Hickory Smoked Homicide Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  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

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Riley Adams

  Praise for Delicious and Suspicious

  “Sassy.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “An entertaining read . . . Just like the pork barbeque and spicy corn muffins that fill the bellies of the fictitious patrons of Aunt Pat’s, the Southern flavor is what makes this novel unique. The characters live and breathe on the page, not as stereotypes of Southerners but as colorful personalities that complement the Memphis setting.”

  —Romance Novel News

  “This entertaining regional amateur sleuth gives the audience a taste of living in [Memphis], especially owning a restaurant in a tourist-attraction city . . . With a strong, fully seasoned support cast who enhance the whodunit, Delicious and Suspicious is truly scrumptious.”

  —Genre Go Round Reviews

  “A saucy Southern mystery!”

  —Krista Davis, national bestselling author of

  The Diva Haunts the House

  “Don’t let that folksy facade fool you. Lulu Taylor is one intrepid amateur sleuth.”

  —Laura Childs, New York Times bestselling author of

  Skeleton Letters

  “Lulu Taylor serves up the best barbeque in Memphis. Never been to her restaurant, Aunt Pat’s? Well then, pick up a copy of Riley Adams’s enjoyable Delicious and Suspicious, slide into a booth, and follow Lulu as she tracks down a killer with the help of her wacky friends and family. You’ll feel transported to Beale Street. Oh, and did I mention the mouthwatering recipes at the end?”

  —Julie Hyzy, author of Grace Interrupted

  “Riley Adams’s first book, Delicious and Suspicious, adds a dash of Southern humor to a sauté of murder and mayhem that is as good as cold banana pudding on a hot summer day. Lulu Taylor is a hoot! I look forward to reading the next book in the Memphis BBQ series!”

  —Joyce Lavene, coauthor of Harrowing Hats

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Riley Adams

  DELICIOUS AND SUSPICIOUS

  FINGER LICKIN’ DEAD

  HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

  Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,

  South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

  HICKORY SMOKED HOMICIDE

  A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / November 2011

  Copyright © 2011 by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  ISBN : 978-1-101-54554-6

  BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME

  Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME logo are trademarks of Penguin Group

  (USA) Inc.

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  In memory of

  Elizabeth Riley Adams,

  Elizabeth Adams Stringfellow,

  and Mary Ligon Spann

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to my editor, Emily Beth Rapoport, for her editing expertise and support. To my agent, Ellen Pepus, for her help and advice. To Hugh Syme for the cover illustration, Annette Fiore Defex for the cover design, and Laura K. Corless for the interior text design. Thanks to authors Jim and Joyce Lavene, who are great friends and mentors. To my fellow mystery-loving cooks at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen (www.mysteryloverskitchen.com) for their generous support and friendship. To my family—especially my husband, Coleman, and children, Riley and Elizabeth Ruth . . . who make life and writing fun.

  Chapter 1

  Lulu Taylor just happened to be trying on a vibrantly colored floral-print dress in Dee Dee’s Darling Dress Shoppe when she heard the shop bell and then a familiar voice.

  Lulu would be able to pick out Tristan Pembroke’s voice even if she were in a crowd of hundreds at the state fair. It was lined with snobbery and condescension, which Tristan seemed to think sounded well-bred. Well, Lulu had known Tristan’s mama, and wouldn’t she be horrified to see her little girl today?

  Lulu wasn’t actually too thrilled with Dee Dee, either, but she had the only dress shop that stocked the Sassy Seniors line of dresses. Although Lulu had a closet full of floral dresses, her motto was that you could never have too many flowers. That’s the very reason magnolia blossoms swam in glass bowls at her barbeque restaurant whenever they were in bloom.

  She liked Dee Dee even less when she heard her say in a cigarette-hoarsened stage whisper, “We can go ahead and talk now. It’s just ol’ Lulu in the dressing room, and she couldn’t hear a drunk elephant if he crashed into the room.”

  Obviously, Dee Dee hadn’t learned the difference between being ignored and not being heard. They were totally two entirely different things. Lulu felt in da
nger of losing her religion but prudently bit her tongue—since there was clearly going to be some sort of transmittal of interesting information. With those two it wouldn’t be a pearl of wisdom, or the secret of life.... But it was likely going to be interesting. She strained to hear—and her ears were not defective.

