Beach Blanket Homicide (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 1)

He frowns.

“Oh, Lucy!” Brittany shoves Travis off to the side. She’s holding a fresh ice bag. “Sarah just told me that you might develop a concussion and that someone needs to spend the night to wake you up every hour to make sure you’re okay. I insist that you let me do it.”

“Really, that’s okay. I—”

“Lucy,” she says sternly. “No way am I going to let you spend the night all alone. Besides, we have so much to talk about!”

“We do?”

“Didn’t you get the email from Tara at The Cooking Channel?”

“The one about wanting to come out and film the café for Muffin Wars?”

“Muffin Wars? Lucy, you silly! Did you read the whole email? And all the attachments?”

“Most of it,” I admit. Well, some of it.

“You’re not auditioning for Muffin Wars anymore. Once I knew The Cooking Channel was interested in you, I had daddy pull some strings. They’re vetting you for something a whole lot better! Battle of the Beach Eats,” she says. “Have you seen it?”

“Is that the show that spotlights a beach town and puts all the restaurants in the town in competition with one another?”

She nods eagerly “It’s sooo much better than Muffin Wars. Lucy, this is the big time!”

“Hold on just a second. How did this happen again?”

“When I saw your audition tape, I thought, how can all of Whispering Bay benefit from this fabulous opportunity? Working for the Chamber of Commerce, that’s just the way my mind works. And it came to me. Let’s find a way for The Cooking Channel to showcase all of Whispering Bay’s fabulous restaurants, and Tara suggested Battle of the Beach Eats. Isn’t she fabulous?”

“But…so The Bistro is going to be in competition with The Harbor House and Tiny’s Pizza and all the other restaurants in town? We’re just a coffee house. How can we compete with your father’s place?”

“Oh that. No worries. Each restaurant will be judged on its own merits. It’s all super fair.”

My head is throbbing too much for me to protest. I had a better than decent chance of winning Muffin Wars. But this other show? The Bistro is great, but there are some awesome re

staurants here in town, and I’m not sure how we’ll stack up against them.

“Is there a cash prize?” I hate to sound mercenary, but let’s face it, I was really hoping for that ten grand. Besides the money I owe Will, I also have a credit card to pay off now.

“Twenty-five thousand dollars, plus the prestige of being proclaimed the Best Beach Eat in Whispering Bay. And the absolute best part? We’ll be doing this together!” Brittany squeals. “As head of the Chamber of Commerce’s PR department, this is totally my baby. I’m pretty nervous, actually. It’s my first big project, but with you on board to help me, I know it will all go fabulously.”

Brittany absolutely believes every word she’s saying.

She hugs me again. “Who would have thought way back in kindergarten that you and I would end up being best friends?”

I inwardly moan.

It’s going to be a long, long night.

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed Lucy’s antics then you won’t want to miss the next book in the series, WHACK THE MOLE. Read on for a special sneak peek. If you want to know when my next book comes out and to receive exclusive for newsletter subscribers only content, then sign up HERE for my bi-monthly newsletter!

Joey “The Weasel” Frizzone has been deep undercover with one of the country’s largest organized crime families and the time has come for him to testify against them. The trial isn’t for a couple of weeks, and the feds need him to lay low, so they hide him in a place no one would ever think to look—a sleepy little town in Florida called Whispering Bay.

Lucy McGuffin bakes the best muffins in town. She’s also a human lie detector, a talent that hasn’t always been easy to live with, because, c’mon, how many times can a girl hear “It’s me, not you” and keep a straight face?

Lucy’s ability to sniff out a lie has given her a reputation for solving crime, so when an attempt is made on Joey’s life, local police officer Travis Fontaine reluctantly seeks Lucy’s help. But Lucy and Travis have a wobbly relationship. The arrogant cop thinks he’s God’s gift to womankind, and Lucy isn’t about to become President of his fan club.

Someone in the FBI must have a big mouth because soon there are enough hitmen in town to make Whispering Bay look like a reunion site for The Sopranos. Then someone starts whacking the hitmen. As the body count begins to rise, Lucy realizes she has to step up to the plate. Travis needs Joey to stay alive long enough to testify, and Lucy wants her quaint little town back, minus the mobsters.

With the help of her best friend, Will, and her rescue dog, Paco, Lucy and Travis set out to discover who’s behind all the hits, because if they don’t, Whispering Bay may never be the same again. Ba-da-Bing. Ba-da-Boom.