Sugar Plum Poisoned

Book 15: Cupcake Bakery Mystery

by Jenn McKinlay

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Culinary Cozy Mysteries; Female Sleuths

Synopsis

When up-and-coming singing sensation Shelby Vaughn arrives in town for two weeks of concert dates, she hires her old friend Angie and the rest of the bakery crew to supply cupcakes for the VIP guest lounge every night. After overhearing Shelby in a heated argument with her manager, Mel is concerned, but she and the crew decide to make the best of their time working with the star. Just as the bakers fall into the rhythm of the job, Shelby’s manager is found dead, clutching a bit of fabric from a Santa suit and a cupcake. With the bakery crew and Shelby’s backup dancers all dressed in similar Santa costumes, it’s impossible to say who is the killer. When all suspicions lead back to Shelby, Mel and Angie stand up for their friend, determined to prove her innocence before she’s frosted for a crime she didn’t commit.

Release date: October 10, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

Print pages: 304

Sample

One

"Oh . . . wow," Angie Harper said. She was perched on a stool in the kitchen of the bakery Fairy Tale Cupcakes, which she owned with her husband, Tate Harper, and best friend Melanie DeLaura.

Mel blew the bangs of her short-cropped blond hair out of her eyes and glanced at her friend across the steel worktable. "What's up?"

"A VIP is coming to Scottsdale," Angie said. She wiggled on her chair, an indication of her excitement.

"And . . ." Mel twisted the end of the piping bag full of rum-flavored frosting before she lowered it to the top of an eggnog-flavored cupcake, which she decorated with a fat dollop of frosting. Angie didn't answer, so Mel glanced back up to find her friend staring at her with wide eyes.

Mel lowered the pastry bag. "Okay, you have my full attention. Or you will as soon as you garnish that cupcake."

"Oh, right!" Angie dusted a little bit of nutmeg onto the fresh frosting. She then turned her phone so that Mel could see the display.

It showed a picture of a woman wearing a sequined, hot pink, micromini dress and over-the-knee white leather stiletto boots, with a blond head of hair that was a mass of curls that reached her lower back. She was unmistakable. Shelby Vaughn.

"Oh," Mel said. She tried to say it without any inflection. She and Angie had a complicated history with Shelby in that Angie loved her and Mel not so much.

"She's in residence at the Hotel Grande for the entire holiday season," Angie said. "And, get this, she wants us, Fairy Tale Cupcakes, to cater her VIP events."

"Really." Again, Mel strove to keep her voice even, giving no indication of her feelings away. It didn't work.

"I know you don't like her," Angie said. She met Mel's gaze across the steel worktable. Angie's long brown curls were styled in a messy bun on top of her head. She was wearing her usual T-shirt and jeans under a bright pink apron with the bakery's logo on the front and her name embroidered across the bib.

"It's not that I don't like her. I don't know her," Mel protested. "She's from your life with Roach, of which Tate and I were not included."

Angie nodded. "I know, those were some crazy days, but I really like Shelby, and when you get to know her, I'm sure you will, too."

Mel stared at her friend. Before marrying their mutual childhood best friend, Tate Harper, Angie had dated a rock and roll drummer named Roach who played in a band called the Sewers. It had been a chaotic few months with Angie traveling back and forth from Los Angeles to Scottsdale and then going on tour with the band for brief stints. She had met a lot of famous people, one of which was Shelby Vaughn, who had been the opening act for the Sewers that summer and who'd had several hit singles since.

Mel had no idea how Tate was going to handle Angie's rock and roll days coming back into their life, and she wondered if she should point that out to Angie or let the married couple deal with it on their own. Being best friends ever since they'd all been in the sixth grade together with Tate Harper and Angie Harper née DeLaura made Mel's life a teeny bit complicated when things like this cropped up. Sort of like when Tate almost married Christie Stevens. During that drama fest, Mel had felt her best course of action was to keep her mouth shut. She suspected this was exactly what she should do right now. Consequently, she pressed her lips together to keep from saying anything.

"Um, Mel, we have a situation out here." Marty Zelaznik, their octogenarian counter help, poked his bald head around the swinging door from the front of the bakery.

Mel gently put her pastry bag down.

"What sort of situation?" Mel asked.

"A limousine has pulled up outside," Marty said. "A pink one."

"Ah!" Angie hopped off her stool. "That has to be Shelby."

She dashed towards the swinging door, barely giving Marty enough time to jump back before she plowed into him.

