My Musing ~ Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower

Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower is the first book in the NEW “Amish Candy Shop” mystery series. Publisher: Kensington, August 2017

Sometimes you need a sweet tooth to take a bite out of crime . . .

Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier at world-famous JP Chocolates in New York City. But just when Bailey’s up for a life-changing promotion, her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather’s heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, and other assorted delights.

She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen—with Jebediah King’s chocolate knife buried in his chest. Now the police are sweet on her grandfather as the prime suspect. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear Jebediah. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble . . .

Recipe Included!

Amanda has done it again. She’s created a delectably enticing new whodunit that was engagingly entertaining. I love the comfortable tone and how well it paired with the pacing as the story moved to its conclusion. The mystery was nice done with suspects aplenty and clues that were strategically placed with a few twists and turns that added to my enjoyment of this drama. The narrative pulled me in making me feel like I was in the middle of all the action as Bailey’s investigation took her closer to a killer who would do anything to stay hidden. The author did a great job in keeping my interest high and when I thought I had a handle on the killer, the author changed direction all to enhanced the telling of this tale. With a lovable cast of characters that included Jethro, good conversations and a small-town feel, this was a great read and I look forward to the next foray with Bailey and her friends.

The day in the life of Bailey King by Amanda Flower

I whisked chocolate whipped cream with a practice flick of my wrist. I could make the chocolate butter cream for the inside of Jean Pierre’s decadent truffles half asleep. The truth was I had done just that on more than one occasion. Easily, I work over ninety hours a week as a chocolatier at JP Chocolates, an upscale chocolate shop in Manhattan owned and operated by the world famous chocolatier Jean Pierre Ruge. I was Jean Pierre protégé. I had worked for him for the last six years as his first chocolatier. It was coveted position among the many chocolatiers who worked at JP Chocolates.

As the first chocolatier, I was still reeling from the announcement that Jean Pierre had made just that morning to the entire staff. Jean Pierre was in his eighties, and finally, he announced his retirement. As part of his retirement a new head chocolatier would be appointment to run JP Chocolates. A thrill ran through me as the enormity of this announcement hit me.

It wasn’t that I wanted Jean Pierre to leave. I loved my boss and he taught me all the finer points about chocolate, but this was the moment that I had dreamed about. It was the moment that would make those countless hours in the shop perfecting my craft long after the shop closed worth it. I was so excited because I was obvious choice to be the next head chocolatier.

The only damper on my impending promotion was the announcement that the chocolate shop’s board of directors not Jean Pierre himself would be picking the next chocolatier. Jean Pierre had assured me that I was a shoe in for the job. He said the board would be a pack of fools to pick anyone else, and no one understood the inner workings of JP Chocolates like I did. This may all be true, but the problem was Jean Pierre didn’t know that I had a secret. It was a secret that could destroy my chances of getting the job that I had worked for for most of my adult life. One choice that I made could ruin everything.

I was mulling over my stupidity when my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. It didn’t ring. Jean Pierre hated all ring tones, and the chocolate shop staff knew to silence their phones unless the wanted to hear a tirade of colorful French cursing.

I pulled the phone from my pocket. The call was from an Ohio number. The screen read, “Swissmen Sweets.” My heart was instantly in my throat. Swissmean Sweets was my grandparents’ Amish candy shop in Ohio. I never got a call from my Amish grandparents unless it was an emergency. For them, the telephone was not to be used for idle chit-chat.

Breathlessly, I answered the call.

“Bailey,” my grandmother voice came through the call. “It is good to hear your voice.”

“Maami, what’s wrong?” I wanted her to get right to the point.

“It’s about your grandfather,” she said sadly.

It was exactly what I feared that she would say.

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You can read more about Bailey in Assaulted Caramel, the first book in the NEW “Amish Candy Shop” mystery series.

Sometimes you need a sweet tooth to take a bite out of crime . . .

Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier at world-famous JP Chocolates in New York City. But just when Bailey’s up for a life-changing promotion, her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather’s heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, the Amish candy shop where she was first introduced to delicious fudge, truffles, and other assorted delights.

