The Chocolate Puppy Puzzle

Informationen zum Autor JoAnna Carl is the pseudonym of a multipublished mystery writer. She spent more than twenty-five years in the newspaper business, working as a reporter, feature writer, editor and columnist. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and also studied in the OU Professional Writing Program. She lives in Oklahoma but spends much of her summer at a cottage on Lake Michigan near several communities similar to the fictional town of Warner Pier. Klappentext Hollywood comes to Michigan when a film producer decides to turn a local author's romance novel into a blockbuster. Although the movie mogul's chocolate labrador is charming, Lee McKinney thinks the producer's talk is a bunch of sweet nothings-and she grows even more suspicious when she stumbles upon a dead body. Excerpt from Chapter 1 I suppose it wasn’t the puppy’s fault, but after he handed me the money, everything in Warner Pier seemed to go pot. Fraud, kidnapping, homicide, theft, trespassing – a real crime wave developed. My romantic life got – well, unromantic. Even the chocolate business became complicated. The day had started out very well. I was happy as I looked toward the Fall Rinkydink. My favorite guy, Joe Woodyard, was with me. The weather was as perfect as only October day on the shores of Lake Michigan can be. I may have hummed a hum or skipped a little skip. Then a chocolate Labrador pup galumped across the Dock Street Park, cut through the buffet line in the picnic shelter, and planted two gigantic feet on the knees of my brand-new tan wool slacks. I nearly dropped a big tray of TenHuis Chocolades finest truffles and bonbons. The sweets all shifted to one side, and only the extra-strength industrial plastic wrap kept them from hitting the grass. The dog handed me a large leather wallet with a dirty ten-dollar bill sticking out one side. That first disaster occurred at the first-ever Rinkydink. I’m business manager for my aunt’s chocolate shop, TenHuis Chocolade, in the picturesque resort of Warner Pier, on the east shore of Lake Michigan. In the summer, Warner Pier’s streets – laid out in 1855 for buggies and horse-drawn farm wagons – are thronged with cars, vans, and buses carrying tourists and summer people. The traffic is horrendous. In the fall, all the tourists and summer visitors go home. The parking problem is over until the next Memorial Day, and traffic is close to nil for six months. Consequently, Warner Pier locals for years have linked the end of the tourist season and the beginning of autumn to the day when our one traffic light becomes a blinker. All summer the light at Fourth Avenue and Dock Street changes from green to yellow to red – just like a big city traffic light. On the Tuesday after Columbus Day, the Warner Pier Street Department turns out in force (all three of them) and changes the light to a flashing red on Fourth Avenue and a flashing yellow on Dock street. For years, the merchants in the neighborhood gathered to cheer them on, just as a joke. It was Maggie McNutt, a close friend of mine and Warner Pier High School speech and drama teacher, who had the idea of making the changing of the traffic light into a fund-raiser for the high school drama club. All the food-related merchants, including TenHuis (it rhymes with “ice”), were asked to donate food for a picnic luncheon, which would be held in the Dock Street Park picnic shelter. Nonfood merchants – the gift shops, antique stores, and art galleries, the hardware store, and the drug store – were asked to kick in items for a lent auction and for door prizes. Everybody in the world was asked to buy tickets. “It’ll be fun!” said Maggie. She had bounced in her chair as she presented the idea to the chamber board. “The chamber ought to have more social events. This one will be a farewell party for those merchants who close up and go south for th...

Product details

• Authors: JoAnna Carl
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 07.12.2004
• EAN: 9780451213648
• ISBN: 978-0-451-21364-8
• No. of pages: 240
• Dimensions: 107 mm x 170 mm x 15 mm
• Series: Chocoholic Mysteries; Chocoholic Mystery; Chocoholic Mystery; Chocoholic Mysteries
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense