by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter One Vicki Lawson pulled into the parking lot three minutes late. That was fashionably late, right? She took a breath as she grabbed her wicker basket of samples. “Breathe,” she whispered. “This will go great.” She’d known it was a long shot when she dialed the phone number on the flyer. After last year’s debacle, she hadn’t expected to get a booth at the Fall Festival—Julia, the festival chair, had absolutely hated Mona’s jam and Vicki’s honey and had sent them packing. Her exact words had been something like, “You’ll get a booth here over my dead body.” But Vicki had decided to try again this year—she and her best friend, Mona, needed a venue to sell their products while Jammin’ Honey was being rebuilt. If Vicki could move some of her products at the Fall Festival, she’d buy herself—and her dwindling savings account—a little more time. And the long shot might be about to pay off. When Vicki had called, she’d found out that Julia wasn’t the festival chair this year, and that the new chair would be delighted to take a look at Vicki’s samples. Vicki opened the car door and headed toward the warehouse. The exterior of the warehouse looked festival ready. Straw bales and pumpkins lined the outside, alongside a few scarecrows. Some leaves were scattered by the entrance, and a large sign on the roof announced the dates of the festival. Pretty good advertising, Vicki thought. I feel festive already! Then Vicki caught sight of Julia near the corner of the building. Less festive, now. What’s she...
by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss Chapter Two? Did you miss Chapter Three part one? From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter Three Continued… “Wha—” Her attention snapped to the salad bowl on the counter. A certain white duck was beak-first in the romaine lettuce, looking entirely too satisfied with herself. “Sunny!” she shrieked. “How did you—” But the answer presented itself immediately when she looked at the window she’d left half-open. “Sunny, did you come in for more blueberries and then decide to eat our salad?” Leo nodded solemnly. “It appears that’s exactly what happened. We can now refer this case to the district attorney.” With a long hiss through her teeth, Vicki said, “Well, we can eat stew? Or order takeout?” Leo grabbed a spoon and sampled a bite of stew. “The stew will be fine,” he declared. “Do you have biscuits or anything to go with it?” “Mmm, I think I still have some frozen breadsticks we could heat up.” “Perfect.” Ten minutes later, they sat down to a cobbled-together meal of stew and breadsticks. An odd pairing, thought Vicki as she took her first bite. But it works, somehow. “So,” said Leo. “Grinding the herbs was actually kind of relaxing. Do you need any help getting your things ready to sell at the festival?” “I was hoping you’d ask,” said Vicki. “Would you be able to come over Sunday and help me make a few things?” “Sure.” Leo grabbed a breadstick. “Festival starts soon, doesn’t it? I’m happy to help. Just don’t make me a guinea pig too often.” He stuck his...
by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss Chapter Two? From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter Three By the time Vicki and Leo finished the scrub, anticipation pulsed through her. “Time to test it!” she cried, snatching the bowl from the counter. “Hold on,” said Leo, his face a picture of resignation. “You’ve already given yourself a sunburn. Let me try it on one of my arms.” “Are you sure, Grinch? You swore you were done being my guinea pig,” Vicki teased. Leo rolled his eyes. “Give me that,” he said, taking the bowl out of Vicki’s hands. He bounded up the steps, and by the time Vicki caught back up with him, he’d rubbed the scrub on the underside of his arm. They stood there and waited. “How does it feel?” Vicki asked hesitantly. “Is there a tingling sensation?” “Yeah, it tingles,” said Leo. Then he started screaming, “It burns! It burns!” Vicki gasped and dove for the sink. But Leo burst into uproarious laughter, and she whirled back around. “You should have seen your face!” Leo crowed. “You actually turned pale.” Vicki’s heartbeat slowed its gallop, but she couldn’t help a grin. “That was not funny. Seriously, how does it feel?” GRAB YOUR COPY OF MURDER AS SWEET AS HONEY HERE “It feels really good. It’s definitely energizing.” “Good,” said Vicki. “I wrote down the measurements, so I should be able to recreate it.” She turned on the faucet so Leo could wash his arm, then she splashed him with cold water and bolted down the stairs. “Now we’re even!” she called. And now...