Marty grabbed the still-swinging door and held it open. He glanced at Mel and asked, "Who is Shelby?"

"Trouble," Mel said. "I think she's a whole lot of trouble."

Marty's eyebrows rose as Mel walked past him into the main room of the bakery. The jukebox was playing Christmas carols in the corner, and the normally heavy-on-the-pink bakery interior was festooned with garlands of green and red and strings of white twinkling lights. Even the cupcakes in the display case were predominantly green and red, reinforcing the holiday season that was in full swing in Old Town Scottsdale, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Arizona.

Angie was kneeling in a vacant booth, staring out the front window, watching the limo in the street. Mel stayed behind the counter. She refused to act weird just because a celebrity might be stopping by their bakery. She'd seen celebrities before. This was so not a big deal.

"It's her!" Angie cried. She scrambled off the booth seat and ran for the door.

Before she could reach it, it was pulled open and in strode Shelby Vaughn. She didn't look like the picture Angie had just shown Mel. Instead, she was wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and a pink and purple flannel shirt over a plain white tank top. Her face was scrubbed free of makeup, and her hair was covered with a floppy brimmed straw hat. She looked like she had just come in from the cow pasture on a farm.

"Is that . . . ?" Oz, a former employee of the bakery, began to speak, but when Shelby turned at the sound of his voice and met his gaze, his words dried up and he blushed a deep shade of red.

Oz, whose full name was Oscar Ruiz, was now a chef in his own kitchen at the Sun Dial Resort but he lived in the apartment above the bakery and still popped in to help out or help himself to a cup of coffee and a quick visit at least once a day, sometimes twice depending upon what Mel was baking.

"Smooth, real smooth," Marty muttered out of the side of his mouth at Oz, who frowned.

"Shelby!" Angie cried. She grabbed the young woman in a hug and Shelby laughed, her whole face lighting up as she squeezed Angie in return. "I can't believe you're here."

"I know!" Shelby cried. She rocked Angie back and forth in an exuberant embrace. "A few weeks in one place. I'm so happy. Now where is this husband of yours and your baby girl? I'm dying to meet them both."

"Tate is off dealing with opening another franchise in Michigan but he'll be back tomorrow," Angie said. "And my daughter, Emari, is with my mother this morning while I work. She started walking a couple of months ago, so I can't bring her to the bakery anymore. That child gets into everything and she's quick like a cat."

"I can't wait to see her," Shelby said. "I'm sure she's as amazing as her mama."

"More," Angie confirmed. "But here, come meet Mel. She's been my best friend since sixth grade and she recently married my brother Joe."

Angie looped her arm through Shelby's and dragged her over to Mel.

"Hi." Mel waved but Shelby wasn't having it.

She opened her arms wide and pulled Mel into a big hug. "Any friend of Angie's is a friend of mine."

"Oh, okay," Mel said. She bent down to hug the petite woman. Being on the tall side, Mel always had to reach down to hug people, which she was used to, but Shelby was so tiny and delicate and perfectly formed that Mel felt like a giantess next to her, which was not something she'd felt in a very long time. It gave her a horrible flashback to her teen years when she'd been taller and wider than most of her classmates and incessantly teased about it.

Shelby's hug was mercifully short, and Mel straightened back up. She gestured to Marty and Oz. "This is Marty, our counter person, and Oz, a former employee who still helps out from time to time."

"Nice to meet you," Shelby said. She waved. Her fingers flashed pointy acrylic nails with gemstone-encrusted rings on every knuckle.

"Hey, I know you," Marty said. "You're the girl singer who does that . . ." He started to hum and did some wiggling pelvis and shimmy-shake thing. Mel feared he'd knock himself out but he didn't. She glanced at Shelby to see if she was offended but instead Shelby laughed in delight.

"That's right!" she cried. She moved to stand next to Marty and started singing and jiggling with him.

Oz stared at the duo incredulously. "Marty, how do you even know that?"

"I'm old not dead," Marty cried. He and Shelby finished the routine by dropping to the floor, her in a full split and him in a crouch with one leg kicked out.

Shelby popped back up but Marty stayed down until Oz stepped forward, hooked him under the arms, and hauled him up to his feet.

"You may want to back off the split," Oz advised.

Mel noticed he flexed his pecs and his biceps a bit excessively, making the T-shirt he wore strain at the seams. She turned to exchange an eye roll with Angie but she was too busy beaming at her friend.

"Roger that," Marty agreed. He rubbed his hip and turned to Shelby. "What brings you to Old Town?"

