Broomed For Success

by Morgana Best

  He threw the jacket to me.

  It all happened in a flash. There was a gunshot. I didn’t know if I had been hit until little pieces of plaster fell onto my head from the ceiling.

  Doug screamed. I ran over and picked up his gun. Persnickle was standing on top of Doug, who was lying on his back on the ground, flailing his arms. Persnickle angrily ripped off his orange shirt with his teeth. Maybe some flesh was coming away with it. I didn’t like to look too closely.

  “Get it off me! Get it off me!” he screamed.

  I grabbed my phone out of my pocket and called 000. I kept a tight hold on the gun, but pointed it away from Doug, just in case it went off. I certainly wouldn’t want to hurt Persnickle.

  “Good work,” Angus said. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. What made your, um, wombat familiar attack him?”

  It took me a moment to find my voice. “Persnickle absolutely hates the colour orange,” I said. I clutched the gun more tightly, scared I would collapse.

  “You’re doing well,” Angus said. “I thought you were a goner there for a minute.”

  “So did I,” I said as a tear trickled down my cheek.

  Chapter 20

  I was lying on my couch with a cold pack on my forehead. Oleander and Athanasius were making a fuss of Persnickle.

  Detective Power had been smiling from ear to ear, telling Detective Walters and anyone within hearing how pleased he was that he had solved the case. It seemed to escape his notice that he wasn’t the one who had solved it. He had told Detective Walters to take my statement, and Walters was happy for me to give it in my home. No doubt the vinegar bottle was keeping Detective Power away from me.

  I sat up and put the cold pack on the coffee table in front of me.

  Oleander hurried to my side. “Are you all right, Goldie?”

  “Not really, to be honest,” I confessed. “I feel weird.”

  Oleander patted my hand. “I’m not surprised you feel weird. After all, someone nearly shot you.” She shuddered.

  I stood up. “I’d better go and open the office.”

  Oleander pointed to the couch. “Nonsense! You’ve had a terrible shock and you’re taking the day off. If you like, Athanasius and I can run back to the office.”

  “No, please stay with me. I don’t mind shutting the office for the day.” I looked at my wine glass. “Did I drink that already or did Persnickle drink it?”

  Persnickle looked up and shot me a ‘Who me?’ look.

  “You drank it, Goldie,” Athanasius said. “I’ll pour you another one. Would you like something to eat?”

  I clutched my stomach. “I couldn’t eat a thing,” I said. “I’d be sick.”

  I also wondered where Max was. Oleander had texted him to tell him what had happened, but he hadn’t replied. Surely he wouldn’t leave town without saying goodbye? My day wasn’t getting any better. “I should have stayed in bed,” I muttered, half to myself.

  “Then you wouldn’t have solved the murder,” Athanasius said in a cheery tone. “Good work, Goldie. That was fast thinking.”

  “Persnickle is the one who deserves all the praise,” I said. “I wouldn’t have managed without him.”

  “He is your familiar, dear,” Oleander said. “Familiars help in all sorts of unimaginable ways.”

  I smiled at Persnickle. “Yes, I’m beginning to find that out.”

  “In more good news,” Athanasius said, “Melissa Fowl has left town. It seems she was here to look for the gold, after all. And five people dropped by and are keen for you to list their houses. We didn’t have a chance to tell you before because, well, you know, someone was trying to murder you.”

  “That’s great!” I said. When I saw their shocked faces, I added, “Not that someone was trying to murder me, of course. I mean it’s great news that I’ve got more listings. Maybe I’ll make a success of it, after all.”

  “And you’re beginning to come into your powers too,” Oleander said. “Who knows what other powers you have, Goldie? After all, you did summon Julius Caesar.”

  I waved my hand at her. “Don’t remind me!”

  “Well, he did get rid of that internal affairs investigator,” Athanasius said.

  I sighed and put a cushion over my face.

  “Honestly, Athanasius!” Oleander said.

  “What have I done now?” he said in a plaintive tone.

  I pulled the cushion away from my face. “I thought Max liked me, but he doesn’t. He’s leaving town. He doesn’t even care that somebody just tried to murder me.” A tear rolled down my face.

  The front door burst open. Max was standing there, his hair damp from the rain.

  It was then I realised I hadn’t stopped the storm. He hurried over to me, dripping water all over the floor. He leant down and pulled me into a hug. He squeezed me a little too tight, but I didn’t have the heart to ask him to stop. He seemed so desperate, so shaken.

  “Goldie, I just heard.” His breath was warm in my hair. “Are you all right?”

  I wrapped my hands around Max’s neck and held him close, even though it was an awkward angle with him crouching and me sitting. I nodded just a little, not trusting myself to speak.

  “There’s something I’ve been trying to tell you for a while,” Max said. He cupped my face. His hands were large and warm. “Err, why don’t we go make coffee in the kitchen?”