She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen—with Jebediah King’s chocolate knife buried in his chest. Now the police are sweet on her grandfather as the prime suspect. Despite the sincere efforts of a yummy deputy with chocolate-brown eyes, Bailey takes it on herself to clear Jebediah. But as a cunning killer tries to fudge the truth, Bailey may be headed straight into a whole batch of trouble . . .

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About the author
Amanda Flower, a national bestselling and Agatha Award winning mystery author. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is librarian in Northeast Ohio. Follow Amanda on Social Media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

All comments are welcomed.

A day in the life of Kelsey Cambridge by Amanda Flower

I don’t think many women are asked to plan this ex-husbands’ weddings. I was. I said, “no” of course. Any sane woman would, especially since Eddie, my ex, and I got divorced because he had an affair when our son Hayden was a toddler. Unfortunately, I’m still planning his wedding. I didn’t have a choice. I was trapped between a rock and hard place. Sadly, this is a location I have become accustomed to as the Director of Barton Farm, a living history museum on the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio.

Here’s how it happened: Krissie Pumpernickel. I suppose you need more explanation then that, but I don’t. Krissie is my ex-husband’s betrothed. She’s young, beautiful, athletic, and conniving. For some reason, she got it into her head that she had to get married at Barton Farm, my place of work. Why Krissie chose Barton Farm when as far as I can tell she has had no interest in history is beyond me. All I can assume is she chose the Farm to annoy me as much as possible. Her method to get what she wanted after I initially said “no” was to go over my head to the Cherry Foundation, the foundation that oversees Barton Farm, and to tell the Board of Trustees that her wealthy parents would make a large donation to the Foundation, if and only if, she and Eddie were about to have their wedding on the Farm. As you can guess, I got a call from the Foundation shortly after that telling me the “good news” that I would be hosting the wedding.

When Krissie found out that I agreed to host the wedding on the Farm (not that I had a choice in the matter), she and her wedding planner, Vianna Pine, descended on me like a blinged-out plague. It was in the middle of winter, and the Farm was closed for the season. I was in my office pushing papers around my desk when they walked in.

Krissie clapped her hands. “Oh, Kelsey, won’t it be amazing to have the wedding here on the Farm!”

Amazing was not the word going through my head. Nightmare and disaster were more on point for me. I forced smiled.

Vianna was a petite woman who vibrated with energy. She scanned my office, and I knew she took everything in, including the enormous about of clutter, with one sweet of her gaze.

“Well, I am glad that you came in.” I removed a document from a manila folder on my desk. “This is the contract that both you and Eddie will have to sign. You can take it home and read it over, but basically, it tells you that you cannot make any changes to the Farm grounds or buildings for the wedding.”

“Don’t worry, Kelsey. We would never ask you to change one thing about the Farm.” Krissie beamed at me. “I will be the sweetest bride you’ve ever met. I’m just so happy to be marrying Eddie. What can I be other than sweet?”

I had my doubts about her sweetness. I noticed that Vianna raised her eyebrows at the comment. She wasn’t buying Krissie’s sweet bride story either. As it turned out, Vianna and I were right to be doubtful, and Vianna paid for it with her life.

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You can read more about Kelsey in The Final Vow, the third book in the “Living History Museum” mystery series.

Summer weddings at Barton Farm’s picturesque church were standard procedure for museum director Kelsey Cambridge―until the Cherry Foundation, which supports the museum, ordered Kelsey to host her ex-husband’s wedding on Farm grounds.

Ambitious wedding planner Vianna Pine is determined to make the bride’s Civil War-themed wedding perfect. But each time Vianna’s vision threatens the integrity and safety of the Farm, Kelsey has to intervene. And when she finds Vianna’s dead body at the foot of the church steps, everyone’s plans fall apart. With both the wedding and Barton Farm at risk of being permanently shut down, Kelsey has to work hard to save her own happily ever after.

