Pet in Peril: A TV Pet Chef Mystery Set in L.A. (Kitty Karlyle Pet Chef Mysteries, 3, Band 3) - Softcover

Celine, Marie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847517498 ISBN 13: 9781847517494

Verlag: Severn House Publishers Ltd, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

Gourmet Pet Chef Kitty Karlyle must once again draw on her sleuthing skills when her best friend is suspected of murder.

Kitty Karlyle is sceptical when a pet psychologist tells her that her cat and dog are suffering from depression and recommends a pet-centric vacation. Her producer however thinks it’s a great idea, and seizes the opportunity to shoot the next episode of Kitty’s TV cooking show, The Pampered Pet, on location at the luxurious Little Switzerland Resort and Spa for Pets.

Soon after Kitty and her best friend Fran arrive, matters take an unexpected turn when a fellow guest is found strangled in his hotel room. When the police start digging, they discover that Fran’s family lost their life savings in one of the victim’s crooked money-making schemes – and Fran becomes the prime suspect. With her best friend under suspicion of murder, it’s up to Kitty to get cooking and catch the real killer.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Glenn Meganck is the author of the Kitty Karlyle Gourmet Pet Chef mysteries (as Marie Celine) and the Tony Kozol mystery series (as J.R. Ripley). He has penned novels in various categories.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Pet in Peril

By Marie Celine

Severn House Publishers Limited

Copyright © 2016 Marie Celine
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84751-749-4

CHAPTER 1

'Fred and Barney are depressed.'

'That's the silliest thing I've ever heard,' Kitty said. Fran was her best friend and all but what was she thinking? Kitty served them each a plate of eggs and sausage at the kitchen table. OK, so it wasn't real sausage. It was soy and quinoa sausage and Fran hated the stuff. She'd made that clear on more occasions than Kitty cared to remember. 'Eat before your food gets cold.'

Fran kept up her monolog while generously pouring tons of ketchup over her breakfast because when it came to faux meat of any kind, Fran wasn't a fan. Not even a faux fan. She said the faux sausage tasted like the recycled cardboard box the stuff came packaged in.

She said that often, too. The woman wasn't one for holding back her feelings.

'Animals can be quite emotional.' Fran stabbed at an egg and took a bite. 'I don't know why you insist on paying extra for cage-free, free-range eggs when the eggs from the egg factory are cheaper. They all taste the same to me.'

Kitty nibbled at her food. 'I feel bad for the chickens. They ought to be free.'

Fran rolled her eyes. 'The next thing you'll be telling is that we're only going to be buying our eggs from chickens that have been home-schooled as well.'

'Very funny. You did just say that animals have emotions. Chickens are animals too.' Fran liked to tell people she had a Type A personality. Kitty liked to kid her that it was more a Type B personality – B as in blabbermouth.

'And they do,' Fran said between mouthfuls. She might have complained constantly about the food but it hadn't yet stopped her from eating it. 'And you have to pay attention to their emotions.' She jabbed her fork in Kitty's direction for emphasis.

Kitty wolfed down her food and stood, dropping her plate in the sink. 'I don't have time to discuss the emotional needs of my pets right now, Fran.' She wiped her hands on her apron. 'I have a business to run.' The nature of Kitty's gourmet pet chef business meant that she was up at the crack of dawn six days a week. On the seventh she was glad to sleep in late, if the cat let her. The dog took a much more live-and-let-live attitude and allowed her to sleep in as late as she liked.

Fran turned to face Kitty at the stove. 'You've got to listen to them. Every wag, every purr tells a story.'

This from a woman who'd never had a pet, not so much as a goldfish. Kitty was juggling various pots and pans. Every burner was ablaze. 'You know I love Fred and Barney. They're like children to me.'

She cracked open the kitchen window to let some air into the apartment. According to her weather app it would be a haze-free day in Los Angeles with the high climbing into the nineties. Kitty grabbed a clean wooden spoon and began stirring it slowly around in a steel saucepan, watching the gravy turn golden brown. Kitty was baking a large meatloaf that would be sliced into smaller portions and distributed to several of her clients' pets later that day. While she used to love the meatloaf her mom made with ketchup on top, Kitty knew her clientele would like the beef gravy better.

