Donut Disaster: Murder in the Mix 12 Read online

  Donut Disaster

  Murder in the Mix 12

  Addison Moore

  Contents

  Books by Addison Moore

  Book Description

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Preview: Toxic Apple Turnovers

  Books by Addison Moore

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 by Addison Moore

  Edited by Paige Maroney Smith

  Cover by Lou Harper, Cover Affairs

  Hollis Thatcher Press, LTD.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to peoples either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places, and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

  All Rights Reserved.

  This eBook is for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this eBook with another person, please purchase any additional copies for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Copyright © 2019 by Addison Moore

  Created with Vellum

  Books by Addison Moore

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  Mystery

  Little Girl Lost

  A Sublime Casualty

  The First Wife’s Secret

  Cutie Pies and Deadly Lies (Murder in the Mix 1)

  Bobbing for Bodies (Murder in the Mix 2)

  Pumpkin Spice Sacrifice (Murder in the Mix 3)

  Gingerbread & Deadly Dread (Murder in the Mix 4)

  Seven-Layer Slayer (Murder in the Mix 5)

  Red Velvet Vengeance (Murder in the Mix 6)

  Bloodbaths and Banana Cake (Murder in the Mix 7)

  New York Cheesecake Chaos (Murder in the Mix 8)

  Lethal Lemon Bars (Murder in the Mix 9)

  Macaron Massacre (Murder in the Mix 10)

  Wedding Cake Carnage (Murder in the Mix 11)

  Donut Disaster (Murder in the Mix 12)

  Toxic Apple Turnovers (Murder in the Mix 13)

  Killer Cupcakes (Murder in the Mix 14)

  Pumpkin Pie Parting (Murder in the Mix 15)

  Romance

  Just Add Mistletoe

  3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses 1)

  Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses 2)

  Sugar Kisses (3:AM Kisses 3)

  Whiskey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 4)

  Rock Candy Kisses (3:AM Kisses 5)

  Velvet Kisses (3:AM Kisses 6)

  Wild Kisses (3:AM Kisses 7)

  Country Kisses (3:AM Kisses 8)

  Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses 9)

  Dirty Kisses (3:AM Kisses 10)

  Stolen Kisses (3:AM Kisses 11)

  Lucky Kisses (3:AM Kisses 12)

  Tender Kisses (3:AM Kisses 13)

  Revenge Kisses (3:AM Kisses 14)

  Red Hot Kisses (3:AM Kisses 15)

  Reckless Kisses (3:AM Kisses 16)

  Hot Honey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 17)

  Shameless Kisses (3:AM Kisses 18)

  Value 3:AM Kisses Boxed Sets

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 1-3

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 4-6

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 7-9

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 10-12

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 13-15

  3:AM Kisses Boxed Set 16-17 (+Bonus)

  The Social Experiment (The Social Experiment 1)

  Bitter Exes (The Social Experiment 2)

  Chemical Attraction (The Social Experiment 3)

  Low Down & Dirty (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook1)

  Dirty Disaster (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook 2)

  Dirty Deeds (3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook 3)

  Naughty By Nature

  Heartless (Breakers Canyon Billionaires 1)

  Wicked Heart (Breakers Canyon Billionaires 2)

  Stone Cold Heart (Breakers Canyon Billionaires 3)

  Beautiful Oblivion (Lake Loveless 1)

  Beautiful Illusions (Lake Loveless 2)

  Beautiful Elixir (Lake Loveless 3)

  Beautiful Deception (Lake Loveless 4)

  The Solitude of Passion

  Someone to Love (Someone to Love 1)

  Someone Like You (Someone to Love 2)

  Someone For Me (Someone to Love 3)

  BOXED SETS

  Spitfire Kisses Boxed Set

  Breakers Canyon Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

  Lake Loveless Boxed Set (Books 1-3)

  A Totally ‘80s Romance (Books 1-3)

  3:AM Kisses, Hollow Brook (Books 1-3)

  3:AM KISSES (Books 1-3)

  Young Adult Romance

  Melt With You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1)

  Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2)

  Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3)

  Paranormal Romance

  (Celestra Book World in Order)

  Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)

  Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)

  Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)

  Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)

  Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)

  Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)

  Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)

  Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 8)

  Elysian (Celestra Series Book 9)

  Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella)

  Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy 1)

  Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy 2)

  Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)

  Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)

  Season of the Witch (A Celestra Companion)

  Celestra Forever After (Celestra Forever After 1)

  The Dragon and the Rose (Celestra Forever After 2)

  The Serpentine Butterfly (Celestra Forever After 3)

  Crown of Ashes (Celestra Forever After 4)

  Throne of Fire (Celestra Forever After 5)

  All Hail the King (Celestra Forever After 6)

  Book Description

  My name is Lottie Lemon, and I see dead pets. On occasion I see a once upon a human, too, but mostly it’s just cute little furry beasts who have come back from the other side to warn me of their previous owner’s impending doom.

