Джанет Кантрелл - Fat Cat Takes The Cake

Praise for the Fat Cat Mysteries

FAT CAT SPREADS OUT

“This is one of my favorite new series! The Fat Cat Mystery series is a delectable blend of lovable cat, mystery, baked delights, and friendship. Janet Cantrell has WOWed us again with Fat Cat Spreads Out , the second in the Fat Cat Mystery series . . . The plot is a delicious blend of ingredients that bakes up into a great new mystery.”

—Open Book Society

“Like catnip to cozy mystery readers. It is fast-paced fun, with interesting, likeable characters and a great puzzle mystery. There is even a dash of romance thrown in.”

—Examiner.com (5 stars)

“I am hopelessly in love with Quincy . . . Just priceless.”

—Melissa’s Mochas, Mysteries & Meows

FAT CAT AT LARGE

“A delicious mix of desserts, stealthy stealing, feline foraging, and murder!”

—Fresh Fiction

“Charming . . . Cozy mystery readers will be purring with delight.”

—MyShelf.com

“Ooohhhh . . . a story about an overweight, lovable cat named Quincy. How could I possibly resist this one? Well, of course, I couldn’t. I loved this book from the cover through every page in between . . . [A] great beginning to a brand-new series.”

—Socrates’ Book Reviews

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Janet Cantrell

FAT CAT AT LARGE

FAT CAT SPREADS OUT

FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE

An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

FAT CAT TAKES THE CAKE

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

Copyright © 2016 by Penguin Random House LLC.

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME design are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

For more information, visit penguin.com.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-62165-3

PUBLISHING HISTORY

Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / April 2016

Cover illustration by Craig White.

Cover design by George Long.

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.

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.

Version_1

To my husband, Cliff

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to acknowledge a few of the people who have helped me with this book. For information on hacking, Cori Lynn Arnold and James M. Jackson. For details on evasive maneuvers, Sam Morton. For giving me spot-on feedback, Gale Albright and Paula Benson. My Plothatcher friends, as always, Janet Bolin, Janet Koch/Laurie Cass, Pam Cochran, Krista Davis, Daryl Wood Gerber, and Marilyn Levinson, for much needed and invaluable moral support.

CONTENTS

Praise for the Fat Cat Mysteries

Berkley Prime Crime titles by Janet Cantrell

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

CHAPTER FORTY

Recipes

Leash-Training Tips for Cats

About the Author

ONE

“That’s a lot of mail,” Anna Larson said. She was taking a short afternoon break, sitting on the squeaky stool at the work island in the kitchen of the Bar None, the dessert bar shop co-owned by her and Charity Oliver, called Chase by almost everyone.

“Look!” Chase waved an envelope at Anna. Her eyes were bright and her cheeks red, partly from coming inside out of the early December cold, but also from excitement.

“If you held it still, I could see it.”

Chase smiled at her business partner and surrogate grandmother. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll open it for you.”

“You know that’s a federal offense,” Julie Larson said.

“Julie.” Anna put on her stern-grandparent face, which looked incongruous with her soft gray hair and her periwinkle eyes, much more used to smiling. “You don’t always have to be a lawyer.” Anna wore her usual bright sweater with a plain T-shirt and jeans. This sweater was a rough, burlap-like material in aqua and bright green, worn over a pale blue shirt.

“But it is , Grandma.” Julie, sitting next to Anna, nudged the older woman slightly and fished a marshmallow out of her cocoa with a spoon. Her eyes were identical to Anna’s, but set into a face that was forty years younger than Anna’s seventy-two and framed by dark brown hair. She kept her hair short and practical for her new job with Bud Ellison’s small real estate firm. Chase thought her good friend seemed much happier and more relaxed since she had left the district attorney’s office.

“Your honor,” Anna began.

“That’s for judges, Grandma,” Julie said.

“Your high horse-ness, then. I give Charity permission to open my mail. Wait.” She took the envelope Chase was still waving in front of her. “Who is it from?” Anna saw the return address. “It’s the Batter Battle!” She ripped the envelope open and pulled several sheets of paper from it, quickly scanning the cover letter. “I’ve been invited to participate in the Minny Batter Battle.”

After fanning her face in amazement, she slipped off the stool, leaving the seat spinning and creaking, and danced around the kitchen.

Chase watched her with amusement. “This is a big deal, I take it?”

“Anyone can apply to enter the Battle,” Julie explained. “But only a few are selected for invitations every year. Grandma hasn’t gotten an invitation before.”

“This’ll show that Grace Pilsen,” Anna said. “She’s called me three years in a row to tell me she was invited. And to gloat. That Grace Pilsen.” Anna gritted her teeth at the thought.

Anna’s cell phone rang. She looked at the ID and grunted.

“Who is it?” Julie asked.

“That Grace Pilsen, I’ll bet,” Chase mouthed. The woman owned a bakery called The Pilsener. Anna was quite vocal about her opinion that using the word the in the shop name was pretentious. Chase thought The Pilsener sounded very much like a beer shop, but no alcohol at all was available there.

“Hello? Grace?”