'I'm just saying,' replied Fran, not one to back down. She'd gone on a sudden bead kick, purchased a bucketful of recycled kona wood hair beads and woven them into her long black locks. When she whipped her head from side to side it made a sound like a soft rain falling through leafy trees. 'Fred is in a funk. Barney, too, if you want to know the truth.' Her green eyes fluttered as she scrunched up her pouty red lips to shoot Fred an air kiss.

Kitty peeked in the oven window. The meatloaf looked about done. The overpowering smells of meats and veggies brewing together in the small space was beginning to overwhelm her – almost as much as this conversation.

'Now you're going to tell me you know what my pets are thinking?' She wiped her damp brow with the corner of her apron then pushed the window up the rest of the way. Kitty glanced appraisingly at Fred and Barney. Fred was the sleek black Labrador Retriever that she'd adopted from a local rescue organization. Barney was a frisky tuxedoed stray cat that had followed Kitty home one day when she was out for a stroll and had since more or less adopted her.

Were they looking a bit forlorn?

'Maybe I should make an appointment with the vet.'

'The vet?' The New York faction of Fran's accent grew stronger as she grew more strident. 'They don't need needles and shots or to have an ice-cold thermometer shoved up their tender nether regions.' Fran Earhart was part German on her father's side and all Jamaican on her mother's. She'd spent the first years of her life in NYC, then the family had moved to Kingston, Jamaica in her father's effort to give his family a better life.

Later, Fran, hoping to make a living as a makeup artist, had struck off for Miami on her own, then LA. Fran eventually landed a job at Santa Monica Film Studios, which was exactly where Kitty was now working part-time as well. The two had met a couple of months back when Kitty had shown up for her initial meeting with the producer of a possible cooking show for pets. Kitty had got the job and a new bestie and roommate in the bargain.

'You asked my opinion and I'm giving it to you, girl,' Fran continued.

Kitty refrained from correcting Fran. She had definitely not asked for Fran's opinion about the state of her pets' mental health.

'Fred and Barney are in a funk. It's time you took them to see a shrink. The vet.' She snorted. 'Katherine Elizabeth Karlyle, I cannot believe you even said that. Shame on you.'

Kitty shook her head firmly. 'I am not taking my dog and cat to a pet psychologist. That's crazy.' Kitty replied. 'No pun intended.'

Katherine was her given name but everybody called her Kitty. When she was a mere babe her parents had owned a silvery Siamese named Princess. Every time her mom called 'Kitty, kitty, kitty,' to attract the cat, baby Katherine had come running – or crawling to be more precise – thinking that her mother was calling her. Thus, a nickname was born. Princess, on the other hand, never came running unless the kibble bag was shaking.

'I think it is exactly what you, Fred and Barney need. Right, Fred?'

The Lab raised his head at the sound of his name.

'Don't you dare answer, Fred.' Kitty waved her spatula then turned her attention to the two-quart saucepan on the back burner. She was making up a batch of her popular liver and oatmeal bran dog biscuits. 'Psychologist, please. I am not about to go all Hollyweird like my clients.' She didn't mean that in a bad way. Kitty ran a struggling gourmet pet chef business out of her house and relied on the wealthier members of Los Angeles society whose pets she created meals for on a regular basis. Her clients were quirky but harmless for the most part.

Of course, all that was changing now with the new TV show, The Pampered Pet, coming to TV in a few months. They'd already shot and aired a pilot and were well into the first season's batch of episodes, with three shows 'in the can' as Greg Clifton, the show's director, liked to say. Now that she was a newbie TV cooking show host she wasn't struggling quite so much these days. Except with her roommate's rantings.

Kitty was still waiting not so patiently for her first real paycheck from the show. She'd been hounding the show's producer who continually promised the check was on its way, but somehow the money hadn't made...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Severn House Publishers Ltd
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1847517498
• ISBN 13: 9781847517494
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 208
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland