by Amity Allen
“Promise me you’ll think about it. A nice holiday might do wonders for you. Just think, you wouldn’t have to cook for anybody. You could knit and read all day long with no one to bother you. No responsibilities.”
That sounded so good, I was starting to want to go on a vacation.
That afternoon, I arrived home to find Aunt Cricket wearing some sort of weird hat, humming something that sounded suspiciously like reggae.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s with the hat?”
“Oh, Poppy,” she gushed. “I am so glad you pushed me this morning about that vacation. I’m so excited! I’m going on a cruise!”
“What the fahrvergnügen?”
Aunt Cricket bopped all over the kitchen, practically dancing with glee. “What you said made a lot of sense. I am due for a vacation. I got on the phone with Gladys and she agreed to take over the B&B for a month while I’m gone. She can do most things. She’s a divine cook. You might have to show her a few tricks, but I’ll teach her what she needs to know before I leave.”
I felt a pang. “When are you leaving?”
“Next month.”
I’d just gotten home, and now she was leaving. Dang, I was going to miss her.
Poppy, it’s not like she’s abandoning you. You were the one who urged her to go on this vacation in the first place. Quit acting like a whiny baby and be happy for her.
Forcing a smile on my face, I replied, “That’s great. Where will you go?”
“I’m thinking the Mediterranean, or maybe the Bahamas.”
Aunt Cricket prattled on for the next thirty minutes about her trip. She talked about Gladys, and how lovely it would be to have a break from the daily grind.
I was happy for her. I just hadn’t expected her to make plans so fast. Oh well, it was time to put on my big girl panties and make the best of it.
At least I’d have Aloysius.
Blue lights flashed brightly in my rearview mirror.
Not again.
I pulled the car over to the shoulder and rolled down my window.
“Yes, Officer?” I sighed loudly, making my annoyance as clear as my freshly washed windshield.
“License and registration,” Niall Goodnight said, biting back a smile. It had been about six weeks since I’d last seen him, when we’d wrapped up what the public now called “the pageant murders.”
I handed them to him with a “Hmph!”
He eyeballed them.
“I wasn’t speeding, was I?” I was ninety-nine percent sure I’d been going under the speed limit for once.
“Nope, but you do have a taillight that’s out.” He hooked a thumb toward the back of my car. “Back right one. You need to have that fixed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If you need any help with that . . .” He shrugged.
“I’m good.”
He craned his neck, peering into my backseat. Gosh, he was nosy. He must have seen the bag of cat food and kitty litter, because he said, “Did you get a cat?”
“I sort of inherited one.”
He eyed me quizzically.
“It’s complicated.”
“So does that mean you’re going to be staying in Fairhope for a while?”
“Yeah, I think I’m going to stay for a while.”
“Great. That’ll give me a chance to use that number of yours you somehow snuck into my phone. I still haven’t figured out how you did that.”
I could feel the heat rising in my cheeks, and I wanted to crank up the air conditioner even though it was early November, but I refrained.
“By the way, if you’re really planning on staying, you should get your driver’s license updated to an Alabama one.” He flashed mine with the big “California” at the top.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Okay. I’ll be right back.” He winked at me as he strode back to his car to enter my license and registration into his computer.
He had practically asked me out, hadn’t he? Or at least hinted that he planned too. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach, and I had to admit Skylar had been right when she’d said I had a crush on Officer Goodnight.
What wasn’t there to like? The guy’s mission was to serve and protect, and even though he wasn’t a detective yet, his thoughts on Heather Morgan’s murder had been spot on.
As I sat there daydreaming about what kind of date he would invite me on—bowling, fishing, polo at the Point—nothing could have prepared me for what he said when he came back to the car.
“There’s been a 9-1-1 call from your aunt’s bed and breakfast.”
“What?”
“Yes, the call just came in as I was wrapping up. It seems there’s been a break-in. Follow me there?”
“Of course,” I said automatically.
The blue lights of my police escort flashed in time with the pounding of my heart as I drove closer and closer to whatever terrible occurrence had prompted the call.
If Aunt Cricket had been at home, I would have called her to see what was wrong, but she left for her cruise a week ago. My thoughts turned to Gladys, who was standing in for Cricket. She was no spring chicken, and I hoped the call had nothing to do with her. What had he said? Something about a break-in?
He needed to drive faster. I’d expected since he turned his lights on, he would have sped over to the Mulberry Lane B&B. Apparently I’d been wrong. I ground my teeth as we made our way through intersection after intersection going at the pace of a doodlebug on a lazy summer afternoon. At least it felt that slow.
When we finally got there, I threw open my car door and fussed, “Could you have gone any slower?”