  “Okay, here’s the scoop,” said Dee Dee. “Tamara Lynn is going to wear the teal-colored plunge-neckline gown with the drop waist. And . . . so is Pansy.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” said Tristan, making sounds like she was taking notes. “Well now, that’s going to be real interesting. Pansy’s mama will blow a gasket when she finds out.”

  “And you wanted to hear about Clarice’s talent. She’s singing.”

  “Well of course she’s singing,” snapped Tristan. “The girl can barely even tie her own shoelaces at age sixteen! Singing is her only talent.”

  “But I know what she’s singing and what she’s doing while she’s singing,” said Dee Dee in a smug voice.

  Lulu couldn’t resist peering out the side of the dressing-room curtain to see Tristan’s face. And didn’t she look put out! A red stain splotched across her high cheekbones on her pretty face, and she was running a bony hand through her straight, black hair. “Never mind being all secretive, Dee Dee! Spill it!” Lulu noticed that Dee Dee was reading out of a big notebook on the sales counter. Dee Dee always looked like a caricature of herself, with hair dyed an unlikely shade of blond, huge glasses that took over most of her face, and eyebrows drawn on in a very dramatic fashion.

  “I guess her tacky mama finally messed with her brain because she’s doing a baton routine to ‘Dixie’! While singing!”

  There was a stunned silence, and Dee Dee started cackling. “Your eyes will pop out of your head if you don’t watch it, Tristan!”

  “Whatever possessed her?” said Tristan in a musing voice.

  “I think,” said Dee Dee with satisfaction, “that you can take the woman out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the woman.” She suddenly squawked loudly. “Lulu? You okay in there, darlin’?”

  Lulu played up her deaf role. “What, hon?”

  There was a tip, tap, tip of Dee Dee’s heels on the hardwood floor of the dress shop. “I said, are you okay? Need me to find you another size? I noticed that you’ve been shrinking a little—you’re not quite as tall as you were. Need a smaller size?”

  Lulu gritted her teeth in irritation and rattled the hangers together a little to show she was working hard at trying on dresses. “I’m doing fine, Dee Dee. Just trying to decide between a couple of dresses.” As if, thought Lulu, there was a huge difference between the dresses she was trying on.

  The heels tapped back away. “Okay. Let me know if you need any help.”

  Tristan’s and Dee Dee’s voices murmured together for a minute, and Lulu couldn’t make out a single word. Then she heard the cash-register drawer open and heard Dee Dee say, “Thanks for your business,” in a caustic voice, “although I’m thinking that soon we’ll need to renegotiate fees. I’ll talk to you about it later.” The door chimed as Tristan left.

  Lulu walked out to the register with one of the dresses.

  “I thought you might like that blue-and-white floral,” said Dee Dee, wagging her finger. “‘Looks like Lulu,’ I thought when I saw it. That’s why I put it aside for you.”

  “It reminds me of my Aunt Pat’s china pattern,” said Lulu. “Cheers me up just looking at it.”

  She was about to vaguely mention that she thought she’d heard Dee Dee talking with a customer a few minutes before (and see how much nosiness she could get away with) when a flash of red caught her eye. It was her redheaded friend and Aunt Pat’s Barbeque restaurant regular Cherry Hayes, with her face stuck against the glass window.

  Cherry pushed the door open energetically, and the bell tinkled with alarm.

  “I thought I saw your Buick out there, Lulu, as I was driving by on my motorcycle. Find anything fun to buy?” Cherry brought her eyebrows together in a ferocious frown as she looked doubtfully at the merchandise on the racks. She was holding her motorcycle helmet, which had a picture of her first love, Elvis, on it. The helmet was usually either sitting on Cherry’s head or very close by. Cherry swore it kept her safe throughout the day and that Elvis acted as her guardian angel.

  Lulu chuckled. Unless Dee Dee had radically changed her buying practices, she doubted she was going to stock any wildly patterned, vibrantly colored minidresses. And that was the kind of look that Cherry went for.

  But to her surprise, Cherry absently put her helmet back on her head and started pushing through clothes on the racks. She gave a gusty sigh. “I think I’ll shop. Shopping always cheers me up a little.” Cherry looked sideways through her fake lashes at Lulu, prompting her to inquire further.

  “Something happen, Cherry?”

  Cherry looked stormy. “That troll Tristan happened. I saw her leaving the shop as I was about to come in. Remember how I’m trying to join the Memphis Women’s League?”

  Lulu nodded slowly. “I think so. Although I don’t remember why you are.” She simply couldn’t picture Cherry Hayes eating crustless cucumber sandwiches with a bunch of ladies who formed the elite in Memphis society.