"Angie!" Shelby said. She threw her arm around Angie's shoulders and pulled her into a half hug. "We go way back."

"Is a couple of years way back?" Mel asked. She knew she sounded snippy but, honestly, hanging out for a summer a few years ago was not a lifetime friendship.

"I suppose not." Shelby nodded. "But life on the road ages you. Right, sis?"

"Ha! I totally forgot you used to call me that." Angie laughed. She turned to the others to explain. "We started calling each other 'sis' because we're so much alike we're like 'sisters from different misters.'" They said it together and grinned at each other, and Angie added, "And you're right, I came off that summer tour five years older."

They both laughed and Mel felt as if she'd just eaten something sour. Why was this bugging her? She had friends outside of Angie from cooking school, and Angie still had friends from her teaching days. It wasn't as if this Shelby person was going to take Angie away. Why was Mel feeling so turfy and weird about Shelby Vaughn?

She glanced at Angie's face. Gone was the weariness that had been dogging Angie since Emari had been born just over a year ago. Instead, her eyes sparkled, and she looked as if she'd gotten a bit of herself back just by seeing Shelby. It was clear that Shelby was a blast from her pre-baby life, and maybe that was just what Angie needed right now.

Mel had a moment of self-doubt that perhaps she should have been helping Angie more with the baby, giving her more breaks or something, so that Angie didn't lose her sense of self in the feed-bathe-diaper-dress-rinse-repeat that was now her life. Mel promised herself she'd do better.

"Ms. Vaughn," Marty said as he gestured to the display case behind him. "May I offer you a cupcake?"

Shelby clasped her hands together. "I thought you'd never ask. Anything chocolate please, and call me Shelby."

"I'll get it!" Oz volunteered.

"Hey! I'm the one who offered," Marty protested.

"Well, I'm your backup during the holiday crush." Oz started to walk around the counter.

"You don't even work here anymore." Marty caught up to him. He gestured to the shop, empty except for Mel, Angie, and Shelby. "Does this look like a crowd to you?"

"Doesn't matter. I'm here now." Oz tried to block Marty. Marty wasn't having it. He hugged Oz around the middle and tried to drag him away from the display case. Oz was sixty years younger than Marty, well over six feet tall, and all muscle. It looked like Marty was trying to move a buffalo.

"I don't need your help right now," Marty huffed. He put his shoulder into moving Oz, who merely crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for Marty to tire himself out.

"Clearly, you do. You almost threw your back out with all the wiggling you were doing." Oz gestured to the area where Marty had been dancing. Marty took the opportunity to slip behind Oz. He was a wily one.

"Shelby, would you like some coffee with your cupcake?" Mel offered. She sensed the best way to deal with the situation was to give Oz a chore as well.

"Oh, that would be lovely."

"Oz, can you bring Shelby some coffee, please?" Mel raised her eyebrows at Oz, silently telling him to let it go.

Oz frowned at Marty and then turned back to the women. He met Shelby's gaze and turned bright red. "Coming right up." He disappeared into the kitchen.

"Can you stay for a while?" Angie asked. "I have so many questions about what's been happening with you. You're a star on the rise. It has to be amazing."

An expression of misery passed over Shelby's features so swiftly that Mel thought she might have imagined it. Shelby smiled big and bright and said, "Yeah, it's been pretty crazy. I never would have gotten my start if it wasn't for Roach and the Sewers. Do you ever talk to him?"

"No," Angie said. "Our lives went in very different directions after I got married. I get the occasional text from him but we don't talk."

Mel studied Angie's face. Did she seem sad about this? Was she carrying a torch for Roach? No, it couldn't be. Angie had loved Tate since middle school. Surely, a couple of years of marriage and a child couldn't change that. Still the uneasiness didn't dissipate.

"I have plenty of gossip for you," Shelby assured her.

"Excellent," Angie said. "This day just keeps getting better. Sit down, let's dish."

Shelby glanced at the limousine outside. Her forehead creased with concern. "I have to check in at the resort and start rehearsals but I can spare the time to eat a cupcake and talk business, I think. We can go over the VIP idea."

"Sounds good. We're all in." Angie gestured to a small café table with four chairs.

Mel wanted to say they were not all in until they knew what they were in for, but she bit her tongue. The holiday crush was already on top of them. She had no idea how they could take on one more event without it negatively affecting their current orders. She was going to head back to the kitchen and let Angie deliver the bad news but Angie pulled her into an available seat while Shelby took another.