  It’s Noah’s birthday, and I’m throwing him a surprise party down at Honey Lake. But before we can dive into that donut tower of a birthday cake, I happen to stumble upon another body. Someone very close to Noah has been murdered. And to top it all off, my relationships with Noah and Everett are about to change forever.

  Lottie Lemon has a brand new bakery to tend to, a budding romance with perhaps one too many suitors, and she has the supernatural ability to see dead pets—which are always harbingers for ominous things to come. Throw in the occasional ghost of the human variety, a string of murders, and her insatiable thirst for justice, and you’ll have more chaos than you know what to do with.

  Living in the small town of Honey Hollow can be murder.

  Chapter 1

  I see dead people. Mostly I see the furry dearly departed variety, aka dead pets, and on the rare occasion I do see a dearly departed human, but right now, my gaze is locked over a pair of emerald-colored eyes that shine bright in this murky light as we stand at the edge of the woods overlooking Honey Lake.

  “You look beautiful tonight, Lottie.” Noah takes up my hand and brushes a gentle kiss to the back of it. “How about a walk along the shore?”

  “That sounds like a plan.” And it is indeed a part of the plan, but I have so much more planned for Noah—and so does everyone I’ve invited to his surprise party.

  It’s just the beginning of August and the air is humid, pressing against us like a hot wet towel. There’s not a breeze in sight, and how I would love to steal a moment to run my bare feet along the shoreline with him.

  It’s evening at Honey Lake, the Honey Festival is in full swing, and you can hear the live band rioting into the sky all the way up by the evergreen belt where Noah and I are standing. The Honey Festival is sort of a big deal in this cozy corner of Vermont.

  The lake is huge, seven miles east to west and two and half miles at its widest. And you can bet that every last inch of this magnificent sparkling body of water is brimming with people. All of the local beekeepers have congregated to show off their wares and every soul in Honey Hollow, along with every tourist in the eastern part of the country, see
ms to have shown up for the festivities.

  Not to mention every food truck known to man has shown up to cater the affair, and all of the local businesses have booths set up near the water. During the day, it’s a family extravaganza—and as evening draws near, the atmosphere takes on a romantic appeal as the vendors and musicians alike seem to cater toward couples. The fact that the night will end in a fireworks spectacular certainly lends to the romantic appeal.

  And I’m afraid that’s exactly what Noah thinks this is about—a romantic night carved out just for the two of us. It breaks my heart as much as it thrills me.

  Detective Noah Corbin Fox was once my boyfriend. We were pretty hot and heavy right up until I found out he had a wife. It turns out, Noah was separated, and I had assumed he was divorced. Let’s just say as a girl who was cheated on and had her heart stomped on twice before, I wasn’t in the mood to watch it get pulverized again.

  His wife barreled into town and demanded to have him back, so I quickly broke it off with him. And as fate, and his alarmingly attractive older stepbrother, would have it, I found myself another boyfriend—Judge Essex Everett Baxter.

  But, once Everett heard that Noah’s wife finally agreed to the divorce after an eternity of dragging it out—and that it will be final sometime this month—Everett thought it best if we take a step back so that my heart could explore its options.

  Okay, so those weren’t his exact words. It was something more to the effect that he didn’t want to hold me back in the event I had very real feelings for Noah. He thought it was time to shut that door forever before we could move on to the next phase in our relationship—he touched my ring finger for effect. He said he wanted me to be certain—to have no regrets.

  Both Noah and Everett are in their early to mid-thirties, just a few years older than myself, and I will admit, I would love to settle down and share my life with someone, building a family with someone, trading my hatchback for a minivan, having an entire gaggle of children with that special someone.

  But, as it stands, I’m pretty busy running the Cutie Pie Bakery and Cakery—my very own bakery—and the fact I’ve accidentally fallen in love with two men and can’t seem to turn off my affections for either one, that minivan with a gaggle of children seems like a faraway dream.

  “Lottie”—Noah’s voice is deep and husky—“let’s head to the left.” He nods to the dark side of the lake where there is an abundance of privacy. And judging by his heavily hooded lids, Noah would love to have some privacy with me right about now. “You don’t know how much I’ve missed you.” He secures his hand over mine, warm and strong. “It was killing me, all those months that you were with Everett. Every time I saw the two of you together, I died a little inside.”

