father.”

                Avery nodded.

                “So, that’s a lot for me to think about. I’m not ready for that right now,” Jess said. “Someday sure, but not for several years.”

                Avery considered this. “Well, I think…”

                The two were interrupted by a loud hubbub of voices from the other side of the courthouse.

                “Is someone shouting over there?” Jess asked. She began to cross the street to the courthouse lawn with Avery close behind.

                “I wonder if something’s going on with the Pie Hole,” Avery said. Her parents owned the coffee and pie shop across the square, which was temporarily closed for renovations. They were soon to have the grand opening of their new tearoom next door, Erika’s Tea Room, along with the grand re-opening of the Pie Hole.

                As they rounded the corner, Jess saw a crowd of women in front of the corner shop, Knickers in a Twist, a lingerie store with colorful silky underpants twisted into flower shapes and displayed in cute gift baskets. Jess thought it was a neat idea. She had shopped there a few times since it had opened a month earlier.

                The women were shouting and waving homemade signs. Jess began snapping pictures right away. One of the signs read, “Down With Hot Pants.” Another said, “Go Back to Hollywood, Frederick!”

                “It’s a protest,” Avery said incredulously. “Why are they protesting?”

                Jess recognized her neighbor Katy Hockley at the front of the group with a megaphone. “I might have known Katy was behind this,” she remarked to Avery. Katy was the president of the local garden club and a well-known busy body.   

                The friends listened while Katy shouted through her megaphone. Many of the people gathered early for the parade were listening as well. “Is this the kind of filth we want here in Grace?”

                “NO!” The women shouted back.

                Katy continued. “Do you want your kids exposed to this perverted trash?”

                “NO!” came the resounding chorus. A larger crowd of onlookers was gathering across the street from the shop, near the World’s Largest Hanging Flower Basket, which was Grace’s claim to fame.

                What the heck is going on here? Jess wondered as she snapped another photo including a picketer with a sign reading, “Close Down the Sex Shop!”

                A moment later, Avery tapped her on the shoulder. “Isn’t that your Aunt Patsy?” Avery pointed toward the edge of the group.

                Jess peered at the crowd. It was, indeed, her Great Aunt Patsy with her friends from the Heritage Home for the elderly. Patsy was on her electric scooter, making her way through the crowd. “Oh no, not Aunt Patsy,” Jess mumbled. She and Avery all but ran over to the group.

                “Aunt Patsy, what are you doing here?” Jess called out as she got close.

                “Outta my way! Scooch!” Aunt Patsy was fussing at the protestors. Then, she noticed her grandniece. “Jessica, Darlin’! Give me some sugar.” Aunt Patsy turned her face upward to receive a peck on the cheek.

                Jess obliged with a quick kiss. “Are you part of this protest, Aunt Patsy?” she asked in dismay.

                “Of course not,” Aunt Patsy answered with indignation. “We came here on the shuttle bus to see the County Fair Parade. I thought I’d get me some new undershorts while I’m out and about.” She maneuvered her scooter forward a few inches, running over someone’s toes in the process.

                “Ouch, watch where you’re going!”

                Aunt Patsy ignored this. “I had no idea I’d have to plow through a passel of troublemakers just to buy some under-drawers.”

                “You’re crossing the picket line?” Jess asked.

                “You bet I am! Now y’all shoo. Outta my way!”

                Jess stepped back and took a photo of her great aunt crossing the picketers.

                “You need to get back old lady. They don’t sell granny panties in there,” someone called out.

                Aunt Patsy’s mouth fell open. “You’ve got some nerve talking to me like that! I’m here for some new thong underwear.”

                Jess was worried there might be an altercation and she would have to break up a fight.

However, before any punches were pulled, the owner of Knickers in a Twist came out the front door with a rolled-up banner. He glared at the crowd before shouting, “Well, you’ve got your wish. I’m closing up shop. Are you happy now?” With that he hung the banner across his display window. It read, “Going Out of Business – Everything 50% Off.”

There was a shocked murmur from the crowd. After the owner stormed back inside, it took only a few seconds before most of the protestors dropped their signs and rushed into the store for the bargains, including Aunt Patsy.

Katy Hockley stood dejectedly on the sidewalk, clutching her megaphone and shaking her head. “Well, how do you like that?” she asked no one in particular.

Jess stepped forward. “Would you care to make a statement for the Gazette?” she said.

Katy huffed. “I can’t believe these women have no morals.” The sidewalk was now littered with discarded picket signs.

Jess stepped back to take a picture of the signs on the ground, the packed store, and the half-price banner. “What was the reason for the protest?”

Katy composed herself, sensing an opportunity to get her name in the newspaper. “The women of the Grace Garden Club felt that this trashy lingerie store was one step away from bringing pornography to our community. I’m very glad that our protest has resulted in closing down this depraved establishment.”

There’s never a dull moment in Grace, Jess thought as she pulled out her notebook and started scribbling.