DEATH BY POISON
“I stopped by Paul’s apartment a little earlier and talked to his roommate, Grace. She said the police took away the container he always used to bring home his meal from the restaurant where he did bike delivery, the Green Artichoke.”
Alana blinked. “To test it for poison?”
“That would be my guess. It looks like they’re treating his death as a possible suspicious one.”
“Murder?” Alana gave me a horrified look.
“Maybe . . .”
Books by Maddie Day
Country Store Mysteries
FLIPPED FOR MURDER
GRILLED FOR MURDER
WHEN THE GRITS HIT THE FAN
BISCUITS AND SLASHED BROWNS
DEATH OVER EASY
STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM
NACHO AVERAGE MURDER
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CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER
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Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries
MURDER ON CAPE COD
MURDER AT THE TAFFY SHOP
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A TINE TO LIVE, A TINE TO DIE
’TIL DIRT DO US PART
FARMED AND DANGEROUS
MURDER MOST FOWL
MULCH ADO ABOUT MURDER
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Nacho Average Murder
MADDIE DAY
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Table of Contents
DEATH BY POISON
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
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
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Recipes
KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 by Edith Maxwell
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Kensington and the Klogo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
First Kensington Books Mass Market Paperback Printing: July 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2315-4
ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-2316-1 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-4967-2316-3 (ebook)
For my Temple City, California, classmates, then and now, who have become some of my biggest fans. We have our own high school reunion this year—number fifty—and I sure hope no murders go along with it!
Acknowledgments
I spent a week in Santa Barbara recently to soak up the sights and sounds and to refresh my memory of that lovely city nestled between mountains and the Pacific Ocean. My apologies to Santa Barbara residents for moving your Tuesday afternoon farmers’ market to Wednesday morning and for adding Mama Tamale. I made up a few streets, too. I took inspiration from Madame Rosinka’s palm-reading establishment on Stearns Wharf, but Madame Allegra is entirely of my own creation. Thanks, also, to the real Chumash Casino for giving me ideas. I stole the name Pause Yoga from the best yoga teacher in New England, Jennifer Walker Freeman. Because the late, great Sue Grafton lived in Montecito and set her Kinsey Millhone mysteries in a fictionalized Santa Barbara, I included various mentions of her as an homage.
No aspersions are implied on the actual Santa Barbara County coroner’s office and personnel—the version in this book is entirely fictional. Author Micki Browning, a former member of the Santa Barbara Police Department, gave me help with local details about the criminal justice system, but all errors are of my own doing, including my entirely made-up interior of the station.
Thank you to D. P. Lyle, MD, for information about what a ruptured aneurysm looks like and how it is detected, and to Geoff Symon for his excellent online class about autopsies. Gratitude to Cristina Olán and my son JD Hutchison-Maxwell for checking the Spanish phrases in the book. Intrepid traveling friend Bonnie Kittle provided the inspiration to include the very odd-looking Buddha’s hand citron.
While Alana wasn’t the name of my high school bestie, I drew on my once-a-decade visits with Cindy Cobb Snyder—most recently during the writing of this book—for some of the scenes featuring Robbie and Alana. I’m so grateful Cindy and I can pick up where we left off, even fifty years later. I often crowdsource my punny titles, and Evelyn Dillon came up with this one. Thanks, Evelyn! I riffed on it for the name of the café.
Many thanks to Terri Bischoff and her expert editing chops for giving the book a pre-submission read and for helping me improve it in all kinds of ways.
My gratitude, always, to my family, to the fabulous team at Kensington Publishing, to my agent, John Talbot, and to the Wicked Authors. Please join Jessica Ellicott, Sherry Harris, Julie Hennrikus, Liz Mu-gavero, Barbara Ross, and me on our blog and our Facebook group. I never stop learning from these ladies, who provide ongoing inspiration, a sounding board, and fun.
Don’t worry, fans. Robbie will be back in South Lick for the next book. But wasn’t it fun to take a trip to California?
Chapter 1
Like Dorothy in Oz, I definitely wasn’t in Indiana anymore. At least the Wicked Witch hadn’t shown up. Yet.
The sun had just dipped into the Pacific Ocean, and a mild Santa Barbara breeze shooshed through tall palm trees. Mellow jazz slid out of speakers in a spacious function
