Hickory Smoked Homicide

Table of Contents

 

 

Praise for
Delicious and Suspicious

“Sassy.”

—
Publishers Weekly

 

“An entertaining read . . . Just like the pork barbeque and spicy corn muffins that fill the bellies of the fictitious patrons of Aunt Pat’s, the Southern flavor is what makes this novel unique. The characters live and breathe on the page, not as stereotypes of Southerners but as colorful personalities that complement the Memphis setting.”

—
Romance Novel News

 

“This entertaining regional amateur sleuth gives the audience a taste of living in [Memphis], especially owning a restaurant in a tourist-attraction city . . . With a strong, fully seasoned support cast who enhance the whodunit,
Delicious and Suspicious
is truly scrumptious.”

—
Genre Go Round Reviews

 

“A saucy Southern mystery!”

—Krista Davis, national bestselling author of
The Diva Haunts the House

 

“Don’t let that folksy facade fool you. Lulu Taylor is one intrepid amateur sleuth.”

—Laura Childs,
New York Times
bestselling author of
Skeleton Letters

 

“Lulu Taylor serves up the best barbeque in Memphis. Never been to her restaurant, Aunt Pat’s? Well then, pick up a copy of Riley Adams’s enjoyable
Delicious and Suspicious
, slide into a booth, and follow Lulu as she tracks down a killer with the help of her wacky friends and family. You’ll feel transported to Beale Street. Oh, and did I mention the mouthwatering recipes at the end?”

—Julie Hyzy, author of
Grace Interrupted

 

“Riley Adams’s first book,
Delicious and Suspicious
, adds a dash of Southern humor to a sauté of murder and mayhem that is as good as cold banana pudding on a hot summer day. Lulu Taylor is a hoot! I look forward to reading the next book in the Memphis BBQ series!”

—Joyce Lavene, coauthor of
Harrowing Hats

 

DELICIOUS AND SUSPICIOUS
FINGER LICKIN’ DEAD
HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

 

HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE

 

A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

 

PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / November 2011

Copyright © 2011 by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

 

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

 

ISBN : 978-1-101-54554-6

 

BERKLEY
^®
PRIME CRIME
Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY
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PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group
(USA) Inc.

 

 

 

In memory of
Elizabeth Riley Adams,
Elizabeth Adams Stringfellow,
and Mary Ligon Spann

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to my editor, Emily Beth Rapoport, for her editing expertise and support. To my agent, Ellen Pepus, for her help and advice. To Hugh Syme for the cover illustration, Annette Fiore Defex for the cover design, and Laura K. Corless for the interior text design. Thanks to authors Jim and Joyce Lavene, who are great friends and mentors. To my fellow mystery-loving cooks at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen (
www.mysteryloverskitchen.com
) for their generous support and friendship. To my family—especially my husband, Coleman, and children, Riley and Elizabeth Ruth . . . who make life and writing fun.

Chapter 1

Lulu Taylor just happened to be trying on a vibrantly colored floral-print dress in Dee Dee’s Darling Dress Shoppe when she heard the shop bell and then a familiar voice.

Lulu would be able to pick out Tristan Pembroke’s voice even if she were in a crowd of hundreds at the state fair. It was lined with snobbery and condescension, which Tristan seemed to think sounded well-bred. Well, Lulu had
known
Tristan’s mama, and wouldn’t she be horrified to see her little girl today?

Lulu wasn’t actually too thrilled with Dee Dee, either, but she had the only dress shop that stocked the Sassy Seniors line of dresses. Although Lulu had a closet full of floral dresses, her motto was that you could never have too many flowers. That’s the very reason magnolia blossoms swam in glass bowls at her barbeque restaurant whenever they were in bloom.

She liked Dee Dee even less when she heard her say in a cigarette-hoarsened stage whisper, “We can go ahead and talk now. It’s just ol’ Lulu in the dressing room, and she couldn’t hear a drunk elephant if he crashed into the room.”

Obviously, Dee Dee hadn’t learned the difference between being ignored and not being heard. They were totally two entirely different things. Lulu felt in danger of losing her religion but prudently bit her tongue—since there was clearly going to be some sort of transmittal of interesting information. With those two it wouldn’t be a pearl of wisdom, or the secret of life.... But it was likely going to be
interesting
. She strained to hear—and her ears were
not
defective.

“Okay, here’s the scoop,” said Dee Dee. “Tamara Lynn is going to wear the teal-colored plunge-neckline gown with the drop waist. And . . . so is Pansy.”

“Mmm-hmm,” said Tristan, making sounds like she was taking notes. “Well now, that’s going to be real interesting. Pansy’s mama will blow a gasket when she finds out.”

“And you wanted to hear about Clarice’s talent. She’s singing.”

“Well of
course
she’s singing,” snapped Tristan. “The girl can barely even tie her own shoelaces at age sixteen! Singing is her only talent.”

“But I know
what
she’s singing and what she’s doing
while
she’s singing,” said Dee Dee in a smug voice.

Lulu couldn’t resist peering out the side of the dressing-room curtain to see Tristan’s face. And didn’t she look put out! A red stain splotched across her high cheekbones on her pretty face, and she was running a bony hand through her straight, black hair. “Never mind being all secretive, Dee Dee! Spill it!” Lulu noticed that Dee Dee was reading out of a big notebook on the sales counter. Dee Dee always looked like a caricature of herself, with hair dyed an unlikely shade of blond, huge glasses that took over most of her face, and eyebrows drawn on in a very dramatic fashion.

“I guess her tacky mama finally messed with her brain because she’s doing a
baton
routine to ‘Dixie’! While singing!”

There was a stunned silence, and Dee Dee started cackling. “Your eyes will pop out of your head if you don’t watch it, Tristan!”

“Whatever possessed her?” said Tristan in a musing voice.

“I think,” said Dee Dee with satisfaction, “that you can take the woman out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the woman.” She suddenly squawked loudly. “Lulu? You okay in there, darlin’?”

Lulu played up her deaf role. “What, hon?”

There was a
tip, tap, tip
of Dee Dee’s heels on the hardwood floor of the dress shop. “I said, are you
okay
? Need me to find you another size? I noticed that you’ve been shrinking a little—you’re not quite as tall as you were. Need a smaller size?”

Lulu gritted her teeth in irritation and rattled the hangers together a little to show she was working hard at trying on dresses. “I’m doing fine, Dee Dee. Just trying to decide between a couple of dresses.” As if, thought Lulu, there was a huge difference between the dresses she was trying on.

The heels tapped back away. “Okay. Let me know if you need any help.”

Tristan’s and Dee Dee’s voices murmured together for a minute, and Lulu couldn’t make out a single word. Then she heard the cash-register drawer open and heard Dee Dee say, “Thanks for your business,” in a caustic voice, “although I’m thinking that soon we’ll need to renegotiate fees. I’ll talk to you about it later.” The door chimed as Tristan left.

Lulu walked out to the register with one of the dresses.

“I thought you might like that blue-and-white floral,” said Dee Dee, wagging her finger. “‘Looks like Lulu,’ I thought when I saw it. That’s why I put it aside for you.”

“It reminds me of my Aunt Pat’s china pattern,” said Lulu. “Cheers me up just looking at it.”

She was about to vaguely mention that she thought she’d heard Dee Dee talking with a customer a few minutes before (and see how much nosiness she could get away with) when a flash of red caught her eye. It was her redheaded friend and Aunt Pat’s Barbeque restaurant regular Cherry Hayes, with her face stuck against the glass window.

Cherry pushed the door open energetically, and the bell tinkled with alarm.