Eggnog Cream & Murder: An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 12 Read online

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  “Eva's Delicious Mystery: A Donut Hole Spin-Off”

  Eggnog Cream & Murder

  An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 12

  Susan Gillard

  Contents

  Also by Susan Gillard

  Eggnog Cream & Murder

  1. Festive Donuts

  2. The Mystery Gift

  3. Called to a Crime Scene

  4. A Present of Murder

  5. Station Notes

  6. The Nosy Neighbor

  7. The Reporter’s Story

  8. A Clue in the Cards

  9. Donut Discussions

  10. The Bite

  11. Heather’s Present

  12. Hope for a Story

  13. Bernadette’s Book

  14. Setting the Trap

  15. Interrogating Santa

  16. Good Gifts

  17. The Whole Story

  18. A Very Merry Christmas

  About the Author

  Also by Susan Gillard

  Also by Susan Gillard

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  Value Boxed Sets- First Appearance of Heather & the Gang

  Culinary Cozy Murder Mystery Collection - Books 1-5

  Culinary Cozy Murder Mystery Collection 2 - Books 6-10

  Culinary Cozy Murder Mystery Collection 3 - Books 11-15

  Culinary Cozy Murder Collection 4 - Books 16-20

  Culinary Cozy Murder Collection 5 - Books 21-25

  Copyright 2017 by Guardian Publishing Group

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication or the information in it may be quoted from or reproduced in any form by means such as printing, scanning, photocopying or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Printed in the United States of America

  Eggnog Cream & Murder

  Festive Donuts

  “Come on. It’s lovely weather for a donut together with you,” Amy sang, making her own variation of the festive classic as she danced around the Donut Delights kitchen.

  Heather laughed at her bestie’s song. “I like the new rendition.”

  “It’s too tropical in Key West to bring up sleigh rides,” Amy said. “But it does mean that there is really lovely weather outside."

  Heather nodded. "I know we never got much snow when we lived in Texas, but all the palm trees, sunny weather, and warm sand still seems strange to me at this time of year."

  Amy continued with her song. “Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up let’s greet. I’m ready to eat.”

  “I think I liked the first part of your song better,” Heather said, wryly.

  “Well, I do love donuts together with you,” Amy said.

  “Thanks,” Heather said. “But I think you’d love these new donuts with or without me.”

  “Guilty,” Amy admitted. “I’d eat them anytime and anywhere. But it’s always better to have snacks with friends. Especially around the holidays.”

  "Then I think you may be in luck,” Heather said, checking her watch. “Help me bring this new batch to the front of the shop. We might have some carolers.”

  “Carolers this early in the afternoon?” Amy asked.

  "Eva and Lilly agreed to babysit Lilly and Nicolas this afternoon,” Heather started.

  “I’m glad Nicolas was able to fly out and visit for the holidays again,” Amy said. “That’s the perfect gift for Lilly – to have her best friend stay for Christmas. Hmm… Maybe I should just put a bow on my head and be your gift?”

  “Your friendship is the best gift of all,” Heather said, and then winked. “But I think you already gave me that present.”

  "I've been such a last-minute shopper this year," Amy said. “Or, well, I was trying to make gifts for everyone after I’ve started getting more involved in the art scene and taking more classes. But it takes so much time to make something that looks good. I don’t think I’m going to finish in time, so now I’ll need to run around like a crazy person and find some gifts.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” Heather said. “I don’t want you to stress at this happy time of year. You don’t have to get me anything.”

  Amy rolled her eyes. "Of course, I'm going to get my best friend a present. But I won't worry about that right now. Instead, I'll go back to worrying about the carolers, What was going on with that?"

  “Oh,” Heather chuckled. “Eva and Leila said that they might bring the kids over to the shop to get some donuts. I made a joke about how having so many people I love visiting me was music to my ears. They decided to take that literally.”

  Heather and Amy picked up the donuts and headed to the front counter.

  “I wonder if they’ll take requests,” Amy said. “I did just create a new holiday classic.”

  However, as soon as their friends saw them they began singing one of the canon Christmas songs: “Deck the Halls.”

  Heather, Amy, and her donut shop assistants clapped as they finished the song. Then, Heather led them over to their usual table to enjoy the donuts. Because it was too hot to be wearing festive sweaters, the two senior women had opted for decorative scarves. Leila's had a holly pattern on it, while Eva's was covered with snowflakes.

  “Eva didn’t want to wear the holly one,” Leila teased and explained. “She didn’t want to wear anything that could be misconstrued as mistletoe.”

  “You know that the old flirt Vincent would use it as an excuse to kiss me and then blame it on his bad eyesight,” Eva said.

  “His eyesight can’t be all bad if he’s smitten with you,” Leila told her friend.