by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? Did you miss part one of Chapter Two? From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter Two Continued… Was that gel in his hair? Leo never paid much attention to how he looked, but today his hair was slicked back and he looked downright dashing in his well-fitted button-up. Interesting. Vicki closed the door and led Leo into the kitchen. He looked around and seemed to deflate a little. “Just us?” he said. “Mona’s not here?” Vicki bit back a grin. So that was why he’d taken a little more time with his appearance. “She couldn’t come today. She got tied up waiting for the construction manager at the store. That rebuild has been a headache and a half.” “Oh, did that Mark guy not work out? The contractor?” “No. And too bad. He was cute.” She looked up at the clock. “Lunch is almost done. Cornbread will be out of the oven in fifteen minutes.” “Everything okay?” Leo asked after a long pause, studying her. Vicki bustled to the stove and tasted the stew to check how it was coming along. Savory and delicious, just like the recipe had promised. “Aww, were you worried about me?” Leo could read her better than anyone, and he always did feel like he needed to protect her. Plus, after what had happened with her last boyfriend, that big-brother instinct wasn’t going away anytime soon. Not to mention that he was a cop and ex-military, she thought wryly. No, there would be no dissuading him from the idea that he needed to keep an eye on her....
by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss Chapter One? From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter Two Mona, we’re in the festival!” Vicki exclaimed when her best friend answered the phone. “What? Are you serious?” Mona shrieked. “Yes, it opens in a couple weeks. I can have a bunch of stuff ready by then. How about you?” Vicki buckled her seat belt and leaned back against the headrest, giddy. “I should be able to work on some new jams this weekend,” said Mona breathlessly. “How about we do a fall theme?” “You read my mind.” Vicki broke out into a dance in her seat. “I already have some cinnamon and pumpkin-spice honey sticks.” “I could make some muscadine jam and apple butter. And some strawberry and blueberry jam to fill out the table.” Vicki’s mouth watered. “That sounds delicious! I’ll have my body scrubs, some lip balm, and my honey straws. I might take along some honeycomb too. I’ll be harvesting tomorrow after Coupon Clippers.” “Mmm, I love your honeycomb. Did you know that beeswax is being sold at some festivals now?” “Beeswax, huh? Where’d you see that?” “At the county fair last weekend. The guy selling it had some candles, but also just the plain beeswax. He said people are using it to coat their tools, and cheesemakers use it to cover their cheese.” “Interesting,” she said slowly. “Beeswax is the main ingredient in most of my products, but I could bring along a few pieces of plain beeswax too.” “Cool,” said Mona. “Oh, could I buy one of your relaxing scrubs? I could sure use all the help I can...
by Diana Orgain | May 27, 2021 | Cooking up Murder, Sneak Peek, Uncategorized
Did you miss part one of Chapter One? From Murder as Sweet as Honey Chapter One Continued “Oh!” Kristen’s eyes widened, and she snapped her fingers as if she’d forgotten something. “I’m an idiot. Julia, could you run down the street to the bank and get the last five month’s transactions for the festival account? I was supposed to print those off this morning. I need to see if a sponsor’s check has cleared. They called me up yesterday and asked if I would look into it. It cleared a while ago, but they’re old-school, and I want to be able to show them a physical paper trail when they come by this afternoon.” “Fine,” huffed Julia. She grabbed her purse and stalked out the door. As soon as the door closed behind her, Kristen shot Vicki a conspiratorial grin. “That should give us some time.” Vicki smiled back. She liked Kristen’s style. “So, what do we have in the baskets?” asked Kristen. “Well, I assume jam and honey? Julia mentioned something about the honey situation from last year. She . . . can be a bit much, can’t she?” Vicki breathed a sigh of relief and searched for something diplo‐ matic. “I like Julia, but her tastes and mine don’t necessarily jive.” Kristen laughed aloud. “My tastes don’t jive with Julia’s either. I think she just doesn’t like jam, to be honest. In the years she ran the festival, she rarely let any vendors sell jam. I, however, enjoy it just fine—and even if I didn’t, I’m aware enough to know that someone else might.” Tin by...
