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    Death by Baking: Galactic Cruise Lines Cozy Mysteries, #3
    Death by Baking: Galactic Cruise Lines Cozy Mysteries, #3
    Death by Baking: Galactic Cruise Lines Cozy Mysteries, #3
    Ebook213 pages2 hours

    Death by Baking: Galactic Cruise Lines Cozy Mysteries, #3

    By Jo Carey

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    About this ebook

    Can Kat handle arrogant chefs, food bloggers with ulterior motives, and desserts to die for?

    Worried about how to tell her xenophobic parents that she's engaged to an elf and trying to juggle her onboard duties while planning her future is pushing Kat to the brink.

    Galactic Cruise Lines presents BAKE. Five pastry chefs from around the League of Planetary Systems are on board the SS Malpais to compete in GCL's first baking competition. Kat is hoping that the competitor's tempers don't rise along with their baked goods.

    Death by Baking is the third book in this exciting science fiction adventure series. If you like mysteries, relatable characters, not all of them human, and a strong female lead, you'll love this story in Jo Carey's Galactic Cruise Lines series. 199 pages.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJo Carey
    Release dateApr 24, 2018
    ISBN9781386420477
    Death by Baking: Galactic Cruise Lines Cozy Mysteries, #3
    Author

    Jo Carey

    Jo Carey grew up in the Midwest but her curiosity and gypsy-spirit has kept her on the move. She's lived in eight US states and spent three years living in Ireland. She has always loved creature movies, so creatures and bugs often show up in her books. Jo, a former information security compliance guru, writes fast-paced, character-driven stories in a variety of genres from medical thrillers to space operas and cozy mysteries. Her novels are filled with humor, romance, and sometimes creatures or aliens, or maybe even all of the above. She often builds her stories around a strong female lead character surrounded by plenty of hunky male heroes. Jo's been under fire on a golf course and climbed out the roof of an elevator in the Netherlands. Life hasn't been boring. Now residing in Texas, setting often plays a huge role in her stories. Jo was intrigued by the League of Planetary Systems, a world her husband, Frank, created for his science fiction books, and she now writes mysteries and other types of tales sets in that world. Jo was bitten by a cat, a fire ant, and a snake, before succumbing to the bite of the writing bug.

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      Book preview

      Death by Baking - Jo Carey

      Chapter 1

      We have so much to discuss, it seems we can never figure out where to start, I said, curling up on my bed and settling in for a long talk with my fiancé, Baudwin Llewellyn. Baudwin is Galactic Cruise Lines’ Chief Sleuthhound, and his job involves a lot of travel. Unless he's on an assignment on my ship, the SS Malpais, or we end up on the same planet at the same time, we don't get to see much of each other.

      I'll leave that up to you, my love. Does it make more sense to start with where we'll live and work after the ceremony, or should we concentrate on the bonding ceremony first and then...

      Kat Mitchell, please come to the small auditorium immediately, said the voice over the internal broadcast speakers.

      Oh, plark. I'm sorry, Baudwin. I'll have to call you back. I'm not sure what's going on, I said as alarms sounded and the message calling me kept repeating. The voice seemed to get more urgent with each repeat, but that may have just been my paranoia setting in.

      Is everything OK there, Kat? Baudwin asked.

      I have no idea. We are starting another competition cruise, so who knows what could have gone wrong, I said. I'll call or message when I can. Love you. Bye. I put my comm unit back on my belt and made my way to the transport tubes. Once I reached the main public deck, I had to fight my way upstream against the boarding passengers to reach the small auditorium. As I drew closer, I noticed a strange smell and the air looked a little smoky.

      As I neared the auditoriums, the smoke grew thicker. I had my head down and was concentrating on holding my breath as much as possible. I was trying to remember the safety training I had when I joined the crew of the SS Malpais. When I'm concentrating on something, I have the ability, or perhaps it's a curse, to shut out everything around me. This often leads to disastrous consequences. I ran into something solid headfirst. It gave a little before two muscular arms wrapped around me and kept me from losing my balance.

      I sucked in a lungful of smoke with my gasp for breathe and managed to sputter a thank you, between bouts of coughing. I tried to pull away, but the man pulled me tight against a very solid chest. You can let go now. I'm fine. I pushed off his chest with both hands, and he finally released me.

      Glad I could help, he said. I'm Chef Gerard Simone, perhaps you've heard of me. I'll be competing in the baking competition on this cruise. I'm always glad to come to the aid of a beautiful woman.

