Last week, I share a sneak peek of Criminally Cocoa, which appears in Amish Candy Shop Holidays, the novella collection for the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries is now available in ebook and print. This week, I have a sneak peek of the second story in the collection to share with you, Botched Butterscotch. Enjoy!
Chapter One
I buzzed about the front room of Swissmen Sweets, the candy shop in Harvest, Ohio that I ran with my Amish grandmother Clara King. As I scurried about, I hit every flat surface that I could reach with a feather duster. I dusted the maple shelves that held the glass jars of jelly beans, lemon drops, licorice, and hard candy, all of which were made in this very shop. I stopped just short of dusting the shop cat, Nutmeg, a little orange striped feline who watched my feather duster with studied interest.
“Bailey,” my grandmother said from behind the half-domed glass counter where we displayed our most enticing treats: molded chocolate creations, truffles, and fudge all had a place of honor behind the glass. At the moment, my grandmother was sliding a tray of butterscotch peanut bars into the case. “You must calm down, kind. You are making us all dizzy.” After the tray was in place, she patted the prayer cap on the back of her head. “Your parents will be here any moment. The shop is as clean as it’s ever been. There is nothing more you can do.”
“Cousin Clara is right,” said Charlotte Weaver, our young Amish shop assistant and my cousin. She put away the bottle of vinegar water she’d been using to clean the counter. “You are making me nervous.”
“I know I’m wound a little tight. I just can’t believe that Mom and Dad are actually coming to Harvest today. I thought they never would again.” I stepped behind the counter and stowed the feather duster in the cabinet below the cash register with the other cleaning supplies. As I moved, my dangly silver earrings knocked against my cheeks. Being the only non-Amish person in Swissmen Sweets, I was also the only one wearing any type of jewelry. I have always been partial to dangly earrings.
I never thought my parents would return to Swissmen Sweets because my father ran away from Harvest when he was a young man. He left the Amish community and Ohio so that he could marry my mother. When I was a child, they came back once a year so my grandparents could see me, but once I was an adult my parents stopped those visits. I didn’t think they had been in Ohio in over ten years, except for a very brief trip to attend my grandfather’s funeral. My nerves were heightened by the fact that my parents did not approve of my decision to leave my job as a prestigious New York City chocolatier to move to Amish Country. I suspected in their eyes I’d gone backward, since I’d settled in the place they’d fled when they were young. I straightened up and ran my damp palms over my jeans. Maami was right. I needed to get a grip. I calmed down just as the front door opened and my mother and father walked in.
Copyright 2020 Amanda Flower. All rights reserved.
3 novellas in one!
CRIMINALLY COCOA
As if being in New York City for Easter isn’t exciting enough, Charlotte Weaver is helping her cousin, Bailey, on the set of her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets. Charlotte notices odd events intended to make Bailey look bad . . . and realizes her cousin has a dangerously jealous rival. Can she find out who—before someone’s sour grapes turn fatally bitter?
BOTCHED BUTTERSCOTCH
Mother’s Day is a sweet and busy time at the candy shop Bailey King runs with her Amish grandmother. This year, Bailey’s parents are visiting, and for Mother’s Day Tea at the local church, Bailey’s whipping up her mom’s favorite: butterscotch fudge. All’s going well, until a sticky-fingered thief makes off with the money raised for a local women’s support group. Can Bailey find the culprit before events boil over into disaster?
CANDY CANE CRIME
Thanks to her new cable TV show, Bailey’s shop has more orders than she can handle this Christmas. Fortunately, her beloved Cousin Charlotte is organizing the Candy Cane Exchange, pairing sweet notes with a peppermint treat. Charlotte is delighted to discover she may have a secret admirer…until she sees something underhanded going on beneath the merrymaking. Can she stop a local Grinch before the holiday, and her fledgling romance, are ruined?
Recipes Included!
Happy reading! ❤ Amanda
Amanda Flower-Sweet Cozy reads 