  Lilly and Nicolas were eyeing the white pastries on the table like they were presents on Christmas morning. However, Amy was still distracted by their music.

  “You guys did great job with your song, but you should have asked me for my donut themed carols.”

  “Oh dear. Here we go,” Heather said.

  "They're great songs,” Amy said. “God Rest Ye, Merry Buttercreams and Donut Hole-y Night, and I’m Dreaming of a Jelly Donut.”

  “All right. Let’s try these donuts,” Heather said.

  “Do you really want us to sample them?’ Amy asked. “Or are you just trying to quiet my lyrical talent?”

  “If you don’t want any,” Heather started to say as she picked up the platter if donuts.

  “No!” everyone at the table cried out in unison.

  She smiled and let the platter stay in the center. Everyone reached for one.

  “What is this flavor called, dear?” Eva asked.

  “It’s an Eggnog Cream Donut,” Heather explained.

  "Perfect for Christmas,” Leila said.

  "It's a stuffed donut in the same way a Boston Cream is, but the creamy filling is made to taste like eggnog. It still has a bit of the frothy texture, and it is seasoned with nutmeg,” Heather said. “Then it’s covered with powdered sugar.”

  “It looks like it’s covered in a layer of snow,” Lilly said.

  “That’s what I was going for,” Heather smiled.

  “Well, this about to be the most delicious snow I ever ate,” Amy said. />
  They all agreed and took a bite of their donuts.

  “I won’t have visions of sugarplums dancing in my head tonight,” Leila said. “It will be visions of these donuts.”

  "It's yummy, Mom,” Lilly.

  Nicolas agreed. “I thought my Christmas couldn’t get any better when I got to come here for it and see everyone. I forgot about the donuts! They’re all I’d want in my stocking this year.”

  "Do you leave donuts out for Santa Claus instead of cookies?" Eva asked.

  “I think he’d prefer my donuts,” Heather said.

  They were stopped from any other further cheery Christmas chat by the arrival of their neighbor. Bernadette, the owner of Bernadette’s Beachy Books and their friend on the street, had entered the store with a perplexed look on her face.

  “Hi everybody,” Bernadette said. “Heather, I need to ask you something.”

  "Sure," she said, ushering her to the table they were seated around.

  “Did you send me a Christmas present?”

  "No," Heather said. "I mean, not yet. I was going to make up donut boxes for everyone on the street, but I was waiting until Christmas Eve."

  “Your donut box would be the biggest,” Amy said. “Because you’re our good friend, and we know how you love the donuts. Cranky Mr. Rankle will be lucky if we don’t give him a coal flavored donut.”

  “I’m not fishing for presents,” Bernadette said. “It’s only that if you didn’t send anything, then I have a mystery on my hands.”

  The Mystery Gift

  “What sort of mystery?” Heather asked, keeping her voice low.

  She and Amy also worked as private investigators and had solved their fair share of murders and mysteries, but they were rarely introduced to her in the lobby of her donut shop.

  Heather looked around the room. There were only a few customers seated at tables. Most of their customers were rushing in and out of the store after grabbing their sugary snacks, either in a hurry to finish their gift shopping or to spend time with family.

  Heather was still getting to know all her regular customers and often recognized them by their order more than their face. There was the young woman who liked jelly donuts on her lunch break and the middle-aged man who appeared to be retired and liked to sip a coffee and try the new donut flavors of the week. There was also one of the teachers from Lilly's school in the shop enjoying the Eggnog Cream Donuts and his winter vacation.

  “It’s a Christmas mystery,” Bernadette said.

  “I bet the Grinch did it,” Amy joked.

  “No. It's nothing mean. A Christmas gift was delivered to me, and I have no idea who sent it. I wish this sort of thing would stop happening," Bernadette said, referring to another time when love notes were left in books around her shop. "At least I know that this is for me this time. It had my name on the package.”

  “What was it?” Heather asked.

  “It was a great gift. It was a rare book that I was having trouble finding,” Bernadette said. “But that’s why it was so perplexing that no one would have signed the card. I thought my assistant Gina might have gotten it for me because I had been mentioning in the store one day how I would like to find it, but it wasn't her. And then I thought maybe it was you. There are not many people who would send gifts like this to me."

  "Maybe you do have a secret admirer now,” Amy said.

  “Believe me, I would love to meet my Fitzwilliam Darcy,” Bernadette said. “But how could he have known what I wanted for Christmas without my knowing who he is?”

  “Maybe Santa was just being early?” Lilly suggested with a smile.

  “She might be on to something,” Eva said. “What did this gift look like?”

  “I’m pretty sure if it was a book it had a cover and pages,” Amy said.

  "What was the wrapping like?” Eva rephrased.

  "It was in a deep red wrapping paper," Bernadette said. "It came with a card that looked homemade, but it was unsigned. The picture on it was a Christmas tree with silver and gold ornaments."

