Title: Inn the Spirit of Murder
Author: Rhonda Blackhurst
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb:
Six-year-sober life coach and skeptic, Andie Rose Kaczmarek, and her red retriever emotional support animal, Aspen, become the new owners of the surmised haunted Spirit Lake Inn in Minnesota. When Andie Rose finds a body in the inn’s kitchen, she fears it will be the death of what’s most important—the stellar reputation of the inn her grandparents, Grandpop and Honey, built.
Aware of the risk of stress in sobriety, she gets an AA sponsor—feisty, spirited Sister Alice who, 30 years ago, traded in one habit for another. Andie Rose falls prey to a new, potentially more dangerous addiction—solving the murder. But in typical Sister Alice fashion, she transforms the danger of solving a murder into a spirited good time. Will Andie Rose flip from skeptic to believer?
Excerpt:
“This thing you call a little issue is demeaning to my profession.” He took a hand from his pocket and pointed to Aspen. “Dogs don’t belong in food establishments. And I didn’t go to school to learn how to bake for them.” He spat the word and made a face as if he had burped something up.
I took a step back, Aspen stood, and I laid my hand against his neck. “Which is why I told you I’m happy to do it, Ivan. I love baking.”
“I know that because you use my kitchen. My kitchen. I’ve been the chef there for seventeen years. I’ve asked you not to use it, but you disrespect me and use it anyway. A chef always knows when someone else has been in his kitchen. That is my territory, and you have no 1 business being in my territory.”
Apparently, we were dogs now and marking our territory. Aspen sat on my feet as if telling me to stay calm.
“Well, I’m sorry we can’t agree to disagree with this. I own the inn, and I will use the kitchen. If you can’t accept that, maybe it’s time to look for work someplace else.” I looked at the table next to us as the man finished opening the wine bottle and discreetly slid his knife toward the opposite side of the table, as if one of us would use it as a weapon.
“Are you firing me?” His tone was low yet threatening, and he cracked his knuckles on one hand, then the other. “I don’t think you want to do that. I was there long before you owned the place. And the inn will never survive without me.”
“My grandparents made it as successful as it is, Ivan. Not you. You are one of a team of people who makes the inn run as well as it does. One of a team.”
He turned his head to the side and then looked at me with eyes that turned my blood cold. “I will sabotage your business if you get rid of me. I’ll go somewhere else in Spirit Lake, and the inn will have no business at all.”
“Somehow, I doubt that,” I mumbled. And after this altercation, I knew Ivan staying at the inn wasn’t an option. He had to go. The sous-chef, Tony Valentino, had skills near that of Ivan and was much easier for everyone to get along with. I took a breath. “Ivan, it’s clear you’re not happy with me at the inn. Go someplace that makes you happy, Spirit Lake or not. Life is too short. But please leave me the recipe for the dog biscuits.” At the mention of the word biscuits, Aspen’s ears perked up, and he gave me a hopeful glance.
“I will not leave the inn or the dog biscuit recipe. The only way that’ll happen is over my dead body,” he said, jamming his fists in his pockets again.
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Author Biography:
Rhonda is an avid reader, writer, certified life coach, and a coffee and dark chocolate connoisseur. She has 10 independently published novels: The Inheritance, a contemporary fiction novel; The Melanie Hogan cozy mystery series; and Finding Abby and Abby’s Redemption in the Whispering Pines romantic suspense duology. She was awarded the 2022 Master of Literary Arts Award from the Brighton Chamber. She can be found at her online home at www.rhondablackhurst.com.
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