  “Noah.” My gut wrenches just hearing it. “I’m so sorry. I promise I didn’t set out to break your heart. I was simply trying to nurse mine back to life,” I say, nodding him to the right instead, straight for the party.

  “And I get it.” He boldly lands a kiss to my cheek, and I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit that it spurred my stomach to bisect with heat.

  Noah is a looker, and his dark hair that has a tendency to turn red in the sun, those lime green eyes, and adorable dimples combined have the power to garner attention from every female in the vicinity—namely me. And it might have been his dangerous good looks that caught my eye initially, but it was his charm and golden heart that won me in the end.

  “Lottie, I can’t convey how thrilled I was when you asked me to head down to the Honey Festival tonight.” He pulls me in, a greedy grin budding on his face as he rocks us to the music filtering through the air. The scent of the bonfires blooming all around us in combination of the magical navy sky pressing over the lake like a lid makes this moment feel otherworldly, something dreamlike that has no place in reality.

  But I didn’t bring Noah to the Honey Festival in hopes to get him alone in the woods, or steal a kiss under the moon that hangs in the sky like a silver platter—it’s my job to walk him right into the surprise birthday party his brother, Alex, is throwing him. Okay, so I’ve had more than a hand in orchestrating this endeavor myself—and so did Cormack Featherby, the woman who staunchly believes she’s engaged to this gorgeous man. It’s a long, horrible story.

  “Lottie?” The smile glides off his face as his eyes dart to the side of my face. Noah glances back as a pinhole of green light shakily dances on the trunk of the evergreen behind us. “Lottie, get down!” Noah lands me on my back, his body covering mine like a shield.

  A light giggle bounces from me. “Excuse me, detective.” I hike up on my elbows as pine needles dig into my clothes. “Are you trying to frost my cookies right here in the woods?” That was one of our favorite double entendres while we were hot and heavy, and judging by his frisky position, Noah would very much like to be hot and heavy.

  His breathing becomes erratic as he glances down at the crowd by the lake.

  “Lottie, that was a laser sight. Someone had a gun trained on us. Who the hell would want to kill us?”

  “Kill us?” I groan as I roll over, and sure enough from a distance I spot everyone expected to arrive at Noah’s surprise party already there. “Nobody is going to kill us tonight. Believe me, that’s the farthest thing from anyone’s mind. Help me up.”

  Noah pulls me to my feet as I dust the back of my legs off. God forbid Everett witnessed that indelicate maneuver. He’ll for sure suspect that Noah is trying to frost my cookies.

  “Noah, there has to be at least a thousand people at the lake,” I say, taking his hand and leading him down the dirt trail that will inevitably lead to ground zero. “It was probably a laser pen. This place is crawling with teenagers up to no good. It’s the end of summer. They’re just cutting loose a little before getting back to the books.”

  “With a gun, Lottie?” He gives my hand a squeeze. “All right, I’ll drop it. Tonight is about you and me and not another single soul. I have waited so long to have you all to myself, and what better place to celebrate the start of our second chance than Honey Lake?”

  In the not too far distance I spot Cormack shushing everyone while luring them into the middle of the picnic area we cordoned off for the party. The twinkle lights that are strewn overhead are off, and once we step within feet of the mob waiting to greet us, my sister, Meg, said she would plug the lights back in for dramatic effect.

  “Lottie?”

  “Oh yeah, the lake is perfect. We’re going to have a great time.” My adrenaline kicks in as I lead us toward the big event. We’re just about twenty feet away from the crowd, and I can hardly stand the excitement.

  We get close and Noah stops dead in his tracks before curling me into him in one svelte move as if we were seasoned ballroom dancers, seasoned lovers for that matter—and we were once.

  “Lottie”—Noah’s eyes burn into mine as a smile flirts with his lips—“I’m in love with you.” He presses the words out sweetly, lower than a whisper. “I don’t want there to be anyone between us anymore. You don’t need to say anything—just kiss me. I’ve missed your kisses as much as I’ve missed your body and soul.”

  A panic sets in. More people are listening in than he realizes, so I give Meg the signal and the entire area lights up as the crowd screams SURPRISE! in unison.

  Noah takes a staggering step back as he glances around at the party decorations —black and gold foil banners, and party tinsel that flickers like flames under the duress of the gorgeous twinkle lights. Cormack, the aforementioned delusional woman who believes she’s engaged to Noah, hired an event planner for the occasion. I didn’t mind too much because I happen to know Amanda Wellington, and I also know she really could use the money. And since the money being ponied up for fancy tinsel belonged to Cormack, I gave it my blessing.