  “That does sound like Santa,” Eva said.

  “Really?” Nicolas asked, looking skeptical.

  "Well, the Santa of Key West,” Eva said. “It was in the local paper today.”

  She took her copy of the Key West Key News out of her purse and showed them. The article on the front page proclaimed the headline: “Santa Visits the Island Early.”

  "Apparently, a kindly man has been delivering presents to random residents all week," Eva said, recapping. "All his gifts arrive in red wrapping and are things that people have wished for."

  “That’s so nice,” Lilly said.

  "I have been wishing for this edition of the book," Bernadette said.

  “I wonder why Santa hasn’t visited me,” said Amy. “Too much pouting?”

  “This is a very jolly thing to do,” Heather said. “But who is this Santa Claus?”

  “That’s the big mystery,” Leila said. “No one knows who this man is.”

  “It’s a secret Santa,” Amy said.

  Bernadette laughed. "It's solved in one way because now I know that there's a good Samaritan spreading holiday cheer that was the person who gave me the gift, but I think this might have made it more mysterious for you."

  “I have to admit I’m curious,” Heather said. “But I don’t think this is a mystery that I have to solve. No one is getting hurt by these gifts, and I think I’d rather spend my time and energy with my friends and family rather than tracking Santa.”

  “As long as some of that time and energy is spent making more of these Eggnog Cream Donuts, I like the idea,” Leila said.

  “You do spend so much time having to track down killers, it will be nice for you have some relaxing family time at Christmas,” Eva said. “You deserve it.”

  Heather smiled at her friend’s kind words.

  Then Bernadette asked, “These are Eggnog Cream Donuts?”

  “Try one,” Heather said, offering her the plate. Bernadette’s eyes were wide with excitement before she ate it, and stayed wide with pleasure after she had a bite.

  “Between Santa’s gift and these donuts, I might be the luckiest girl in town,” Bernadette said.

  "Don't count your turtledoves before they hatch," Amy muttered as she saw who was approaching the door.

  Their other neighbor, Mr. Rankle, was scowling as he entered the shop. He was an older man with a cane who was looking especially miserly this time of year.

  “Mr. Rankle, what brings you over here?” Heather asked. The last time he had visited, he was trying to trick them into violating a town ordinance so their shop would be shut down. He despised them for the simple reason that they were from out of town, and there seemed to be nothing that they could do to sway his mind.

  “Believe me, if I had a choice I wouldn’t have come over,” he said. “But I’m trying to coordinate when all the shops on the block are closing on Christmas Eve.”

  “A likely story,” Amy said. “You want to trick us so that we're open at a time that for some reason is illegal, or you know that it's going to be really busy at a certain time and you want us to lose out on business."

  Heather ignored her bestie and told him their original plans for closing. "We were planning at closing at five p.m. on Christmas Eve. We think most people will have the donuts they need by then. And we're closed on Christmas Day, so the employees can enjoy the holiday."

  Mr. Rankle nodded and started to leave without saying goodbye.

  “Merry Christmas,” Heather said.

  “Yeah, yeah,” he said, leaving.

  “I think saying humbug would have been more appropriate for his character,” Amy commented.

  “Forget it,” Heather said. “Let’s focus on having on being merry ourselves.”

  “And may this season be murder-free,” Amy agreed.

  Heather nodded. She hoped her friend was right.

  Called to a Crime Scene

  “You waited for me to decorate
the tree?” Nicolas asked. He looked genuinely touched by the gesture. A huge grin formed on his face.

  "We did put up the lights because they shine so prettily I couldn't resist seeing them up for as long as possible," Lilly said. "But we waited to put up any of the ornaments until you were here. I wasn't sure if they would let you help decorate the tree at the foster home, and I think it's a lot of fun."

  “They did let us older kids help with the tree this year,” Nicolas said. “But I’m really excited to help with yours.”

  “Here,” Lilly said handing him the first ornament to put up. “You can hang up the candy cane.”

  “Will the candy canes get along with donuts?” Heather asked, bringing some snacks into the room. She was followed by her donut-loving pets Dave the dog and Cupcake the kitten.

  “Of course,” Lilly said, jumping up and moving towards the food.

  “Definitely,” Nicolas agreed, following.

  Dave and Cupcake were hoping to get involved with snack time too, either by being too adorable to resist feeding or by catching scraps on the floor.

  “But only one right now,” Heather said, as she handed them out. “I’m sure you’ll want more during our movie night tonight, and they’ll be hot cocoa then too. I don’t want you to have so much sugar that you’re up all night.”

  “Don’t worry,” Lilly said, as she and Nicolas accepted the one donut deal. “We’ll make sure to go to sleep at bedtime. We wouldn’t want to disappoint Santa so close to the big night.”