A Dangerous Scoop (A Seaside Ice Cream Shop Mystery, Book 12), Paperback

A Dangerous Scoop is Book Twelve in the Seaside Ice Cream Shop Mysteries.

Ebook is coming soon!

Some scoops are sweet… others are deadly.
 
When Anna receives an unexpected call offering clues to a mystery that has eluded the police for years, fresh hope stirs. Marlene claims she knows the truth about the murders of Rebecca and Benjamin, information that could finally bring Anna’s sister Bella home.
 
But before they can meet, Marlene is silenced forever.
 
Now, with three murders tied together by long-buried secrets, Anna must dig deep for answers. Between serving sundaes and chasing down suspects, she knows this is one scoop too big to ignore. Someone is desperate to keep the past hidden, and they’re willing to kill again.
 
Can Anna unravel the truth, solve all three mysteries, and at last bring her sister home?
 
If you love cozy mysteries brimming with endearing characters and a charming seaside setting, you won’t want to miss the final book in the Seaside Ice Cream Shop Mysteries!

"Excellent murder mystery with a roller coaster of an ending! Anna and her friends are getting closer to solving the murders of Rebecca and Benjamin. Anna's (Irish) twin sister, Bella, can't come out of hiding until the culprit is in custody. There are many twists and turns as they get near to closure. I really enjoyed this series."
~ Karla

"This was an exciting and thrilling read as the story moved closer to finding the killer and bringing them to justice. I enjoyed the journey and the suspense. This was a wonderful read!!!!!"
~ Antonia J.

"I have thoroughly enjoyed this series, but this latest book is a roller coaster ride. There is so much information that is discovered by Anna and her friends, concerning 3 murders that they think may be related, that the storylines keep you glued to the book."
~ Debi P.

Prefer ebooks? Coming soon!

Excerpt

Chapter 1

Anna took a stroll to the cove from her ice cream shop, Bella’s Dream. It was one of those rare late July afternoons with low humidity and plenty of sunshine. She breathed in the salty air as she made her way across the sand, which was laden with beachgoers. Even after having lived in Seagull Cove for nearly a year and a half, it never got old to live in the town where she and her family vacationed when she was a child and, later, as a young adult. 

She made her way to the jetty on the far side of the cove to collect her thoughts for her meeting that evening with Joe, Jeremy, and Grayson. The previous Sunday, they had spoken by phone with Bella and confirmed that Todd Devonshire, a man who she thought had been a friend, was actually Bella’s stalker, and the one who killed Benjamin and Rebecca. Now, they had to prove it so that Bella, who was on the run in a location that only Bella knew, could return home for good.

Anna perched herself on a rock on the cove’s jetty that extended into the Atlantic Ocean, where she watched the waves crash onto the shore. She smiled as she noticed a small boy and girl run away from the waves, squealing with delight. 

Then, her gaze settled on two of her friends, Velma and Wanda, walking together along the shore. They stopped in front of a dilapidated lifeguard stand. It was rotting to the point where the lifeguards needed to survey the cove from the sand. She wondered why the town hadn’t yet replaced it. The other one on the opposite side of the beach was in equally poor condition. 

She pulled her attention from the beach and gathered her thoughts for the meeting when the ringtone of her cell phone startled her. 

The number didn’t look familiar, so she considered declining it. She had been receiving too many calls from telemarketers lately, but in the end she decided to accept the call. She was happy to have an excuse to put off thinking about the case, since she didn’t know what their next move should be.

“Hello.” 

“Good afternoon. Is this Anna McBride?” 

From the sound of her voice, Anna guessed that the woman on the other end was in her sixties. Anna looked around instinctively. Ever since she learned who Todd really was, and since the previous two weeks she had sometimes felt that someone was watching her, she had been more on edge. But there was nobody around her who looked suspicious. “Yes, this is Anna. Who’s calling?”

The woman breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m glad I was able to reach you. My name is Marlene McDaniels. I was hoping we could speak in person about a very important matter.”

Anna’s heartbeat quickened. That didn’t seem like a safe idea. It could be a setup Todd was using for this woman to lure Anna somewhere. “I don’t understand. What was it that you wanted to discuss? I’m not in the habit of meeting strangers without knowing the reason why.”

“I’m sorry. I guess I’m a little nervous. As I said, my name is Marlene. I used to work for Todd Devonshire as his personal assistant until…well, until I quit after seeing some things. I have some information I’d like to share with you, but I’d rather give you the scoop in person. Um, no pun intended. I know you own an ice cream shop. I promise this will all make more sense when I show you the information that I have.”

“Why me?” Anna asked. “Why not go to the police? And what do you know about my relationship with Todd?”

There was a pause. “My sister, Beatrice, is the editor at the Marblehead Times, and I know that you are one of the people who discovered Rebecca Crenshaw’s body. Also, I convinced my sister to tell me that you were the one who wrote the letter to the editor a couple of weeks ago.”

Anna had written an anonymous letter in order to pay tribute to Rebecca Crenshaw and to scare the killer by letting him know that they wouldn’t rest until he was found. They were hoping to trip him up and cause him to do something foolish that might reveal himself. 

“I know that you are looking for the killer, and I have some information that could help you,” Marlene continued. 