Officer Goodnight bristled. “I was going thirty-five. That’s ten miles over the speed limit. It’s my duty to watch out for the public’s safety.”
Ugh. I’d forgotten about the arcane twenty-five mile-per-hour speed limit that pervaded downtown Fairhope. I guess they didn’t want tourists getting run over, but after living with the California traffic for so long, whenever I saw open space, I wanted to go!
Forgetting all about the traffic, I ran up the front walk, and as I reached to turn the handle of the front door, I prayed that when we got inside, we wouldn’t find a dead body.
If you enjoyed POISON MY PRETTY, please consider leaving a review and telling other readers what they can expect from Poppy’s story. And look for Poppy’s next adventure GUNSHOTS MY GIRL.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
The shortcut to this recipe is that it uses a box of chocolate chip muffin mix. I always double it because even when I make 24 muffins these disappear at an alarming rate at my house.
1 box chocolate chip muffin mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
Dash of vanilla
½ cup milk
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease 12 muffin cup baking tray. Set pan aside.
Place the muffin mix into a large bowl and make a well in the center for the wet ingredients. Combine the pumpkin, milk, egg and pumpkin pie spice in the well. Using a fork to break up the egg, mix the wet ingredients together. Use a wooden spoon to mix the wet and dry ingredients together until combined, approximately 20-25 strokes. With the batter still a bit lumpy spoon batter into muffin tin, filling each one about 2/3 way full. Place pan in the oven.
Bake 20-22 minutes, until browned and spring back when pressed with a finger. Remove pan from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan. Place on a wire rack and let cool for another 15 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.
Mini Me Biscuits
This recipe was shared with me by a sweet neighbor who brought some by after my son was born and we brought him home from the hospital. We always use Pioneer Baking mix for these, but any baking mix should work. They have so much butter in them you don’t need to add any more (unless you just want to.) Enjoy!
1 stick s
alted butter
2 cups Pioneer baking mix
1 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grease mini-muffin baking tray. Set aside.
Melt butter. Combine baking mix, sour cream, and melted butter in a large bowl. Stir until combined.
Drop spoonfuls in the mini muffin tins.
Bake at 400 for 11-12 minutes or until tops are lightly browned.
Makes 24 mini biscuits.
Lasagna to Die For
This is a great dish to prepare and freeze for another day or to take to friends. Often I will double it and fill the freezer with 4 pans. You can use any tomato sauce you like. I’ve used a sauce without meat to feed vegetarian family members, and it tasted just as good. But for this one I’m including our favorite tomato sauce recipe. If you come up with a variation you prefer, I’d love to hear about it. You can email it to [email protected].
Aunt Cricket’s Favorite Tomato Sauce
1 lb. sausage
1 ½ cups onion, finely chopped
12oz. can tomato paste
3 cans 28 oz. cans Italian style or plain tomatoes puree
2 cups water
6 cloves minced garlic
4 bay leaves
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons salt
Tip: Make chopping parsley easier by using kitchen shears to trim the leafy ends of a bundle of parsley.
In a large pot cook the sausage and the onion together, stirring until the sausage is browned. Drain the fat. Add remaining ingredients. Bring sauce to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Makes 12 cups sauce.
Lasagna to Die For
10 cups tomato sauce
12 oz. lasagna noodles
2 cups ricotta cheese
12 oz. mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated
¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
8 oz. package cream cheese
In two greased baking dishes, make layers in this order: noodles, ricotta, mozzarella, tomato sauce, and sprinkled Parmesan cheese. Pinch or cut off small dollops of the cream cheese and plop evenly over lasagna before adding the next layer. Repeat starting with the dry noodles. Make sure the dry noodles are completely covered by the sauce. Wrap pans completely with foil. Label and freeze. (or cook one that day prior to freezing).
To serve from frozen. Thaw for at least twenty-four hours in fridge. Bake tightly covered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 50 minutes to an hour, until the edges are bubbly and the center is hot. Remove the cover for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Then let stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Makes 2 pans of lasagna.
Amity grew up reading every mystery she could get her hands on, burning through everything by Agatha Christie in record time and wanting to be Nancy Drew when she grew up. After writing books in other genres for the past few years, she's finally come home to her true love - cozy mysteries.
Amity and her husband live in L.A. (lower Alabama) with a houseful of teenagers and a half dozen pets. Besides books, Amity's favorite things are college football, needlepoint, fried shrimp, and sweet tea.
Join Amity’s book club for monthly contests with books from her favorite authors and to learn about new releases and upcoming appearances. Follow her on Twitter @Amity_Allen and Facebook. Join Amity’s Facebook reader group or text MYSTERY to 24587 for new release alerts.
For more visit: http://www.amityallen.com