  Max scooped me into his arms and carried me into the kitchen. I didn’t have time to feel embarrassed as he set me down but didn’t let me step out of his arms.

  “I don’t know where to start,” he said hesitantly, staring down into my eyes. I felt the heat radiating through his soft cotton shirt. I wanted to bury my head in his neck, but maybe that would be taking things too far. Just standing in his arms, I told myself, was enough.

  “One of the residents said they saw a removalist van outside your house this morning,” I whispered. Was it only that morning? It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  I realized I was crying now. Max brushed away my tears, looking sheepish.

  “Well about that, I’m doing something officially, but unofficially I’ll be doing something quite different,” he replied.

  “I don’t understand,” I squeaked.

  Max took a deep breath and continued. “You probably noticed I had a lot of phone calls lately?”

  I nodded.

  “I’ve bought a little house in Beaudesert.”

  “Beaudesert?” I repeated, thoroughly confused. “You’re moving to Beaudesert? Why would you want to leave town? Is it because there’s no legal coffee here?”

  “I’m not leaving town, Goldie,” Max said.

  “But you just said…”

  “I’m officially moving to Beaudesert and my house at East Bucklebury will officially be my holiday house. I will officially be a resident of Beaudesert, but I’ll be living here.”

  I tried not to show how relieved I was.

  “I’m friends with one of the uniformed cops at Lower Boomera police station,” Max continued. “He’s a young guy and he was looking for a flatmate or for somewhere to live on the cheap. Officially, I’m renting a room to him and we’ll be sharing the house. Of course, I won’t leave East Bucklebury, but no one has to know that.”

  “They don’t?”

  “I did that so the internal affairs investigator won’t think I’m a resident of East Bucklebury.”

  “But he’s gone,” I said.

  Max shook his head. “More could come. The fact remains, it’s illegal for a detective who lives in East Bucklebury to date a resident of East Bucklebury.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Max considered this for a moment, then he pressed his lips against mine. His kiss was firm and soft, demanding but gentle. I felt myself go limp in his arms, which made him hold me even tighter.

  Just then Athanasius burst through the door. “Goldie? What’s the delay on that coffee?”

  Behind him, Oleander scre
amed, “Get back here, Athanasius, you old fool!”

  Max and I broke apart. All of a sudden I felt like a shy schoolgirl. Max put his arms around me and grinned. Even though someone had just tried to murder me, I was happy, happy for good friends, for my clever wombat-familiar, and for Max, who held me in his protective arms as Oleander dragged Athanasius out of the kitchen.

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  Next Book In This Series

  Sea Witch Cozy Mysteries Book 5

  Broom Service

  Max's parents and stepmother visit, and while they are all at dinner, a town councillor is brewtally murdered. The victim wanted coffee to remain illegal in East Bucklebury, so there are any number of suspects who perked up at news of the murder.

  With orange being the favourite colour of Max's stepmother, can Goldie prevent her from a horrible accident at the hands … or claws … of Persnickle?

  As the situation percolates, will Goldie and Max solve the murder with the help of Oleander and Athanasius? And will there be grounds for arrest? They will certainly give it their best shot.

  Also by Morgana Best

  ALL MORGANA BEST BOOKS ARE COZY MYSTERIES

  Witches’ Brew (Witches and Wine, Book 1)

  A B&B that doesn’t serve breakfast, a dead body, and something strange in the dark room at the end of the corridor . . . Pepper knew moving back home wasn’t going to be easy.

  Pepper Jasper moves from Sydney to the cozy town of Lighthouse Bay, answering a desperate plea from her aunts to help with their failing Bed and Breakfast business.

  She discovers her aunts are more eccentric than she remembered, the Bed and Breakfast does not serve breakfast, and the cottages for lease have strange themes. And what’s more, within minutes of her arrival, she stumbles across a dead body.

  Pepper soon has her hands full, contending with a murder mystery, irritating guests including the enigmatic Lucas O’Callaghan who is convinced every woman wants to fall into his arms, and her aunts, who are hiding more than one dark secret.

  Who - or what! - lurks in the forbidden room at the end of the dark corridor?

  And why do the aunts insist she drink copious quantities of special label wine?

  Find out what awaits Pepper Jasper at Mugwort Manor.

  Miss Spelled (The Kitchen Witch Book 1)

  Amelia Spelled believes in baking it til you make it . . .

  But when her boyfriend dumps her, her boss fires her, and she's evicted from her rental thanks to a cooking mishap, Amelia finds herself all dressed up with nowhere to dough. Amelia is just about ready to pie for help when a handwritten letter is slipped under her door.

  Now she is off to country Australia, where a mysterious house is not the only thing that awaits -- there is also the revelation that she is a witch. But if Amelia thinks she'll have time to process these new developments, she's dead wrong. There is a murder, and she's the number one suspect.

  Will Amelia cook up a way to solve the crime, or are her spells as bad as her baking? And just what -- or who -- does the dashing man lurking in the shadows want?

