By Maddie Briggs
From Virginia Lowell's Cookie Cutter Shop Mystery series
I woke up this morning dreaming about peppermint. Peppermint and white chocolate… on top of cut-out snowflake-shaped cookies… I love the Holidays. Which reminds me, I’m thinking of getting a kitten from the Chatterley Paws animal shelter as a gift for my fiancé, Lucas. What do you think?
Wait, did I forget to introduce myself? I’m Maddie Briggs, cookie baker extraordinaire, if I must say so myself, which I must because I’m the only one in The Gingerbread House kitchen at five a.m. Livie insists I don’t sleep enough, but, as I’ve explained to her, I sleep more efficiently than ordinary mortals.
Did I mention that Livie (Olivia) Greyson is my best friend since age ten? We run The Gingerbread House together. Livie is the business brain, and I’m the cookie creator. We also add the occasional murder investigation to our busy schedules. You know how it is. You find a body on your way home from work, and suddenly your to-do list gets a lot more complicated. It happens.
Now here’s what I wanted to talk to you about: Livie and Sheriff Del Jenkins. I think they are good together, I really do, but they are moving soooo slowly. And I’m not saying that because I’m getting married in the spring. I mean, I’ve been crazy about Lucas since high school and that’s… well, it’s a lot of years ago. I don’t do math. Anyway, I understand that both Livie and Del have been through divorces, so they’re taking their time. But how much time is enough? “Tick, tick, tick,” I told Livie, “that’s the sound of your biological clock.” She didn’t take that well.
Here’s what I think is the real problem: murder. For some reason, Del gets upset when Livie and I investigate a murder in Chatterley Heights. I know, I don’t understand it, either. After all, Livie is really smart, I’m intrepid (is that the right word?), and together we make an awesome investigative team. I think so, anyway. Lucas doesn’t interfere when I join forces with Livie to solve a murder, although he isn’t ecstatically happy about it. He understands that we always have a really good reason, like saving an innocent friend from a prison sentence. But Del gets downright cranky when he thinks Livie is putting herself in danger. Livie responds by neglecting to mention certain details about her investigative activities, but Del always finds out. Chatterley Heights is, after all, a small town.
So give me your honest opinion. Should Livie and I stop getting involved in local murder investigations?
Read more about the Cookie Cutter Shop Mysteries and Virginia Lowell at:
www.virginialowell.com
Posts
No way should Maddie and Livie stop investigating! I love to read about all of their adventures. I also have a new appreciation for the giant bag of cookie cutters in my pantry.
ReplyThat's what I wanted to hear!
I want one of those cookies...
ReplyOnly one? Are you feeling well?