Home > Baby Bundt Cake Confusion (Murder in the Mix #31)

Baby Bundt Cake Confusion (Murder in the Mix #31)
Author: Addison Moore

 

Book Description

 

 

My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so I rarely see dead people. Mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety, aka dead pets, who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom.

Noah and Everett take Lottie to their high school reunion. The catty women show up in droves and so does a killer. It’s almost Lottie’s birthday and her due date. It's raining suspects and contractions. There’s a baby in the mix—and a killer, too.

 

Lottie Lemon has a brand new bakery to tend to, a budding romance with perhaps one too many suitors, and she has the supernatural ability to see the dead—which are always harbingers for ominous things to come. Throw in the occasional ghost of the human variety, a string of murders, and her insatiable thirst for justice, and you’ll have more chaos than you know what to do with.

Living in the small town of Honey Hollow can be murder.

 

 

Lottie

 

 

My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead people. Okay, so rarely do I see dead people. Mostly I see furry creatures of the dearly departed variety who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom. But right now, I’m not seeing a single dearly departed entity. Instead, I’m looking up at the glitziest establishment known to man, the Lux Plaza Hotel, right in the heart of downtown Fallbrook.

It’s behemoth and as glittery as can be, and right out front there’s a large sign nestled in a gilded frame that reads Welcome to the Fallbrook Premier Academy Class Reunion! It’s a freezing night in early March and I’ve ventured out of my cozy little town of Honey Hollow to attend this throwback in time with the men I love.

Everett groans just looking at the sign. “Here we go.” And there’s not a note of enthusiasm in his voice as he says it.

“Yup.” Noah expels a heavy breath. “It’s going to be a long night.”

“Oh, come on, you two,” I say, linking arms with both of them and giving them a jostle. “It’s going to be great. We’ve already come this far. I’m sure it’ll be over before we know it, and not half as bad as you think it’s going to be. Sort of like a root canal.”

“That about sums it up, Lemon.”

Everett has almost always called me by my surname for as long as I’ve known him and I don’t mind one bit. It’s sort of become a sweet pet name at this point in our relationship. And Everett and I do have a relationship—we’re married. Okay, so it began as more or less a business transaction while I was dating Noah. Everett needed an official plus one so he could procure the rest of his trust fund and I helped him meet that matrimonial stipulation.

And since Noah and I were on and off again more times than either of us could count, I decided a while back that I should give it another shot with Everett to see if there was still anything there. Noah came up with the same conclusion at about the same time, and well, Everett and I have been together going on nine months ever since.

Speaking of nine months…

The muscles around my bloated belly feel as if they’re tightening into concrete and I give a long blink before the discomfort loosens. It just so happens that I’m in my final month of what feels like a fifty yearlong pregnancy.

My due date is next week and my own birthday is two weeks after that. But it looks as if I’ll be getting the best birthday gift of a lifetime a little bit early this year—an entire new life to care for—and I can hardly wait, emphasis on the hardly wait. My body has morphed into a Macy’s Day float, and I’m ready to give this baby an eviction notice because of it.

“Are you okay, Lot?” Noah examines me a moment with a serious look in his eyes. Noah has been extra attentive to me during the last nine months. They both have. As they should be—they’re both in the running to be the father. You see, I was saying a rather spirited goodbye to Noah the day we decided to take a break to see where my relationship with Everett might lead, and then I said a rather spirited hello to Everett to inaugurate ourselves as an official couple. And well, the situation quickly grew maternal.

“I’m fine,” I say, patting my belly, silently begging my body not to pull another stunt like that until I’m safely tucked in the maternity ward at Honey Hollow General Hospital and amply pumped full of enough narcotics for me not to notice.

Noah Corbin Fox is a dark-haired, green-eyed stud, with dimples and a body built for fighting off the bad guys. Up until a few weeks ago he was working as the lead homicide detective for the Ashford County Sheriff’s Department.

And Judge Essex Everett Baxter has black hair, demanding blue eyes, and a face and body sculpted by the masters. He’s slow to smile and quick to elicit the attention of everyone with a functioning pair of ovaries, as is Noah. And sadly, they’ve both been suspended from their prestigious positions for reasons I’d rather not think about right now.

“Okay, gentlemen,” I say to the two handsome steeds by my side. “We’re going in.” They’ve both donned dark suits with glossy dark ties as if they were headed to a funeral. I found a plum-colored beaded gown that ties off in the back and actually accentuates my curves—not necessarily a good thing in my condition, but I do feel fancier than I’ve felt in months. “Is there anything else I should know before I get thrown into the deep end of the Fallbrook social scene?”

“Yes, Lemon. You should know that the only reason we’re here tonight is because Wiley Fox orchestrated this entire event almost two decades ago before robbing my mother blind and taking off with as much of her fortune as he could get his greedy little hands on.”

Noah nods into the admission. “And don’t forget he promptly faked his death.” He shakes his head. “Sorry again. I have a feeling I’ll be apologizing for that man for as long as I live. And I’m sorry to you, Lot. Not only has my father resurrected himself, but he’s set his destructive sights on your mother.”

“Don’t apologize for him.” My blood boils just thinking about Noah’s jackass of a father.

It’s no secret that Noah and Everett went to a fancy private school. In fact, Everett attended Piedmont, an exclusive boarding school, for a while until his mother married Noah’s father and the two families attempted to meld together.

The unholy union didn’t last long as Everett just mentioned. Wiley Fox, Noah’s wily father, took off with as much of Eliza Baxter’s fortune as he possibly could and then proceeded to fake his own death. He’s back now, alive and well and wreaking havoc in Honey Hollow—latched onto my poor mother, of all people.

Anyway, Eliza plucked Everett and his sister, Meghan, from their fancy boarding school and enrolled them into Fallbrook Premier Academy so they could be with their new siblings, Noah and his brother Alex. And so basically it is all Wiley’s dumb fault we have to subject ourselves to this night of torture.

Initially, both Noah and Everett rejected the invitation to attend tonight, but once my shop, the Cutie Pie Bakery and Cakery, was invited to cater the desserts, they heartily agreed to join me in the endeavor.

“There is one more thing you should probably know, Lot.” Noah chuckles to himself as we reach the entry to this glitzy palace. “See this gaudy spectacle parading around as a humble hotel? Your husband happens to own it.”

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