      Damn. This guy was one of my competitors. Someday when I have time, I'm going to invest in some serious therapy so I can find out what the hell I did to piss off the universe. These competitions are a thorn in my side. No, wait, they're really more like a parasite that is eating away at my soul from the inside.

      I made my way further down the corridor and found Ren, the Malpais' sexy Venlanten security officer, and Stone, my Goranthi boss, waiting for me outside the small auditorium as crewmen in fire suits scurried in and out of the double doors.

      Kat, thank the Gods, Stone said. We've had a little mishap with Ms. Trisk, the baker from Sokuhl.

      Did she set the place on fire? I asked though the answer seemed somewhat obvious.

      No, Ren said. Actually, this time it was only smoke that set off the fire detection system in this section of the ship.

      Can someone tell me what happened and shut off that damn message? I'm here.

      Ren called over one of his staff and whispered something to him. I assume he was told to get the message stopped and turn off the alarms. The captain is not going to be happy about this. We haven't even finished boarding, and now, these alarms have everyone running. At this stage, none of the passengers has been through the safety briefing, so they don't know what to do. It's chaos.

      Sounds like your safety procedures might need to be updated to deal with a situation like this, I said to Ren. His look told me my suggestion was not appreciated. Is Chef Trisk OK?

      She's fine, Stone said. Right now, we need to get things back under control and ease the worries of the passengers. Kat, go to my office and pick up the drink vouchers. Make your way around the ship handing them out and directing passengers to return to their cabins until the captain makes an announcement over the on ship media channel. Ren, check with the fire crew and engineering to find out how long it's going to take to clear this smoke and clean up the mess. Let me know what you find out.

      Chapter 2

      For the next hour, I made the rounds of every passenger deck on the ship handing out apologies and free drink coupons. When I finished, I was exhausted, and I still had to meet with Stone and find out how he wanted me to handle the situation with the competitors. I picked up two mugs of tea and two slices of chocolate cake in the staff cafeteria and headed for Stone's office. I felt sure he'd need the pick-me-up as much as I did.

      Stone, it's Kat, I said after knocking on his office door with my foot. I come bearing snacks. Can you open the door?

      How did it go with the passengers? he asked as he opened the door and took the tray from me. Stone is a Goranthi who is over six feet tall and most closely resembles a very large tree trunk. Not the most likely choice for a cruise director, but one of my best friends.

      As you'd expect. A few were concerned, but most seemed unduly pleased at the prospect of free drinks. Is everything cleaned up?

      Yes. I assume you heard the captain’s announcement that all is well and the ship was returning to normal function.

      Yeah, I caught it when I was picking up the tea in the cafeteria. I asked the bakers to meet me in the small auditorium at 1700 hours. I figured I could fill them in then. So what really happened?

      As I'm sure you know, the Sokuhl have a lot of beliefs that are tied to the 'natural world' as they call it. It seems that part of Ms. Trisk's routine to prepare her kitchen space was to eliminate any negative energy by walking around the space waving a bundle of flaming plants she brought with her from Sokuhl. The smoke set off the alarms and the retardant caused more trouble than the smoke. Please make sure you tell all of them that any use of open flame has to be approved by you from here on.

      OK. Well, this competition is certainly off to an exciting start, I said. Are we going forward with the events as planned?

      Yes, Stone said. Let's hope the rest of the excitement on this cruise is focused on the baking.

      From your lips to the gods' ears, I said. We reviewed the competitors' schedule for the remainder of the day, and I headed off to meet with them.

      With two murders during the ballroom competition and then another one during the acapella cruise, I hoped Galactic Cruise Lines would give up on these competitions styled after reality television shows from Earth circa 2007. I was surprised yet again when Stone told me we were hosting a baking competition.

      My life had calmed down a little since the end of the acapella competition. Trent, my best friend from university, and I had reconnected during that cruise, and we'd kept in touch since. I was happy to have him back in my life. Though he pushed for a romantic relationship, I just didn't feel that way about him, but I do value his friendship. Before the acapella cruise ended, Trent offered me a job working with him to expand his music production business League wide. At the time, I had too much on my mind, so I agree to take some time to think about it. I felt badly that I really hadn't given it a thought until this morning when I read his email saying he didn't want to push, but he needed to move forward with his expansion plans so he needed my answer soon. I had hoped to grab an hour or two this afternoon to think about his offer, but now that plan had gone up in smoke.

