cozy-mystery

She would've made an excellent pirate.

Quote taken from Chapter 1:I know what." Isabel reached under the end table, took out the game board, and rattled the Band-Aid box containing the letter tiles. "It's been a week-and-a-half since our last Scrabble game.

If I call him back here," Cooper whispered in her ear, "will you crawl up my body again?

I haven't always been a patient man...but something tells me you'd be worth the wait.

Except for the shapes of the windows, backlit by the streetlights that dotted the perimeter of the Moosetookalook town square, Liss could see very little in the darkness of the room she shared with her husband. The two front windows were raised as far as they would go, since Liss had been taught at an early age that fresh air was one of nature's best sleep aids. She had never had any reason to doubt that small bit of folk wisdom.

An overweight Maine coon cat dozed in an open bedroom window, his bulk pressed against the screen so that the gentle breeze of the summer night could ruffle his long yellow fur. With a start, he went on alert. A moment later, he leapt from the windowsill to the top of the dresser and from there to the foot of the bed. He landed squarely on Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin's bare legs.

Her eyes popped open in time to see flames shoot up behind the first-floor windows of Angie's Books. Angie! Where was Angie? Where were her children? The bookstore owner lived in the apartment above her shop with sixteen-year-old Beth and twelve-year-old Bradley.The Moosetookalook Fire Department was located right next door, housed in part of the town's redbrick municipal building. The overhead door had already been raised. As Liss watched, unable to move, unable to look away, the truck pulled out, maneuvering so that it could get closer to the burning building.

A girl had to do what a girl had to do and it looked as if this girl__ immediate future included chicken Caesar salad, chocolate cake, and Cary Grant.

If looks could kill, she__ be a dead woman.

Murder was apparently too common-place in the big city to attract much notice. Poor Luther, thought Lucy, as she headed back to the hotel. Even in death he was only a big fish in a small pond.

It__ a small-town rule: Never speak ill of the dead until the estate has paid the outstanding bills.

She made an inarticulate sound of distress at the sight that met her eyes. It was a fire, and it was the bookstore on the far side of the square that was burning.

Liss squinted, searching frantically for Angie and Beth and Bradley. She couldn't spot them anywhere. Her chest rose and fell in time with her agitated breathing. What if they were still inside? What if they were trapped?Struggling for calm, Liss told herself that they must have escaped. Angie was scrupulous about changing her smoke-alarm batteries. She and her kids would have had plenty of time to get out. Heck, Angie was probably the one who'd alerted the fire department.But where was she? Where were Beth and Bradley?

She was halfway through the revolving door when the thought hit her; she was the one who had seen Junior and Luther fighting before the banquet. She was the one had told Detective Sullivan. Overcome with guilt, she grabbed Ted__ arm and faced him. __t__ because of me,_ she said. __unior was arrested because of me!

Lucy had no complaints about her dinner. Anything was fine with her as long as she didn__ have to cook it.

If I was going to spend the next day in jail for obstruction of justice, I'd better get a good nights sleep.

I saw my life flash before my eyes. It looked a lot like a Chihuahua with a severe overbite.

Alma didn__ want Isabel to start singing the praises of their pet, a rescue beagle, or she wouldn__ shush until sundown. ____e found the missing lady,_ Alma said. __ay welcome home, Betsy Sweet.