Deck the Halls with Fudge

Book 0: Candy-Coated Mystery

by Nancy Coco

Genres: Female Sleuths

Synopsis

E-Book Exclusive! Includes a Yummy Fudge Recipe! “Indulge your sweet tooth in this entertaining series.” —Miranda James SLAY BELLS RING In the cozy warmth of their new home on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, newlywed seniors Frances and Douglas Devaney savor the picture-postcard snowy scenery through their kitchen window. But when they spy a horse-drawn sleigh dashing through the snow bearing a frozen stiff, their blood runs cold. The victim is banker Warren Engle, stepson of a close friend of Frances. With amateur sleuth Allie McMurphy, their boss at the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, busy filling holiday orders for peppermint candy fudge, the couple tackle the case themselves, plowing through clues to rein in the runaway culprit . . . Praise for Nancy Coco’s Candy-Coated Mysteries “A must-read for all lovers of amateur sleuth classic mysteries.” —Carole Bugge “The characters are fun and well-developed, the setting is quaint and beautiful, and there are several mouthwatering fudge recipes.” — RT Book Reviews “Memorable characters, a charming locale, and a satisfying mystery.” —Barbara Allan “Fun and lively.” —JoAnna Carl “ I will be counting down the days until the next mystery with Allie McMurphy.” — Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

Release date: October 31, 2017

Publisher: Kensington Books

Print pages: 101

Sample

“Douglas, have you seen the box with the mixing bowls?” I dug through the other boxes marked kitchen. It wasn’t easy being a newlywed at my age, but love finds you even if you aren’t looking.

“Check the box under the tall table by the fridge,” Douglas called from the next room.

My name is Frances. Douglas and I work for Allie McMurphy at the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop. I’ve worked at the McMurphy ever since I retired from teaching. Douglas is also a retired teacher. I find it strange that we hadn’t met until Allie McMurphy hired him on as her new handyman.

It was love at first sight. We married after only knowing each other a few months. When you are in your seventies, there is not a day you want to waste.

We had just moved into a new home. My condo was too small and Douglas’s old house was too big. Mackinac Island had many wonderful old homes, but finding the perfect size for a couple of senior citizens was tough. It helped that Douglas was a handyman. It meant we could get a fixer-upper.

The cottage had a galley kitchen with a floor-to-ceiling double window. We had placed a bar-height table there to add to the counter top space until Douglas could redo the kitchen.

I pulled the box out from under the table and paused to enjoy the view from the window. We lived up on a hill that allowed us to see the Straits of Mackinac. It was December and the entire island was filled with snow. People had Christmas lights and decorations up. It was a gorgeous winter wonderland.

“I’m liking the view,” Douglas said as he came up behind me and put his arms around me.

“It’s the perfect little house,” I agreed and leaned back into his embrace. “Look, you can see a sleigh. It’s like a postcard.”

We watched as a horse-drawn sled meandered down the side of the island. Then the most astonishing . . . most malicious thing I’d ever seen occurred. Someone fell from the sleigh and was run over, but the sleigh kept going.

“Did you see that?” I said.

Douglas was already heading to get his coat and hat. “Call 9-1-1.”

“I will.” I picked up the house phone and dialed the number.

“9-1-1, what is your emergency?”

“Hi, Charlene, this is Frances Devaney.”

“Hello, Frances; congrats on your wedding.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I want to report what might be an accident.”

“What do you mean, might be?” she asked.

Douglas kissed me on the cheek and went out into the snow.

“We were watching a sleigh going down the street when it looked like someone fell out. The sleigh ran them over and then just kept going.”

“Oh, that’s not good. Where are you?”

“I’m at our new home. The Baltimore bungalow. We could see the sleigh going down the street. Douglas is going out now to see if he can help the person who fell.”

“I’ve got the ambulance going out that way,” Charlene said.

“Great,” I said. “I’m putting on my coat and going out there.”

“It’s dark,” Charlene warned me. “Take a flashlight.”

“I will,” I said and hung up.

By the time I got my boots and coat and hat and gloves and a flashlight, I could see the lights from the ambulance outside on the street below. Mackinac Island had a ban on cars and trucks. The only vehicles that were not horse-drawn were the ambulance and the fire truck. Those were state of the art.

Charlene was right. It was dark and only 5 p.m. I trudged through the snow, following in Douglas’s footsteps. When I reached the site, I saw a man pressed into a snowbank, sleigh tracks over his back and legs. He was perfectly still.

“Oh, dear,” I said. Douglas stepped away from Officer Rex Manning.

“The man’s dead,” Douglas said. “I didn’t move him once I could tell there was no pulse.”

“Did the sleigh run away on him?” I wondered. “It didn’t look like the horses were spooked.”

“No,” Douglas said and put his arms around me. “He has been dead a while.”

“Wait, someone put a dead man on a sleigh and just let the horses go?”

“It appears that way,” Douglas said.

“That’s gruesome,” I said and put my mitten-covered hand to my mouth. “Do we know who was killed?”

“They’re getting ready to turn the body over,” Douglas said. “I don’t want you to watch.”

“But if we can help identify him . . .”

“Rex will let us know if he needs help in the identity of the body. I’d rather you didn’t have to see a dead man’s face. These things stay with you for life.”

“I know that Allie has seen a few dead people lately,” I said. “I think it has changed her. She doesn’t seem as carefree as she was when she first arrived on the island.”

“I didn’t know her until after she had found her first dead man,” Douglas said. “But she always seems so determined to find the killer. She has nearly destroyed herself in the process of investigating. I don’t want that for you, my love.”

“Oh you are so dear,” I said and put my hands on his cheeks and kissed him full on the mouth in front of all the first responders. Douglas was my man and I wasn’t afraid to show the world.

“It’s Warren Engle,” Rex Manning said as he came up behind Douglas. “It looks like he was hit with a blunt object. It’s up to the medical examiner, but I think he was dead for at least an hour before he was put into the sleigh. Did you see anyone else in the sleigh with him?”

“No,” I said with a shake of my head. I turned to Douglas. “Did you see anyone else?”

“No. We were really too far to see more than the sleigh as it was going down the street. It sort of hit a bump and the body fell out and the sleigh ran him over.”

“Did anyone find a runaway sleigh? That might tell you whose sleigh it was and where it might have started out.”

“No,” Rex said and ran a hand over his bald head. Rex Manning was the chief of the local police department and its lead investigator. He was about thirty years younger than us—maybe forty. It gets hard to tell age. To us, everyone looks young. But I knew he was handsome, with an action-hero sort of look that had all the girls—even the older ones—looking his way. “It’s odd. But it seems that once you called the ambulance, the sleigh disappeared off the. . .