Scooping Up Scandal
Little Dog Diner, #7
by Emmie Lyn
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Turning thirty can be murder!
When a body is discovered next to the Little Dog Diner on her milestone birthday, Dani Mackenzie finds herself scooping up a scandal instead of cutting cake.
The prime suspect is the new owner of the Blueberry Bay Grapevine, but the victim’s stepbrother and ex-girlfriend also have means, motive, and opportunity.
With this trio of suspects, it will take a good nose to uncover whodunnit. At least Dani has her best friend—her Jack Russell, Pip—at her side to help sniff out the killer! But in the meantime, her kick-off to her thirties is turning into more of an upside-down cake than a celebration as she uncovers money, a business scandal, and thwarted love at the core of this crime.
It will take the victim’s black Labrador and finding a winning lottery ticket to solve this mystery, but Dani never throws in the towel. Will she and Pip once again use their experience at solving mysteries to bring justice to Misty Harbor, Maine, or will they be caught in the crosshairs of the killer?
My day off wasn’t supposed to start with a phone call startling me half to death. But it did.
I fumbled on the nightstand to silence my ringing phone even before my sleep-deprived brain surfaced through the fog.
“Hello?” I mumbled. The time blinked 5:30 on my watch. Really? Who was making calls at that hour? If I’d been fully awake, I would have checked the caller ID. But you know how it is. I reacted before thinking when caught by surprise. Or when aroused from a deep sleep. Oh, well. Too late to hang up and go back to dreamland. Because an unintelligible whisper came through the phone. Creepy.
Awake now and heart pounding from the unknown, I scooched up against the headboard until I was sitting up straight. Was this a crank call before the sun was barely above Maine’s Blueberry Bay? So much for sleeping in on the one day my Little Dog Diner was closed.
Pip, my Jack Russell terrier, looked at me with her head cocked as if asking what was going on? I had no more of a clue than she did.
I heard my name coming through the phone. “Dani? Dani Mackenzie?” The caller seemed confused as if she wasn’t sure she had the right number.
At first, I didn’t recognize the voice.
“Uh-huh?” I said, wishing I’d let it go to voicemail.
With my husband Luke out of town for a few days, I knew this wasn’t his deep, rumbling tone, so I was ready to hang up when I realized he wasn’t calling with some kind of emergency.
But then I heard, “It’s Cam. Camilla Carter?” Finally, a name to go with the mystery caller. “The Blueberry Bay Grapevine? I hope I didn’t wake you,” she said low.
Why the whisper, I wondered. Was she afraid she’d wake the rest of the neighborhood?
Just then, Pip pushed her head under my arm and knocked the phone loose. When I grabbed it, I hit the speaker button, absently scratching under her ear. Of course, Pip leaned in for more love from me, at the same time Cam’s breathing startled me, amplified now and suddenly sounding like a buzzsaw.
“I’m awake,” I said, hearing the annoyance in my voice.
“I’m really sorry, Dani.” Cam paused. “I didn’t know who else to call.”
Fair enough, I thought, but her apology did little to soothe my irritation.
“What’s wrong, Cam?” I asked, hoping it was something simple like she’d locked herself out of her office and hoped I had a spare key. I did unless she’d changed the locks. Cam had just bought the weekly Grapevine newspaper from my grandmother, Rose Mackenzie. She’d moved into an apartment over the paper in a building next door to my diner and hadn’t made many friends yet. So, this early morning phone call made sense.
But when she hadn’t broken the silence on her end of the phone, I sat up a bit straighter, curious. “Cam? Are you okay?”
She whispered, “It looks like someone’s trying to break into your diner.”
That got my attention. “Call the police, Cam. I’m on my way.”
**Don’t miss the rest of the Little Dog Diner Series!**
Emmie Lyn grew up in a small town in New England, much like the towns where her female characters live—scenic, quaint and filled with colorful characters. She loves to create mysteries with twists and unexpected turns that draw readers in and capture their imagination.
Emmie lives in rural Massachusetts with her husband, a rescue terrier, and a black cat with a bad attitude. She shares twelve acres with a wide variety of wildlife including deer, bunnies, turkeys, and many songbirds. When she’s not busy thinking of ways to kill off a character (for a book, of course!) she enjoys a cup of tea and chocolate in her flower garden, hiking, or spending time near the ocean.
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