  A Ghost of a Chance (Witch Woods Funeral Home Book 1)

  USA TODAY Best-selling series

  Laurel inherits a funeral home, to discover it's a dead-end job.

  Nobody knows that Laurel Bay can see ghosts. When she inherits a funeral home, she is forced to return from Melbourne to the small town of Witch Woods to breathe life into the business. It is a grave responsibility, but Laurel is determined that this will be no dead-end job.

  There she has to contend with her manipulative and overly religious mother, a wise-cracking ghost, and a secretive but handsome accountant.

  When the murder of a local woman in the funeral home strangles the finances, can Laurel solve the murder?

  Or will this be the death of her business?

  Christmas Spirit (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer, Book 1)

  What would do if you saw a ghost?

  Prudence Wallflower tours the country, making live appearances. She connects people with loved ones who have passed on.

  However, her reputation as a clairvoyant medium is failing, and even Prudence has begun to doubt herself. She has never seen a ghost, but receives impressions from the dead.

  This all changes when the ghost of a detective appears to her and demands her help to solve a murder. Prudence finds herself out of her depth, and to make matters worse, she is more attracted to this ghost than any man she has ever met.

  A Tale of Mer-der (His Ghoul Friday, Book 1)

  Aussie journalist Misty Friday has several problems, not the least of which is her name.

  Misty's mean boss sends her to an island resort in the Great Barrier Reef to investigate a paranormal event, but mermaids and murder throw her off the track.

  When Misty makes waves, she attracts the attention of the murderer and one mysterious stranger. Will Misty get to the bottom of this, or are there too many red herrings?

  Live and Let Diet (The Australian Amateur Sleuth, Book 1)

  Funny cozy mystery

  USA TODAY Bestselling series

  What will Sibyl find when she moves to a small Aussie town? Deadly snakes and redback spiders? Sure, but she also finds something unexpected . . .

  Sybil Potts moves to Little Tatterford, a small town in the middle of nowhere in Australia, seeking to find peace and quiet after the upheaval of her divorce.

  Although the town is sleepy and nothing has ever happened, her arrival coincides with a murder in the boarding house adjacent to her cottage.

  Sybil soon finds she is at odds with the attractive Blake Wessley, the exasperated police officer trying to solve the murder.

  After Sibyl narrowly misses becoming the next victim, she turns her attention to the suspects. Is it the posh English gentleman, Mr. Buttons, who serves everyone tea and cucumber sandwiches -- crusts off, of course -- or her quirky landlady, Cressida Upthorpe, who is convinced she knows what her spoiled cat, Lord Farringdon, is thinking?

  Or is it somebody else entirely?

  Sweet Revenge (Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries, Book 1)

  Funny cozy mystery

  What would you do if you were medically unable to gain weight? Eat chocolate and solve murders, of course . . .

  When a car accident leads to extensive plastic surgery and an inability to gain weight, Cocoa Narel finds herself transformed from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

  No longer forced to temper her love for chocolate, Cocoa opens a candy store and begins to enjoy the sweet life along with her quirky rescue cat. But when her high school bullies start being murdered one by one, Cocoa becomes the prime suspect.

  Can she clear her name, or does the true culprit have a few Twix up their sleeve?

  Sea Witch Cozy Mysteries: Four Book Box Set

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  Goldie Bloom has four problems: her boss, her boyfriend, the fact they are the same person, and the fact that person is cheating on her.

  After discovering she has inherited an old home on the Gold Coast waterfront, this murder solving Aussie sea witch packs up her collection of 5 inch stilettos and moves.

  She's not expecting to move in with a room mate named Persnickle, just as she was not expecting to trip over a dead body on her first day.

  Is she the intended victim, and can she really be arrested for drinking coffee?

  This Box Set has 4 books:

  1) Broom Mates (novella)

  2) Broom With A View (full length novel)

  3) Broom For One More (full length novel)

  4) Broomed for Success (full length novel)

  Also available individually: Book 5) Broom Service.

  SERIES BY MORGANA BEST

  Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries

  1) Sweet Revenge


  2) The Sugar Hit

  3) Murder Sweetly Served

  4) Chocolate to Die For

  First 3 Books available in Box Set:

  Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries: Box Set: Books 1-3

  The Australian Amateur Sleuth

  USA Today Best-selling series

  1) Live and Let Diet

  2) Natural-Born Grillers

  3) Dye Hard

  4) The Prawn Identity

  5) Any Given Sundae

  6) The Last Mango in Paris

  7) Tequila Mockingbird

  First 3 Books available in Box Set:

  Australian Amateur Sleuth: Box Set: Books 1-3

  USA Today Best-seller 2020

  Too 20 (paid) Book Amazon US Store 2020

  The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer

  1) Christmas Spirit

  2) Ghost Hunter

  3) There Must be a Happy Medium

  All 3 Books available in Box Set:

  The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer: Box Set: Books 1-3