Lucy and the Valentine Verdict

By Rae Davies

A Dusty Deals Holiday Novella featuring amateur sleuth and antique store owner, Lucy Mathews and her Alaskan malamute, Kiska.

Lucy is looking for love with her cowboy detective boyfriend, Peter, at a Valentine's Mystery Weekend Retreat. Kiska is looking for treats.

Motivated by a bet with Peter, Lucy goes all out to solve the mystery, but things go wrong and Lucy finds herself a suspect once again - and not for a pretend crime.

Will she get through the weekend without winding up in handcuffs? Will she win the bet? And what about Peter? What surprise does he have planned for Lucy on this most romantic weekend of the year?

Set in Helena, Montana, a capital city with a small town feel.
Other books in the Dusty Deals Mystery Series...
Loose Screw
Cut Loose
Loosey Goosey
Let Loose
Loose & Lethal: Dusty Deals Mystery Series Box Set: Books 1 -3

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rae Davies
• Release date: Sep 7, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311663856

Rae Davies

Rae Davies is the USA Today Best-selling Author of the Dusty Deals Mystery Series.She also, under the name Lori Devoti, writes in numerous other genres including paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and young adult fiction.Rae/Lori is a past winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award and a member of Novelists Inc., a prestigious group for professional writers. She lives near Madison, Wisconsin with her husband and children as well as two dogs. She teaches the craft and business of writing through the University of Wisconsin's Continuing Studies program, both in person and online, and blogs about writing at www.HowToWriteShop.com.Like Lucy, Rae/Lori loves antiques, Montana and malamutes. (Although don't tell her husky or aussie/pug mix that last part.)Learn more about both personas by visiting Rae's web site at http://raedavies.com or Lori's web site at http://www.loridevoti.comWhile you are there, don't forget to sign up for her newsletter for information on what is coming next from both Lori and Rae.Like Rae's page on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/RaeDaviesAuthor

Book preview

Lucy and the Valentine Verdict

A Dusty Deals Mystery Novella – 4.5 in the series

Rae Davies

Published by

Copyright Rae Davies & Lori Devoti, 2014

Smashwords Edition

Updated April, 2016

This book is set in the real city of Helena, Montana. However, this is a work of fiction and all people, places of business, and events are fictional. Any similarity to anyone, thing or place is purely coincidence.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or a portion thereof, in any form. This book may not be resold or uploaded for distribution to others.

If you notice any typos or formatting issues with this book, the author would appreciate being notified.

Email her at [e-mail]

Cast of Characters

Maid Ann: Maid of Lady York and Sir Cannon for two years with questionable taste in skirt length and other possible moral issues. (Played by reporter turned antiques store owner turned amateur sleuth and the heroine of our little tale, Lucy Mathews.)

Kiska: Captain Egg’s therapy dog. Seen stealing snacks in a most blatant manner. (Played by Lucy’s Alaskan malamute, Kiska.)

Captain Egg: Retired military man with monocle, service dog and wandering hands that seem to find themselves on Maid Ann. (Played by Lucy’s detective boyfriend, Peter Blake.)

Lady York: Our hostess, a woman married to a man a number of years her senior with possible side interests.

Sir Arthur Cannon: Retired man of means who enjoys hunting big game, specifically on the Dark Continent, home of the highly venomous boomslang viper.

Vera Claythorne: A botanist by trade who recently retired from a major pharmaceutical company.

Butler Mandrake Raven: Butler employed by Lady York and Sir Cannon for unknown length of time. An obvious suspect, being the butler after all.

Mrs. Peabody: Rich philanthropist widow with a newly syndicated advice column.

Mr. Blore: A retired banker who seems to have a bit of a wandering eye. (Played by Harold, a rancher and husband of Mrs. Peabody.)

Dr. Armstrong: Attractive, ambitious doctor.

Emily Brent: A religious woman with a dislike of alcohol and a husband who just so happened to have died under suspicious circumstances. Of course, she isn’t telling anyone about that.

Dusty Deals Mystery Series

Loose Screw

Cut Loose

Loosey Goosey

Let Loose

Lucy and the Valentine Verdict (a Dusty Deals Novella)

Loose Lips

Chapter 1

Love may conquer all eventually, but in my experience it needed a good kick in the pants to get itself going.

And that was exactly what I hoped my Valentine’s weekend at a not-too-far-away resort was going to be for the love in my life.

Except things never worked out the way I planned. Never.

What do you mean a boiler exploded? I asked Betty, my part-time employee at my antiques shop, Dusty Deals.

I’d driven to the store this morning to drop off my Alaskan malamute, Kiska, with my best friend, Rhonda, who ran the book store next door and to meet my cowboy detective boyfriend, Peter Blake.

We’d been planning this Valentine’s weekend getaway for weeks.

Just what I said... a boiler... it exploded. She enunciated each word.

What kind of boiler?

She cocked a brow. The kind that heats the building? Here... She held out that morning’s copy of the Helena Daily News and stabbed at it with one ruby red fingernail. No one was hurt, but the hotel is going to be closed for at least a week. They should have called you.

The reservations weren’t in my name, so if they had called, I wouldn’t have known it, but that really wasn’t the issue here.

Do boilers even still exist? I asked. I thought they went out with steam locomotives.

Betty lowered the paper to her lap and stared at me with strained patience.

I got the message. Denial of the facts would not change said facts.

I huffed out a breath. What to do now?

There is this... Betty pulled an envelope out from under the phone. Ethel stopped by last night after you left. She got these tickets, but due to some... commitments... can’t use them.

Ethel was a local octogenarian who until recently was only known for her charitable works. A few weeks earlier, however, I’d discovered a few other aspects of her personality and habits. Based on the expression on Betty’s face, I guessed that Ethel’s commitments had more to do with the latter.

Still, who was I to judge, or turn down something that might save my weekend? I took the envelope.

Inside were two tickets and a flyer. All three were bright pink and emblazoned with the words Valentine’s Mystery Weekend. Love hurts, but can it kill?

I grimaced. I certainly hoped not. At least not in the next few days.

I don’t know... The bell over the front door dinged and Peter walked in. He was looking all masculine and rugged in his favorite Stetson and Justin ropers. His gaze settled on my face and star detective that he was, he said, You heard.

I grimaced again. I’d still been hoping that Betty and the Daily News were wrong.

They called you, I said.

Yes. His gaze moved to the fluorescent slips of paper in my hand. What do you have there?

I glanced down, a bit startled to find I was still holding the items.

Betty jumped in for me. Tickets to a mystery weekend in Seeley Lake.

Peter cocked a brow. "One of those Clue things?"

I assumed he meant the game, which was accurate enough. I read from the flyer, "Calling suspects, murderers and victims! Play your role and play detective. You may just be the one to figure out ‘who dunnit.’"

Peter held his hand out to Kiska, who wandered over for a rub behind the ears. We could go.

My eyes widened. Really?

He lifted one shoulder. Sure, although it doesn’t really seem fair.

Suspicion settled in quickly. What do you mean?

He laughed. Well, I am a detective.

I snorted.

His hand stilled. What?

Nothing. I glanced at Betty, who suddenly seemed busy rearranging a collection of Occupied Japan figures.

I looked back at my boyfriend. And I’ve helped solve four murder cases.

His lips turned up at the side. You have.

His intonation was flat, no mockery that I could detect, but still...

"This is a murder mystery weekend, just like you said, like Clue, and