This time, I didn’t mind. I was glad to be surrounded by boredom while I tried to collect my thoughts. Had I muttered that I’d like to kill Scott Plank? I didn’t recall doing so, but then again, it was entirely possible. By the end of the speech, I had come to the conclusi...
And that is how I found myself driving to the little town of Hillgrove with Melissa the following weekend. We were in Melissa's car, a large Lexus, because I doubted mine would have made the distance. It needed new tires, plus the mechanic had told me to sell it as it the repairs would cost mor...
In fact, I am terrified of them—their oversized shoes, their red noses and crazy hair, and worst of all, their painted faces with the fake smiles. The town morgue had brought over the corpse. Janet arrived shortly after that. Janet, the funeral home’s cosmetician, made the bodies presentable, and...
We had closed for the day, and Thyme wanted to turn the tables on Alder by following him. “The best defense is offense,” she had said. I still found it hard to believe that Alder had malicious intent toward me, but then, I was naïve when it came to seeing through people. “He said he believed me,”...
After getting hopelessly lost and having had to resort to the GPS on my iPhone as I couldn’t afford a Tom Tom on my salary, Melissa and I finally arrived in Morpeth. Cute, quaint, and about as old as you get for a white European town in Australia, the town of Morpeth looked like it was still in...
My first impulse was to tell Alec Steel that I was a big girl and could order my own food. My second impulse was to turn on my heel and get out while the getting was good. I had accepted a coffee invitation from Alec against my better judgment, but I wanted him for information. He was rapidly b...
I had to solve the murder of Brant McCallum to clear the cloud of suspicion that hung over the cake store. It was the only way I could regain the trust of Aunt Angelica’s customers. I had pointed that out to Thyme who was in full agreement. She suggested we speak to Ruprecht. &n...
“I thought I’d find you here, Basil,” Violet said icily. “Why don’t you come clean and tell me how you convinced Lewis to change his will.” Basil’s expression seemed to change from surprise, to anger, to frustration. “I had no idea I was even in Lewis’s will.” ...
Gemma had a very comfortable home, which she was always redecorating to suit her mood. One of the perks of her trade was having the money to redecorate at any time - another perk was her ability to make me intensely jealous on occasion, though this particular instance hadn't left much to be des...
She didn’t ask me why, much to my relief. I headed out to find Alder’s office, having never been there before. It was down a side street and along an old, cobbled pathway. I parked behind the town’s only grocery store and walked down the little lane. Over the entrance to h...
Mr. Buttons and I were in his car, intent upon investigating Dorothy. It was a quiet car ride, as Mr. Buttons did not have his radio on, and the Bentley hummed along peacefully. I looked at the scenery, all bushland until we reached the top of mountain, then twists and t...
I groggily reached for it and answered it. As soon as I heard my agent’s voice, I knew it was big trouble. William very rarely called—he generally only emailed. “Prudence, I have some bad news. Everyone has canceled!” I struggled to sit up in bed an...
I had a break between grooming clients, so I wandered up to the boarding house to see if there had been any developments. Cressida was sitting on the front steps, her head in her hands. “The Little Tatterford and Shire Council is sending an inspector here today.” She sig...
The cat offers itself. Of course he wants care and shelter. You don't buy love for nothing. Like all pure creatures, cats are practical." (William S. Burroughs) Chapter 10. Douglas and I had driven back the other way to High Wycombe town itself and now we were driving to...
I did not tell her about the word ‘Cyclops’ in case it was a code word for a police operation, or something of that nature. I thought she would be disappointed that Brady hadn’t come through, but she didn’t appear to mind in the slightest. I, on the other hand, was disappo...