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About the author
Amanda Flower, a national bestselling and Agatha Award winning mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth-grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is librarian in Northeast Ohio. Connect with Amanda at amandaflower.com.

All comments are welcomed.

A Morning at Charming Books with Grandma Daisy Waverly by Amanda Flower

Violet, my beloved granddaughter, is here to stay. It does a grandmother good to know it. It did take a little bit of trickery on my part. You see, I fooled Violet into moving back to Cascade Springs, our little village just outside of Niagara Falls, New York. I had to trick her. It was the only way to get her to come back. After a difficult senior year of high school and before the ink was dry on high school diploma, Violet fled the village and was gone for twelve long years. To make her to return, all it took was for me to tell her I was dying.

Okay, I wasn’t actually dying. I fibbed, but it worked and that’s what matters. I got her to come back the village and was finally able to tell her about her magical destiny as the next Caretaker of Charming Books, the magical bookshop that has been in our family for generations. Believe you me, she was a little miffed that I had lied to her about the dying part and also a little bit disbelieving when I told her about her magical heritage. It is a lot to absorb, and Violet is not one for surprises.

But now, that’s all water under the bridge, and she is here to stay. This knowledge allowed me to enjoy the beautiful autumn morning as I walked from my little house to Charming Books. The air was crisp and scent of fallen leaves and pumpkin spice everything was heavy. I do love autumn so. I skipped up the bookshop’s front steps and pushed open the door. As I did so, I went from the serene fall scene to bedlam.

“Faulkner! Faulkner! Give that back!” Violet ran around the bookshop, shaking her fist at the bird. “I’ll sic all the magic of the birch tree on you! I’m the Caretaker now. Don’t you forget it!”

Faulkner, shop crow, flew above her head holding a small book in his talons. When he zoomed passed me, I saw that it was a weathered copy of Walden.

Violet loves Walden so. She is writing about it in her dissertation. I could tell that she had been working on her paper. Her laptop was in the middle of the coffee table, and papers, files, books, and pens covered the remainder of the table, the couch, and the floor. She’d clean it all up before the bookshop opened at ten. She always did.

Violet raced after the bird. Her strawberry-blond hair flew behind her like a red-gold banner. “When I get my hands on you, crow, you will be sorry!”

Faulkner cawed, and it sounded a lot like a cackle. Unfortunately, the crow’s laughter was short lived because Emerson, Violet’s tuxedo cat, leapt from the top of one of tall bookcase with a primal yowl. The crow cried out in fear and dropped the book from his talons before flying to the safety of the birch tree that grew in the middle of our shop.

Emerson sat on the book where it landed at the base of the tree, glaring up at the bird.

“That’s quite a guard cat you have there,” I quipped.

Violet dropped into a chair. Her hair half covered her pretty face.

“Do you need tea, my dear?” I asked.

She nodded. “Yes, tea. I need tea. And a cupcake. Maybe a dozen cupcakes.”

I laughed. “You’re going to need a lot more than a dozen cupcakes to get through today. The Cascade Springs Food and Wine Festival starts tomorrow not to mention the Poe-try Reading that we have planned.” I smiled. “And I don’t need to remind you that Chief David Rainwater will be at the Red Inkers meeting tonight, do I?”

She groaned and slid to the floor in a heap. Her hair completely covered her face from view.

Faulkner and I chuckled. It was so good to have her home.

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Buy a mystery and help feed a community! Purchase any edition of Prose and Cons book, between now and Tuesday, December 20, 2016, and Amanda will donate one dollar for every book sold to a food pantry, The Landing, located in Akron, Ohio. The Learned Owl is also making a $1 donation to the Landing for every copy the bookstore sells and is selling PERSONALIZED AND SIGNED copies on the novel. They can ship anywhere.

Learned Owl | Amazon | B&N | Books-A-Million | CBD

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Prose and Cons is the second book in the Magical Bookshop mystery series, published by Penguin Random House, December 2016.

Magic, books, and cats collide in a village near Niagara Falls in the latest mystery from the author of Crime and Poetry. . .