  “At first it was because Evelyn has always talked about how great the club was,” said Cherry, mentioning their mutual friend. “So my neighbor Pepper and I decided we wanted to be part of the fun, too. But now I want to do it because they’re so determined to keep me out.” Cherry absently took a blouse off the rack, pulled a horrified face, and put it back up. “Actually, the only one who’s blackballing Pepper and me is Tristan.”

  Lulu leaned in a little, since Dee Dee looked like her ears had pricked up. “How’d you learn that?” she asked in a low voice, thinking Cherry might take the hint and speak a little quieter.

  Cherry wasn’t one to take hints, though. “I’ll tell you how I heard,” she said. “Evelyn told me all about it. Said that Tristan suddenly acted like she was a blue blood and was all hoity-toity about membership. ‘Cherry and Pepper aren’t the kind of candidates we’re looking for. Indeed, I cannot envision the future of the Memphis Women’s League with Cherry and Pepper as part of it.’ ” Cherry pretended to sip from an imaginary teacup, with her pinky stuck way out like she was having high tea.

  Lulu heard Dee Dee snicker, and Cherry spun around and stared her down, eyes narrowed. Dee Dee suddenly got real busy with her paperwork.

  “And then, you know, I saw her when I was parking my bike. So I said to Tristan, ‘Hey, thanks for inviting Pepper and me into your club.’ You know, really sarcastic. But I think Tristan’s dumb as a post. So she says, ‘I didn’t invite you, Cherry. Or Pepper, either.’ Just real hostile.” Cherry looked glum that her efforts at sarcasm had been wasted. “All those years in beauty pageants must’ve fried her brain.”

  Lulu nodded. “That’s right—I’d forgotten she’d been involved in pageants. Magnolia Queen?”

  Dee Dee bellowed from across the room, “Magnolia Queen, Azalea Queen, Barbeque Queen. That was all back in the day. Now she coaches contestants and judges pageants.”

  Ah, thought Lulu. She’d forgotten Tristan’s connection to the pageant world. Some of her conversation with Dee Dee was starting to make sense.

  Cherry quickly blushed a shade of red that matched her hair. “Oops. Sorry, Lulu. I’ve got foot-in-mouth disease. I forgot that your granddaughter is in pageants.”

  Lulu chuckled. “I’d forgotten Coco is, too! Don’t worry about it. I know you weren’t talking about Coco.”

  Dee Dee perked up over at the register. “Lulu,” she called loudly, “be sure to send Coco over my way if she needs a special dress for a competition. I’ve got a few little-girl dresses that would be the perfect thing.”

  There was nothing wrong with Dee Dee’s hearing, thought Lulu sourly. She’d been honing in on their conversation the whole time.

  Cherry sighed again. “Okay, I think I’m done here. Shopping�
�s not helping me forget my troubles this time. Or maybe,” and this time her voice did drop a little, “I need to go to the Hipster Honey store and find some cute clothes.”

  Lulu said, “Cherry? Just forget all about this Memphis Women’s League bull. It’s not worth the aggravation.”

  “Darn straight it’s not!” said Cherry, hotly. “Just the same, though, Tristan Pembroke better watch her back. This brouhaha ain’t over yet.”

  Chapter 2

  Lulu relaxed as she walked in the door of Aunt Pat’s. Just walking in from Beale Street and seeing the familiar wooden booths, red-checkered tablecloths, and paper-towel rolls on the tables made her blood pressure go down. The walls were covered with photographs and framed family memorabilia—which made Lulu feel like she was surrounded by family at all times. She loved, in particular, being greeted by a black-and-white photo of her dear aunt Pat. With her eyes twinkling and mouth pulled into a gentle smile, she looked like she could pop right out of the photograph and visit with her.

  Colleen Bannister walked into Aunt Pat’s to give Coco a ride to a pageant, since Lulu’s daughter-in-law, Sara, had to stay at the restaurant to work, and Colleen had to go with her daughter, Pansy, anyway. It was a wonder, thought Lulu, that Colleen’s hair could actually fit under the door frame. It was truly a work of fine art and sprayed within an inch of its life. And the amount of makeup that Colleen slathered on her face was probably enough to beautify three different women. You could see, though, where Pansy got her beauty-pageant looks from. Colleen was divorced, and Lulu was always surprised she wasn’t dating anyone.