That made Anna feel a little bit better, since Beatrice was a friend of Jeremy’s, although she wasn’t thrilled that Beatrice had revealed her identity, even to her sister.

“How do I know I can trust you?” Anna asked. “You said that you’re connected to Todd Devonshire.”

“No, not anymore. I used to work for him, but I quit seven years ago.”

That would have been shortly after Rebecca and Benjamin were murdered. It was possible that Marlene knew something that could help put Todd behind bars, but Anna couldn’t be sure that she wasn’t working on Todd’s behalf. He could be sending her to try to find out what Anna knew, or worse—he could be sending her to hurt Anna.

“We could meet in a public area,” Marlene said. “You name the place and I’ll be there.”

Anna paused to reflect, but in the end it was too enticing an offer to refuse. She was desperate for new leads in order to prove Todd’s guilt. She could always tell Joe about the meeting and ask him to keep watch from a distance to make sure that she was safe.

“Can you meet me at Cove Coffee?” Anna asked. “It’s a coffee shop on Main Street in Seagull Cove.”

“I know the one. I live in town. Could we meet this afternoon?” Marlene asked nervously. “I need to get this off my chest as soon as possible.”

“I suppose,” Anna said. “How about 4:30?” She said a prayer that Joe would be available. 

“Perfect. I’ll see you in an hour,” Marlene said.

With new plans for the afternoon in place, Anna walked back to Joe’s apartment, which was above her ice cream shop, to see if he was home. If not, she would try Jeremy next, but with Joe’s experience as a retired private investigator, he was her first choice.

She climbed the wooden staircase on the side of the building that led to Joe’s apartment. She smiled when he appeared in the doorway.

“Our meeting with Jeremy and Grayson isn’t until later, right?” Joe asked, looking confused that she had come so early.

“Right,” Anna said. “But I need your help with something else first.” Anna relayed to Joe her phone conversation with Marlene McDaniels. 

Joe crossed his arms. “That makes me a little nervous. We have no reason to believe that Todd knows we’re onto him, but if he somehow does, it could be a setup. He could be fishing for information.”

“I thought the same thing. That’s why I asked Marlene to meet me at Cove Coffee. I was hoping that you would come with me and sit nearby and to scan the area to make sure that Todd isn’t with her. I don’t feel comfortable going alone, but if she really does have information that can help us, it’s an opportunity we can’t ignore.”

“All right. Let’s do it,” Joe said. “You could be right, and I don’t imagine I’ll be able to talk you out of going, anyway.”

“I’m meeting her at 4:30. If she actually has some useful information about Todd, it will be good to know about it before our meeting at 7:30 with Jeremy and Grayson.”

Joe glanced at his black sports watch. “All right. I’ll see you at Cove Coffee in forty-five minutes.”

“Thanks, Joe. I knew I could count on you.”

Anna went downstairs to the ice cream shop and worked behind the counter until 4:15. A Friday in July meant a hectic day, so despite having three employees working, an extra set of hands was always useful. Then she headed next door to Cove Coffee. 

Joe was already sitting at a table by the window, where he had a clear view of both the coffee shop and Main Street, and he had a muffin and a coffee in front of him.

He nodded when she took her coffee to a table a short distance from his.

Anna glanced at the clock behind the counter. It was nearly 4:30. She wished she had asked Marlene for a description, but there were no women sitting alone in the shop, except for a young woman who looked to be in her early twenties. Marlene sounded much older on the phone.

Anna nursed her coffee until it was gone. By the time she was finished, twenty minutes had passed, and there was still no sign of Marlene. She waited fifteen more minutes, then she walked over to Joe’s table and sat down. “I don’t think she’s coming.”

Joe shrugged. “Maybe she got cold feet. It happens.”

“I’m sorry I wasted your time. We might as well leave. I’ll call Marlene when I get back to Bella’s Dream and find out why she changed her mind,” Anna said.

As they stepped onto the sidewalk, an ambulance sped past them. It came from the direction of the beach. 

“It looks like they’re in a hurry,” Anna said. 

A police car followed a short distance behind the ambulance. 

“That’s not a good sign,” Joe said. 

The ambulance turned right onto a side street, and the police car followed suit.

“Let’s see what’s going on,” Anna said, grabbing Joe’s forearm and pulling him along. 

They walked north on Main Street and turned onto the same street as the ambulance and police car. Both were parked in front of an alley, which was connected to the side street. A small crowd gathered, and a police officer tried to reassure them and to keep them away from the alley. 

A second police car parked behind the first one, and Detective Charlie Doyle exited the car. He made his way through the small crowd of people that had gathered. Anna and Joe also walked through the crowd. Anna tried to look as confident as possible, so it would seem as if she belonged.  Finally, they arrived at the base of the alley. They couldn’t go any further, since one of the police officers had just sectioned off an area with yellow crime scene tape.

Anna peered into the alley and gasped when she saw a woman lying on her back with a pool of blood gathered around her head.

They stood there for a while, hoping to learn who it was. When Charlie spotted Anna and Joe, he came over to them. “She’s gone. The coroner is on his way.”

“Who was it?” Anna asked. But something in the pit of her stomach told her that she already knew the answer to that question.

“Her license says, ‘Marlene McDaniels.’”