In Cascade Springs, New York, Violet Waverly and her grandma, Daisy, are the proprietors of Charming Books, where the power of the written word is positively enchanting. . .

October in Cascade Springs means tourists are pouring in for the annual Food and Wine Festival, and Daisy hopes to draw those crowds to the store. She asks Violet and the local writing group, the Red Inkers, to give a reading of the works of Edgar Allan Poe in the shop’s back garden to entertain the revelers. Everyone eagerly agrees.

Yet their enthusiasm is soon extinguished when Violet discovers one of the writers dead during the event. After the shop magically tells Violet she’ll need to rely on Poe’s works to solve the murder, she enlists the help of her trusty tuxedo cat, Emerson, and the shop’s crow, Faulkner. But they must act fast before someone else’s heart beats nevermore. . .

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About the author
Amanda Flower, a national bestselling and Agatha Award winning mystery author. She also writes mysteries as USA Today bestselling author Isabella Alan. In addition to being an author, Amanda is librarian in Northeast Ohio. Follow Amanda on Social Media at: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

All comments are welcomed.

My Musing ~ Murder, Handcrafted by Isabella Alan

Murder, Handcrafted by Isabella Alan is the fifth book in the “Amish Quilt Shop” mystery series. Publisher: Penguin Random House, June 2016

Amish quilt shop owner Angie Braddock crosses wires with a killer in the latest from the national bestselling author of Murder, Plainly Read. . .

Spring has arrived in Holmes County and Angie couldn’t be happier. She’s got great friends, a thriving business, and is in the perfect relationship with Sheriff James Mitchell. The only thing raining on her parade is her mother drafting her into a massive home renovation project—and using their sudden mother/daughter bonding time to comment on Angie’s ticking biological clock.

The house’s repairs and upgrades between the Amish craftsmen and their Englisch counterparts are proceeding well until a tremendous shock comes to the workers when the electrician is found dead on site. With the sheriff suspecting foul play, it falls to Angie to root a killer out of the woodwork. . .

This is one series that I will miss but I’m happy that I got to know Angie, Jonah, James and the rest of the people of Rolling Brook, Ohio. This was a well-written story that pulled me in immediately and was hard to put down as I had to know what happened next. A dead body and the possible sighting of Bigfoot starts this evenly paced light drama where once again, Angie is caught up in all the action when her best friend becomes the prime suspect. It’s with dogged pursuit and determination that Angie begins her investigation seeing clues to clear her friend. I love how the author set-up this mystery where all the characters played a pivotal role that enhanced the telling of this tale. Boasting a wonderful and lovable cast, engaging conversations and a comfortable tone, this was a very enjoyable read and the best in this delightfully charming series.

It’s a Best Friend’s Job by Laura Fellow as told to Amanda Flower

It’s my job to make sure my best friend in the world Kelsey Cambridge is happy even if Kelsey fights me every step of the way. You see, Kelsey is superwoman and deserves all good things. She runs Barton Farm, a financially-strapped living history museum in northeast Ohio, with a steady hand and puts up with all the eccentric people there, both staff and visitors, while raising the most adorable five-year-old boy you will ever meet. She does everything and takes care of everyone, but she’s not so good at taking care of herself. She’s one of those put herself last moms. Personally, this is a position that I can’t understand. True, I’m not a mother, but still, aren’t the people around you happier when you are happy?

Kelsey would argue with me on the point that she’s not happy. In her mind, she is very happy. She has her son Hayden and her dream job. However as her best friend, I want more for her. I’m certain what she needs is a new love in her life after her good for nothing ex-husband Eddie cheated on her.

So I have taken it upon myself to help Kelsey fall in love again. EMT Chase Wyatt is the perfect candidate. I just have to get them together, so I invited Chase to our staff meeting about the upcoming Maple Sugar Festival.

For the meeting, we met in the visitor center’s cafeteria and sat around one of the long tables that we use for school groups. All of the all season staff was there, including Kelsey, Benji who is Kelsey’s assistant, Judy who runs the gift shop, Gavin who is the director of education, and myself. I was representing the historical interpreters who would be dressing up in 19th century costume for the festival.

