by Morgana Best
“He overheard us wondering who it could be,” Mr Buttons said.
Blake shook his finger at all of us. “See? Didn’t I tell you investigating could be dangerous?”
“It wasn’t investigating as such,” I said, crossing my fingers behind my back. “It’s just that Dennis happened to remark the other day that the mangoes in town were unripe and white-green inside, and then it dawned on me that the only mangoes in town would have been the ones that you bought, Albert. The only way Dennis would have seen that mango was if he had been the one to stuff it in Bradley’s mouth.”
Mr Buttons nodded. “And while we knew that wasn’t evidence as such,” Mr Buttons said, “we were still about to call you.”
Cressida chimed in. “Yes Blake, we were about to call you when Dennis came in and tried to strangle Sibyl.”
Blake’s arm tightened around me once more. I knew he was about to say something, so I changed the subject. “In all this fuss, I forgot to tell you all that my lawyer called earlier today. My settlement is through. He said it will be in my bank account in a couple of days.”
Cressida’s face fell. “Does that mean you’re going to move out of here and buy a house in town?”
I didn’t know what to say. I thought for a moment, and then said, “I like being close to you and Mr Buttons, and while I do love this little cottage, it is cramped and tiny. Plus it isn’t well insulated.” I thought I should stop there to avoid insulting Cressida.
“So you want to go back to living in civilisation?” Mr Buttons asked me.
“Of course not, Mr Buttons,” Cressida said in a scolding tone. “Sibyl wants to stay here in Little Tatterford. Isn’t that right, Sibyl?”
“Yes, I’m staying in Little Tatterford, and I’d like to stay near you and Mr Buttons, only there are no houses near the boarding house.”
Cressida clapped her hands together. “This cottage sits on five acres. Why don’t you buy it from me, Sibyl? I could do you a good price, and there are plenty of lovely level home sites on the acreage. Then you’d be just as close to us as you are now. You could build a really big house, big enough for more than just one person.” She looked pointedly at Blake as she said it.
My cheeks flushed hot.
“We should talk about this later,” Blake said. “I, for one, think it’s a great idea. If you are going to build a bigger house,”—he winked as he said it—“then perhaps another person should contribute half and it should be bought in joint names.”
I fell silent as the implication of his words sank in. Mr Buttons and Cressida beamed widely.
I snuggled against Blake, enjoying the comfortable crackling and woodsy scent of the fire, and looked at my friends, including my new friend Albert, the non-French chef.
Several hours ago, things had looked dire. Yet now, they looked the very opposite. I was happy, and filled with hope for the future.
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Also by Morgana Best
ALL MORGANA BEST BOOKS ARE COZY MYSTERIES
Sweet Revenge (Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries, Book 1)
Funny cozy mystery
What would you do if you were medically unable to gain weight? Eat chocolate and solve murders, of course . . .
When a car accident leads to extensive plastic surgery and an inability to gain weight, Cocoa Narel finds herself transformed from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.
No longer forced to temper her love for chocolate, Cocoa opens a candy store and begins to enjoy the sweet life along with her quirky rescue cat. But when her high school bullies start being murdered one by one, Cocoa becomes the prime suspect.
Can she clear her name, or does the true culprit have a few Twix up their sleeve?
The following series are funny cozy mysteries with some paranormal themes. Think Bewitched mets Murder She Wrote.
A Ghost of a Chance (Witch Woods Funeral Home Book 1)
USA Today Best-selling series
Laurel inherits a funeral home, to discover it's a dead-end job.
Nobody knows that Laurel Bay can see ghosts. When she inherits a funeral home, she is forced to return from Melbourne to the small town of Witch Woods to breathe life into the business. It is a grave responsibility, but Laurel is determined that this will be no dead-end job.
There she has to contend with her manipulative and overly religious mother, a wise-cracking ghost, and a secretive but handsome accountant.
When the murder of a local woman in the funeral home strangles the finances, can Laurel solve the murder?
Or will this be the death of her business?
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Christmas Spirit (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer, Book 1)
What would do if you saw a ghost?
Prudence Wallflower tours the country, making live appearances. She connects people with loved ones who have passed on.
However, her reputation as a clairvoyant medium is failing, and even Prudence has begun to doubt herself. She has never seen a ghost, but receives impressions from the dead.
This all changes when the ghost of a detective appears to her and demands her help to solve a murder. Prudence finds herself out of her depth, and to make matters worse, she is more attracted to this ghost than any man she has ever met.
A Tale of Mer-der (His Ghoul Friday, Book 1)
Aussie journalist Misty Friday has several problems, not the least of which is her name.
Misty's mean boss sends her to an island resort in the Great Barrier Reef to investigate a paranormal event, but mermaids and murder throw her off the track.
When Misty makes waves, she attracts the attention of the murderer and one mysterious stranger. Will Misty get to the bottom of this, or are there too many red herrings?
Sea Witch Cozy Mysteries: Four Book Box Set
USA Today Best-selling series
Goldie Bloom has four problems: her boss, her boyfriend, the fact they are the same person, and the fact that person is cheating on her.
