Cupcakes, Signs, & Valentines: A Novella: An Annie Graceland Cozy Mystery

Annie Graceland: Cheesehead. Unwed. Hi-LAR-ious baker who speaks to 'The Dead!'

I squeeze into my not-so-little red dress because I’m meeting my handsome detective boyfriend, Raphael Campillio, for Valentine’s dinner at a cute trattoria. When my cat, Theodore Von Pumpernickle pulls his ‘I’m a finicky eater’ act, I detour to the pet store to buy him something yummy. 

I’m in the cat food aisle staring at the ugliest cat carrier I’ve ever seen when I hear gunshots. A panicked, lost, black cat, is skittering toward the front door. 

I do what any sensible person would: I tackle the cat. I rip my dress. I lug that cat around in the ugliest carrier trying to find his owner. But the only guy that will help me is the ghost of the man who was just murdered…

__

Cupcakes, Signs, & Valentines – A Novella was originally published as Trouble’s Crummy Valentine’s Day in “Year-Round Trouble" by Kalioka Press in 2020. Copyright © 2020 by Pamela DuMond. “Trouble” the cat character is the creative property of Carolyn Haines.