Kelsey opened her ever-present notebook. “Let’s get started. Gavin, what can you tell us about the school visits that you have planned before the festival?”

Chase appeared in the doorway to the cafeteria still in his EMT uniform. “Did I make it in time?”

Kelsey stared at him. “What—”

I cut her off. “Chase! What a surprise!”

He narrowed his chocolate brown eyes at me. “A surprise? You said Kelsey wanted me at this meeting to represent the Civil War reenactors who will be here for the Maple Sugar Festival.”

“Oh that’s right.” I glanced at my best friend. If looks could kill, I was six feet under. Maybe this wasn’t the best way to go about finding Kelsey a boyfriend.

Kelsey sighed. “Chase, have a seat. You might as well as stay.”

I noted that he sat right next to her even though there were plenty of open seats around the table. While Kelsey returned to her agenda, Chase winked at me. I grinned in return. Maybe this would be a success after all. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.

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The Final Tap is the second book in the Living History Museum mystery series, published by Midnight Ink, May 2016.

March on Barton Farm can only mean one thing: maple sugar season. To combat the winter slump, resilient director Kelsey Cambridge organizes a Maple Sugar Festival, complete with school visits, pancake breakfasts, and tree tapping classes. Kelsey hires curmudgeonly maple sugar expert Dr. Conrad Beeson to teach the classes, despite misgivings over his unpleasant demeanor. It’s a decision she ends up regretting when, before the first tree can be tapped for sap, Dr. Beeson turns up dead.

The maple sugar expert’s death threatens to shut down not only the Maple Sugar Festival, but also Barton Farm itself. Kelsey must solve Dr. Beeson’s murder to escape the increasingly sticky situation.

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About the author
Amanda Flower, an Agatha Award winning mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Amanda is a librarian in Northeast Ohio. She also writes as USA Today Bestselling Author Isabella Alan. The Final Tap is her newest release.

Connect with Amanda at amandaflower.com, on Facebook and @aflowerwriter.

All comments are welcomed.

My Musing ~ The Final Tap by Amanda Flower

The Final Tap by Amanda Flower is the second book in the “Living History Museum” mystery series. Publisher: Midnight Ink, May 2016

March on Barton Farm can only mean one thing: maple sugar season. To combat the winter slump, resilient director Kelsey Cambridge organizes a Maple Sugar Festival, complete with school visits, pancake breakfasts, and tree tapping classes. Kelsey hires curmudgeonly maple sugar expert Dr. Conrad Beeson to teach the classes, despite misgivings over his unpleasant demeanor. It’s a decision she ends up regretting when, before the first tree can be tapped for sap, Dr. Beeson turns up dead.

The maple sugar expert’s death threatens to shut down not only the Maple Sugar Festival, but also Barton Farm itself. Kelsey must solve Dr. Beeson’s murder to escape the increasingly sticky situation.

This was an enjoyable read and once again Kelsey finds herself involved in a little amateur sleuthing, all done while dealing with a festival and her ex’s shenanigans. The author does a very good job in detailing this whodunit with an intriguing storyline where the suspects run rampant and it’s up to Kelsey to sort it all out, which she does in the fast-paced and action packed drama. The steps to the killer’s identity propelled me forward and I love the twists and turns presented. The author also infused the history and process of maple sugar into the story which along with the murder mystery enriched the telling of the tale. Kelsey is a likable protagonist who is surrounded by a good supporting cast. Boasting good conversations and the perfect backdrop of a living museum, I found this story to be entertaining and I look forward to the next happenings on Barton Farm with Kelsey and the gang.

Violet Waverly and Grandma Daisy’s Call by Amanda Flower

One day, I was just minding my own business in the University library working on my dissertation in transcendentalist literature, and the next I was driving halfway across the country in an utter panic. I should back up. Like in any good story, I should start from the beginning.