      Chapter 3

      I made my way to the auditorium which now sported a faintly floral aroma. I assumed the cleaning staff had sprayed some sort of air purifier in an effort to get rid of the smell of smoke. Unfortunately, they only succeeded in covering up an overpowering natural smell with an overpowering unnatural one.

      OK, everyone. Take your seats, I said as Gerard Simone walked through the doors. The French chef from Earth is the most well-known of the chefs competing, and I suspected also the most high-maintenance. Chef Simone was very good looking, and he knew it. Once everyone found a seat, I got down to business. First off, I need to request that from here on if you plan to use open flame in any way you get that approved by me first. I'm sure you can understand that after this morning's incident, management is not likely to approve those requests.

      Kat, surely you can see that it doesn't make any sense to punish all of us just because Ms. Trisk was careless, Gerard said. I make amazing flaming rum profiteroles. I should be allowed to use my best recipes.

      Submit your request, and I'll discuss it with management. If I were you, I'd plan on an alternative. If you'll all follow me, we're going to the kitchen.

      Because of the quantity of baked goods that the chefs had to prepare each night, they might need the use of an industrial mixer for some of their recipes. We didn't have the room or the funds to incorporate that piece of equipment in each of the display kitchens, so the chefs would use the Malpais' mammoth Hebrides mixer that was housed in the pasty kitchen.

      Henri was waiting for us in the corridor outside the kitchen. I noticed the obvious surprise of some of the competitors when they were introduced to our Alturan chef. I'd had a similar reaction when I learned that the chef on the Malpais was Alturan. I had feared all the food would taste like nutribars, the food most beloved by all Alturans. Now after a few months, Henri is one of my best friends on the ship, and I love his food. He's also good friends with my fiancé. After I greeted Henri and made introductions all around, Henri showed the chefs where the supplies they'd ordered were kept and then took us into the Malpais' pastry kitchen.

      Ms. Mitchell, Chef Kapell said. How will we have time to use this mixer if it's used by Chef Henri's staff?

      I looked to Henri to explain. Our pastry staff works at night so there will be no conflict. You've each been assigned time to use the Hebrides during the day. You can sign up for additional time with me if you have special needs. When you finish your mixing, my staff will handle the cleanup for you, but you have to let us know when you're done so that we can be sure the Hebrides is ready for the next chef. On our way out, I'll introduce you to my assistant. Let one of us know when you're finished, and we'll get it cleaned up.

      When we finished the tour and everyone knew the rules for using the Malpais' mixer, I thanked Henri and led the group back to the auditorium.

      Tonight, you'll be doing your signature bakes. Remember you have to make three hundred miniature portions, so plan accordingly. Any questions?

      No one had questions, and they were all anxious to settle in and prepare for the first phase of the competition. I noticed that Gerard didn't move until the others were all out the door.

      Gerard, did you have a question? I asked as I gathered up my datapad and tote bag and started for the door. As I put my hand on the door handle, he reached over my shoulder and put his hand over mine. I pulled my hand from under his and turned around to face him. Gerard, I don't know what you think you're do...

      He placed a hand on each of my shoulders and pushed me back against the door. I'm sorry our little encounter in the corridor was interrupted.

      Don't you need to get started on your preparations for tonight?

      He brought his face within an inch of mine as though he intended to kiss me. Unlike the others, I'm used to working under pressu...

      I pulled my knee up into his groin with as much force as I could muster. He immediately dropped his hands to his nether regions and grimaced in pain. Me, too. I said. Don't touch me again.

      Chapter 4

      Before I reached the dining room, my message alarm beeped numerous times. When I looked, I saw that I had four messages from Baudwin. I sent a quick message saying everything was fine, and I'd call when I could talk. I wanted to make sure the dining room was prepared for tonight's exhibition. The maintenance crew had done a great job creating five baking stations in what was normally the dance floor or entertainment section of the room. For this week's competition, our bakers would be preparing their dishes while the passengers ate and watched. Stone and I would roam amongst the five kitchens with a microphone asking questions and explaining what they were working on. At the end of the night, plates would be delivered to each table. The passengers would vote for their favorite as they left the dining room.

      On paper, it seemed that this competition would be a lot less work for me than either the ballroom or acapella competitions. Although the passengers would vote each night, no one would be eliminated. The winner would be selected based on their performance through all rounds. With only five competitors, it should be much easier to keep them all on task. So far though, this small group included one ethereal personality who'd set off the fire alarms and another idiot who I'd already had to knee in

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