Murder of a Bookstore Babe

Murder of a Barbie and Ken

Murder of a Snake in the Grass

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady

Murder of a Small-Town Honey

Copyright © Denise Swanson Stybr, 2011

All rights reserved

To all my Alpha Sigma Alpha sisters, especially the

Chicago West Alumnae Chapter

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Valerie McCaffrey for helping me figure out Chase’s profession and for Skye’s great vintage belt. Thanks also to Melissa Kantor for allowing me to use her book If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where’s My Prince? Hugs to my new grandnephew, Ethan Graham, and my new niece-in-law, Natalie Beckham Vanderhyden.

Author’s Note

In July 2000, when the first book in my Scumble River series, Murder of a Small-Town Honey, was published, it was written in “real time.” It was the year 2000 in Skye’s life as well as mine, but after several books in a series, time becomes a problem. It takes me from seven months to a year to write a book, and then it is usually another year from the time I turn that book in to my editor until the reader sees it on a bookstore shelf. This can make the time line confusing. Different authors handle this matter in different ways. After a great deal of deliberation, I decided that Skye and her friends and family will age more slowly than those of us who don’t live in Scumble River. While I made this decision as I wrote the fourth book in the series, Murder of a Snake in the Grass, I didn’t realize until recently that I needed to share this information with my readers. So, to catch everyone up, the following is when the books take place:

Murder of a Small-Town Honey—August 2000

Murder of a Sweet Old Lady—March 2001

Murder of a Sleeping Beauty—April 2002

Murder of a Snake in the Grass—August 2002

Murder of a Barbie and Ken—November 2002

Murder of a Pink Elephant—February 2003

Murder of a Smart Cookie—June 2003

Murder of a Real Bad Boy—September 2003

Murder of a Botoxed Blonde—November 2003

Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry—April 2004

Murder of a Royal Pain—October 2004

Murder of a Wedding Belle—June 2005

Murder of a Bookstore Babe—September 2005

The Scumble River short story and novella take place:

“Not a Monster of a Chance” from And the Dying Is Easy

—June 2001

“Dead Blondes Tell No Tales” from Drop-Dead Blonde—March 2003

Scumble River is not a real town. The characters and events portrayed in these pages are entirely fictional, and any resemblance to living persons is pure coincidence.

CHAPTER 1

For Whom the Bell Tolls

When Skye Denison saw an ad in the local newspaper announcing Tales and Treats’ grand opening that weekend, she was thrilled. For a voracious reader like Skye, the luxury of having shelves and shelves of new, used, and rare books for sale just five minutes from home was nirvana. And the promise of specialty coffees, gourmet teas, and yummy pastries just added to her elation.

What she didn’t realize was that the store had already managed to ruffle the fur of several of Scumble River’s most vocal citizens. She should have known there’d be some kind of fuss about any new business that set up shop in her prickly hometown.

Like cats, the inhabitants of the small tight-knit community weren’t partial to change, and they often showed their displeasure in spiteful and destructive ways. While the old-timers probably wouldn’t pee in the interlopers’ shoes, they might very well produce some obscure law that made their kind of footwear taboo.

Skye got her first inkling of the unrest on Friday afternoon in the high school’s break room. Normally she didn’t frequent the lounge because the main form of entertainment there was gossip. The confidential nature of her job as the school psychologist meant she couldn’t contribute, and this seriously ticked off many of the teachers. To forestall the problem, Skye usually ate at her desk.

Today, however, was different. Today, there was cake. And not just any kind of cake. It was Skye’s favorite: chocolate with vanilla buttercream icing. What a shame that it was Pru Cormorant’s birthday cake, and that Pru was the person Skye liked least of all her colleagues.