It all started twelve years ago when I ran away from my hometown, Cascade Springs, New York, when I was seventeen. The day I left that little village, just minutes from the world famous Niagara Falls, I swore I would never return. You see, something happened there, something terrible, and I had to run away. My Grandma Daisy, my only living relative, still lives in the village and owns and operates Charming Books, a small independent bookstore that has been in our family for two hundred years. She’s made no secret of wanting me to return to the village and take over the shop. I can’t do that, not after what happened—which I can’t get into now. Trust me; it would take a whole book to explain.

Now back to the University library. I was at my favorite table with the world largest coffee, my laptop fired up, and all my notes and books. I was ready to jump into the world Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. What I wasn’t ready for was for my cell phone to ring and hear from my grandma.

The phone rang deep inside of my purse. The librarian sitting at the reference desk shot me a dirty look, and other students in the library shuffled their papers in irritation. I mouthed, “Sorry” and rifled through my bag set on turning the phone off, but when I saw the call was from Grandma Daisy, I knew I had to take it. With the librarian glaring at my back, I took my phone into the stacks to hide as I answered the call.

“Grandma?” I asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Violet, my dear, you have to come home.” Cough. “I’m not well. The doctors say it’s serious. They don’t know how much time I have left.”

“What?!” I cried.

On the other side of the stacks, I heard the librarian nosily clear her throat.

“What?” I asked in a harsh whisper. “What’s wrong?”

There was a long pause. “They aren’t completely certain yet. They’re running tests . . .” she trailed off.

“Can I talk to your doctor?”

“No.” She coughed again. “I think it’s best if you just come as quick as we can. There will time for doctors when you arrive. You will come, won’t you?”

“Of course, of course, I’ll come. I can leave in the morning,” I said, already mentally calculating all I had to do to leave. Of course, I had to go. There was no one on Earth more important to me than my grandmother.

“Good,” she said, sounding much more cheerful. “I will expect you tomorrow. Now, I really must go.” And she hung up.

I left that the library after that in a complete haze. The next morning, I was on the road before dawn, half mad with worry the entire drive from Chicago to Western New York.

So you can imagine my shock when I burst into Charming Books to find Grandma Daisy in perfect health. She tricked me into coming back to Cascade Springs! What kind of grandmother tricks her only grandchild? She tricked me to come back and take over the bookshop and accept my special heritage . . . whatever that is. That just wasn’t going to happen.

After being there less than a minute, I was determined to leave again until a dead body turned up. That changed everything, including the entire course of my life…

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Crime and Poetry is the first book in the NEW Magical Bookshop Mystery series, published by Obsidian, April 2016.

From Amanda Flower – who writes the national bestselling Amish Quilt Shop Mysteries as Isabella Alan – comes the first in the new Magical Bookshop Mystery series.

Rushing home to sit by her ailing grandmother’s bedside, Violet Waverly is shocked to find Grandma Daisy the picture of perfect health. Violet doesn’t need to read between the lines: her grandma wants Violet back home and working in her magical store, Charming Books. It’s where the perfect book tends to fly off the shelf and pick you.

Violet has every intention to hightail it back to Chicago, but then a dead man is discovered clutching a volume of Emily Dickinson’s poems from Grandma Daisy’s shop. The victim is Benedict Raisin, who recently put Grandma Daisy in his will, making her a prime suspect. Now, with the help of a tuxedo cat named Emerson, Violet will have to find a killer to keep Grandma from getting booked for good.

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About the author
Amanda Flower, a three time Agatha-nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Amanda is a librarian in Northeast Ohio. She also writes as USA Today Bestselling Author Isabella Alan. Visit Amanda at www.amandaflower.com

Giveaway: Leave comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Crime and Poetry. US entries only, please. The giveaway will end April 12, 2016 at 12 AM EST. Good luck everyone!

All comments are welcomed.

Day in the Life of Kelsey Cambridge by Amanda Flower

Occupation: Director of Barton Farm

My day began each morning with an argument with a five-year-old about what to eat for breakfast, and usually I didn’t win the argument because I was outnumbered.

“Hayden,” I said to my son that morning. “Eat your breakfast.”

