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A Murder Yule Regret
A Bread Shop Mystery
by Winnie Archer
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A Murder Yule Regret (A Bread Shop Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Publisher : Kensington Cozies (November 30, 2021)
Mass Market Paperback : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 149673355X
ISBN-13 : 978-1496733559
Digital ASIN : B08Y69YZKB
Freelance photographer and Yeast of Eden bakery assistant Ivy Culpepper has just scored the job of a lifetime shooting the Dickensian dress-up X-mas party thrown by It Girl film actress Eliza Fox . . . until an unwanted guest appears.
A holiday costume party in the sleepy coastal town of Santa Sofia could be just the boost Ivy needs for her fledgling photography business. At the party, Ivy enters a Victorian fantasy come to life, all courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Fox. Ivy gets to play shutterbug while hanging with Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits, and more classic Dickens characters. But what begins as the best of times turns out to be the very worst for one of the party guests—a tabloid journalist with more enemies than Ebenezer himself.
When the man’s body is found sprawled across the jagged rocks below the house, the fingers begin pointing at Eliza. Meanwhile, Ivy gets roped into helping prove the starlet’s innocence. Her festive photos are now official evidence—and the Ghosts of Christmas Present could mean the party for Eliza is over, once and for all.ance photographer and Yeast of Eden bakery assistant Ivy Culpepper has just scored the job of a lifetime shooting the Dickensian dress-up X-mas party thrown by It Girl film actress Eliza Fox . . . until an unwanted guest appears.
A holiday costume party in the sleepy coastal town of Santa Sofia could be just the boost Ivy needs for her fledgling photography business. At the party, Ivy enters a Victorian fantasy come to life, all courtesy of the fabulous Ms. Fox. Ivy gets to play shutterbug while hanging with Scrooge, Marley, the Cratchits, and more classic Dickens characters. But what begins as the best of times turns out to be the very worst for one of the party guests—a tabloid journalist with more enemies than Ebenezer himself.
When the man’s body is found sprawled across the jagged rocks below the house, the fingers begin pointing at Eliza. Meanwhile, Ivy gets roped into helping prove the starlet’s innocence. Her festive photos are now official evidence—and the Ghosts of Christmas Present could mean the party for Eliza is over, once and for all.
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Enjoy this peek inside:
Olaya stood behind the bread table, hands on her hips, her chin lowered. “Maggie, you are here to help me, not to star gaze,” she scolded.
Maggie did her best to look sheepish, but didn’t quite pull it off. Her gaze strayed past the people gathering at the food tables and toward the backyard, still searching for another glimpse of Eliza. “I know but—”
“No,” Olaya said in a tone that brought Maggie’s head back around. Olaya snapped her fingers three times.“I am paying you, yes?”
Maggie nodded.
“Bueno.” And that was it. With five little words, Olaya had made it clear that she expected Maggie to tamp down the fangirl and stay put at the bread table.
Maggie looked appropriately chastised.
“Oh God, the carbs!” a woman said as she took two slices of panettone.
Olaya’s lips curved into an almost imperceptible smile. I suspected that she’d worked a little of her magic, the mere aroma of her bread drawing in the perpetual dieters, making them disregard their carb-counting and caloric intake for the evening, instead giving them the mental boost of satisfying a long-suffering hunger for all things baked.
I knew better than to take too many pictures in the library with all the food being consumed, so I left Maggie and Olaya and drifted back out to the great room. Some of the partygoers had made their way upstairs to the loft. The great room felt manageable now, and I was able to catch people in candid poses just as Nicole had requested. One by one, I took shots of each and every person downstairs, which took a solid hour and a half. Some people were not as photogenic as others. Even though they were candids, I wanted each subject to be shown in their best light. Finally, I headed upstairs to capture the rest. Outside, the ocean had become an inky expanse, a few lights appearing far in the distance. Even with the low lights, the backyard was still dark. It was eerie knowing that with the blackness outside and the bright lights inside, we were all on display.
Not that it was possible for anyone to actually see in. We were on a cliff, after all. I gripped the metal railing and continued upstairs, freezing when a shrill scream cut through the party chatter.
The entire house seemed to have gone mute for a few seconds. I spun around, trying to place the location, realizing suddenly that it was coming from outside. A few of the guests had come to the same conclusion. I raced back down the stairs and through the frozen crowd, joining those who had propelled themselves into action by plowing through the side door. Down the square cement steps.
Onto the patch of grass.
A serving tray lay upside down on the grass, bits of bread and smashed appetizers scattered around it. A young woman, who couldn’t have been older than twenty, backed away from the huge boulders, one hand covering her mouth, the other pointing past the edge of the yard and down over the cliff.
Those of us who had rushed outside moved forward while the girl continued to back up.
“Someb-b-body—” she stammered.
That’s when I noticed her outstretched arm, her finger pointing . . . down.
My heart climbed to my throat as I dropped to my knees and inched forward. Carefully, I peered over the edge. Sure enough, splayed out on the rocks below, was the dark form of a body.
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About Winner Archer
Winnie Archer is the nationally bestselling author of the Bread Shop Mystery series, and the Magical Dressmaking Mystery series written as Melissa Bourbon. A former middle school English teacher, lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and the youngest of their five children. She can be found online at MelissaBourbon.com.
Author Links: Kensington / Website / Facebook
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – IndieBound
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