After discovering she has inherited an old home on the Gold Coast waterfront, this murder solving Aussie sea witch packs up her collection of 5 inch stilettos and moves.
She's not expecting to move in with a room mate named Persnickle, just as she was not expecting to trip over a dead body on her first day.
Is she the intended victim, and can she really be arrested for drinking coffee?
This Box Set has 4 books:
1) Broom Mates (novella)
2) Broom With A View (full length novel)
3) Broom For One More (full length novel)
4) Broomed for Success (full length novel)
Available individually: Book 5) Broom Service.
Witches’ Brew (Witches and Wine, Book 1)
A B&B that doesn’t serve breakfast, a dead body, and something strange in the dark room at the end of the corridor . . . Pepper knew moving back home wasn’t going to be easy.
Pepper Jasper moves from Sydney to the cozy town of Lighthouse Bay, answering a desperate plea from her aunts to help with their failing Bed and Breakfast business.
She discovers her aunts are more eccentric than she remembered, the Bed and Breakfast does not serve breakfast, and the cottages for lease have strange themes. And what’s more, within minutes of her arrival, she stumbles across a dead body.
Pepper soon has her hands full, contending with a murder mystery, irritating guests including the enigmatic Lucas O’Callaghan who is convinced every woman wants to fall into his arms, and her aunts, who are hiding more than one dark secret.
Who - or what! - lurks in the forbidden room at the end of the dark corridor?
And why do the aunts insist she drink copious quantities of special label wine?
Find out what awaits Pepper Jasper at Mugwort Manor.
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Miss Spelled (The Kitchen
Witch Book 1)
Amelia Spelled believes in baking it til you make it . . .
But when her boyfriend dumps her, her boss fires her, and she's evicted from her rental thanks to a cooking mishap, Amelia finds herself all dressed up with nowhere to dough. Amelia is just about ready to pie for help when a handwritten letter is slipped under her door.
Now she is off to country Australia, where a mysterious house is not the only thing that awaits -- there is also the revelation that she is a witch. But if Amelia thinks she'll have time to process these new developments, she's dead wrong. There is a murder, and she's the number one suspect.
Will Amelia cook up a way to solve the crime, or are her spells as bad as her baking? And just what -- or who -- does the dashing man lurking in the shadows want?
SERIES BY MORGANA BEST
Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries
1) Sweet Revenge
2) The Sugar Hit
3) Murder Sweetly Served
4) Chocolate to Die For
First 3 Books available in Box Set:
Cocoa Narel Chocolate Shop Mysteries: Box Set: Books 1-3
The Australian Amateur Sleuth
USA Today Best-selling series
1) Live and Let Diet
2) Natural-Born Grillers
3) Dye Hard
4) The Prawn Identity
5) Any Given Sundae
6) The Last Mango in Paris
First 3 Books available in Box Set:
Australian Amateur Sleuth: Box Set: Books 1-3
USA Today Best-seller 2020
Too 20 (paid) Book Amazon US Store 2020
The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer
1) Christmas Spirit
2) Ghost Hunter
3) There Must be a Happy Medium
All 3 Books available in Box Set:
The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer: Box Set: Books 1-3
Witch Woods Funeral Home
USA Today Best-selling series
1) A Ghost of a Chance
2) Nothing to Ghost About
3) Make the Ghost of It
4) Ghost Stories
5) Ghost Blusters
6) Give up the Ghost - coming!
First 4 Books available in Box Set:
Witch Woods Funeral Home: Box Set: Books 1 - 4
USA Today Best-seller 2020
Top 17 (paid) Book Amazon US Store 2020
His Ghoul Friday
1) A Tale of Mer-der
2) The Witching Hour
3) Arts and Witchcrafts
4) Make Some Magic
5) Witch Hunt
First 3 Books available in Box Set:
His Ghoul Friday Three Book Box Set
The Kitchen Witch
1) Miss Spelled
2) Dizzy Spells
3) Sit for a Spell
4) Spelling Mistake
5) ExSpelled
6) The Halloween Spell
7) Spellcheck
8) The Halloween Love Spell
9) Spell It Out
10) Wedding Spells
11) The Halloween Pumpkin Spell
12) Sweet Spell of Success
13) The Halloween Onesie Spell
14) Christmas Spells
These are grouped into Box Sets of 3 books each. The first is
The Kitchen Witch Box Set Books 1-3
Witches and Wine
1) Witches’ Brew
2) Witches’ Secrets
3) Witches’ Charms
4) Witches Magic
5) Witches’ Spells
6) Witches’ Craft
7) Witches’ Cat
First 3 Books available in Box Set:
Witches and Wine: Box Set: Books 1-3
PAPERBACK. All Morgana Best’s books are available in Paperback and Large Print Paperback. Check each book’s page on the website for links to shop.
Audio coming soon!
About Morgana Best
USA Today bestselling author Morgana Best survived a childhood of deadly spiders and venomous snakes in the Australian outback. Morgana Best writes cozy mysteries and enjoys thinking of delightful new ways to murder her victims.
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www.morganabest.com
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