He turned up his nose at the scrambled eggs and bacon I had diligently cooked for him.

“I wanted this for breakfast yesterday. Today, I want Fruit Loops.”

“Fruit Loops sound good to me too this morning,” my sixty-something father agreed. Dad, who was a college drama professor nine months of the year, lived with Hayden and me in our little cottage on Barton Farm’s grounds during the summer. He was a great help to watch out for Hayden during the busy tourist season. At least he was most of the time, not so much when it came to breakfast. He had a five-year-old’s taste buds.

I frowned at the pair of them. “You wanted eggs and bacon yesterday too.”

“That was yesterday,” Dad said. “Today is Wednesday. I believe a person must have Fruit Loops on hump day. It’s the longest day of the week.”

“Me too,” my towheaded son chimed in.

I was about to argue more when the radio clipped to jeans crackled. “Kelsey? It’s Ashland. Do you copy?”

I removed the radio from my hip. “Yes, Ashland?”

“You’re going to want to come to the visitor center. We have situation.” There was a pause. “With Shepley.”

We always had a situation with Shepley. My temperamental master gardener was one of my biggest headaches as the director of Barton Farm, a living history museum and village nestled in Ohio’s Cuyahoga Valley just a half hour south of Cleveland.

I clipped the radio to my belt. “You two are going to have to figure breakfast out on your own.”

Before I left the cottage, they gave each other a high five.

I walked out the front door of the cottage and was greeted with the smell of the forest. There was a faint scent of burning wood too as the historical interpreters working on the village side of the Farm prepared their hearths for a day of nineteenth century style cooking demonstrations for the visitors that would arrive when we opened at ten sharp.

Outside the cottage, my corgi, Tiffin, sniffed to the ground and kept an eye on the trees for squirrels. Tiff and the squirrels were sworn enemies. When he saw me, he shook his tail-less rump and stood at the gate that led out of our fenced front yard.

I opened the gate, and he galloped down the path that led through the maple grove from my cottage to the visitor center.

As soon as I emerged from the woods and the visitor center came into view, I saw what the problem was. Shepley and Ashland stood in front of the visitor center with another man. A few feet away an enormous riding lawnmower hummed.

Shepley spotted me first and pointed at my chest. “What are you going to do about this?”

I straightened my shoulders and joined the fray. “What’s going on?”

Shepley scowled at the other man. “He’s the problem. He’s mowing were he shouldn’t be. In his haste to finish the mowing, he ran over my thistle with that monster.” He pointed at the lawnmower. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I thought they were weeds,” the other man protested.

I looked at him. I had hired him to mow the grounds from a local lawn service. “Technically, they are weeds, but we keep them to show off native plant species in the area.”

“Who cares if weeds are native?” he asked.

Shepley shook with fury. No one insulted his plants, especially his native plants.

I stepped between them. To the man, I said, “Please finish your mowing and stay on the grass. Don’t mow anything other than grass whether you believe it should be there or not.”

The man shrugged and walked back to his lawnmower without another glance in Shepley’s direction.

After the man rode away on his mower, Shepley glared at me. “I’m holding you accountable if the garden is ruined.” He stomped away.

Ashland clutched her notebook to her chest. “Every day starts with an argument.”

I sighed. “It’s just another day at Barton Farm.” And it was. At the Farm, there was always a fire or two to put out. Sometimes, it even involved a murder.

---

You can read more about Kelsey in The Final Reveille, the first book in the NEW “Living History Museum” mystery series, published by Midnight Ink.

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 12 p.m. eastern on May 15 for the chance to win a copy of The Final Reveille. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your SPAM folder.

About the author
Amanda Flower, a three time Agatha-nominated mystery author, started her writing career in elementary school when she read a story she wrote to her sixth grade class and had the class in stitches with her description of being stuck on the top of a Ferris wheel. She knew at that moment she’d found her calling of making people laugh with her words. Amanda is an academic librarian for a small college near Cleveland. She also writes as National Bestselling Author Isabella Alan.

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