Doughnuts and Deception (Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Agatha Frost

Doughnuts and Deception (Peridale Cafe Cozy Mystery Book 3) by Agatha Frost

Author:Agatha Frost [Frost, Agatha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-03-18T06:00:00+00:00


Julia woke bright and early on Sunday morning so she could volunteer at Stella and Max’s soup kitchen. She dressed in the dark, fed Mowgli, and left a note for Jessie under a London Eye magnet on the front of the fridge.

As the sun started to rise in the distance, she drove down the winding lane into the heart of Peridale, slowing as she passed Barker’s cottage. The lights were turned off and the curtains were closed. She almost pulled up and knocked on the door, despite the early morning, but she stopped herself. She didn't like how they had left things at the industrial park yesterday, and couldn’t help but feel like she would handle the situation better after having had a good night’s sleep.

When she was parked between her café and the post office, she let herself in via the backdoor and started to gather up the ingredients she would need to make a lot of chocolate chip cookies. She had decided on it last night after flicking through her mother’s old handwritten recipe books because they were easy to make, could be easily replicated, and they always went down a treat. She had yet to meet a person who hadn’t fallen in love with her rich, buttery chocolate chip cookies.

Julia poked her head through the beaded curtains and stared at her immaculate café. She loved working there, but she was glad of her one day off a week. If she was honest with herself, she would like another day off during the week so she could relax or go shopping. If she continued to train Jessie the way she was, she might be able to leave her on her own more often without the immense feeling of guilt.

She was about to leave the café when she saw a shadowy figure running across the village green through the early morning haze. Walking through her café and squinting through the glass, she saw her gran, clutching her skirt as she ran like an athlete. Pulling her keys from her pocket, she unlocked the door as her gran approached.

“Julia!” Dot cried as she breathlessly clutched her sides. “I thought you were a burglar!”

“In my own café?”

“You can never be too careful! Are you opening?”

“I’m just grabbing some things. I’m volunteering at a homeless soup kitchen and I thought I’d make some of my mum’s chocolate chip cookies.”

“The buttery ones?” Dot narrowed her eyes as she finally caught her breath. “Why do you want to go and do that for? Sounds like a waste of a Sunday if you ask me.”

“Because these people need our help and support,” Julia said firmly, expecting better of her gran. “What are you doing up so early anyway?”

“It’s my turn to stake out the village green,” Dot said, glancing over her shoulder at a fold-up chair in her garden. “Me and the girls take it in shifts.”

“You’re taking this neighbourhood watch very seriously,” Julia said through a smile. “You know you’re only supposed to keep an eye out, not spy.



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