Spice and prejudice, p.1
Spice and Prejudice, page 1
Spice and Prejudice
A NORA BLACK MIDLIFE PSYCHIC MYSTERY BOOK 5
RENEE GEORGE
Spice and Prejudice
A Nora Black Midlife Psychic Mystery Book 5
Copyright © 2021 by Renee George
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the copyright holder.
Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement by the author of this work.
This is a work of fiction. All characters and storylines in this book are inspired only by the author’s imagination. The characters are based solely in fiction and are in no relation inspired by anyone bearing the same name or names. Any similarities to real persons, situations, or incidents is purely coincidental.
Print: December 2021
ISBN: 978-1-947177-41-3
Publisher: Barkside of the Moon Press
Paranormal Mysteries & Romances
BY RENEE GEORGE
Grimoires of a Middle-aged Witch
https://www.renee-george.com/GMW
Earth Spells Are Easy
Spell On Fire
When the Spells Blows
Spell Over Troubled Water
Ghost in the Spell
* * *
Nora Black Midlife Psychic Mysteries
www.norablackmysteries.com
Sense & Scent Ability (Book 1)
For Whom the Smell Tolls (Book 2)
War of the Noses (Book 3)
Aroma With A View (Book 4)
Spice and Prejudice (Book 4)
* * *
Peculiar Mysteries
www.peculiarmysteries.com
You’ve Got Tail (Book 1)
My Furry Valentine (Book 2)
Thank You For Not Shifting (Book 3)
My Hairy Halloween (Book 4)
In the Midnight Howl (Book 5)
My Peculiar Road Trip (Magic & Mayhem) (Book 6)
Furred Lines (Book7)
My Wolfy Wedding (Book 8)
Who Let The Wolves Out? (Book 9)
My Thanksgiving Faux Paw (Book 10)
* * *
Witchin’ Impossible Cozy Mysteries
www.witchinimpossible.com
Witchin’ Impossible (Book 1)
Rogue Coven (Book 2)
Familiar Protocol (Booke 3)
Mr & Mrs. Shift (Book 4)
* * *
Barkside of the Moon Mysteries
www.barksideofthemoonmysteries.com
Pit Perfect Murder (Book 1)
Murder & The Money Pit (Book 2)
The Pit List Murders (Book 3)
Pit & Miss Murder (Book 4)
The Prune Pit Murder (Book 5)
Two Pits and A Little Murder (Book 6)
* * *
Madder Than Hell
www.madder-than-hell.com
Gone With The Minion (Book 1)
Devil On A Hot Tin Roof (Book 2)
A Street Car Named Demonic (Book 3)
* * *
Hex Drive
https://www.renee-george.com/hex-drive-series
Hex Me, Baby, One More Time (Book 1)
Oops, I Hexed It Again (Book 2)
I Want Your Hex (Book 3)
Hex Me With Your Best Shot (Book 4)
* * *
Midnight Shifters
www.midnightshifters.com
Midnight Shift (Book 1)
The Bear Witch Project (Book 2)
A Door to Midnight (Book 3)
A Shade of Midnight (Book 4)
Midnight Before Christmas (Book 5)
Contents
Acknowledgments
Blurb
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
The Age of Inno-Scents
Earth Spells Are Easy
About the Author
For Steve and Taylor
Thank you both for always loving and supporting me.
Praise for Renee George
“Sense and Scent Ability by Renee George is a delightfully funny, smart, full of excitement, up-all-night fantastic read! I couldn’t put it down. The latest installment in the Paranormal Women’s Fiction movement, knocks it out of the park. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy today!”
—ROBYN PETERMAN NYT BESTSELLING AUTHOR
* * *
"I'm loving the Paranormal Women's Fiction genre! Renee George's humor shines when a woman of a certain age sniffs out the bad guy and saves her bestie. Funny, strong female friendships rule!"
-- MICHELLE M. PILLOW, NYT & USAT BESTSELLING AUTHOR
"I smell a winner with Renee George's new book, Sense & Scent Ability! The heroine proves that being over fifty doesn't have to stink, even if her psychic visions do."
-- MANDY M. ROTH, NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR
“Sense & Scent Ability is everything! Nora Black is sassy, smart, and her smell-o-vision is scent-sational. I can’t wait for the next Nora book!
—MICHELE FREEMAN, AUTHOR OF HOMETOWN HOMICIDE, A SHERIFF BLUE HAYES MYSTERY
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to my “you saved my butt once again” crew of BFFs Robbin, Michele, and Robyn for hanging in there with me until the very end. Thank you for being my people! I love you guys!
To my editor Kelli Collins. You are a great friend and my rock! I’m sorry I am such a crap client. LOL (The woman is a saint, people!)
To the PWF #13 - Thanks for bringing attention to heroines of a certain age. You ladies are magnificent.
My husband Steve and my son Taylor for taking up the slack around the house, and most of all, leaving me alone to write! I literally couldn’t do this without you.
My BFF Dakota Cassidy for being my one true heart when it comes to all things binge-worthy. I love you, girl!
And finally, to the readers. You are making this midlife writer happier than you can even imagine! Thank you for loving Nora and going on this journey with her and her BFF brigade.
Blurb
Midlife dating is all fun and games until someone falls into the flambé and catches on fire…and your best friend’s ex-husband is accused of murder.
When my BFF Gilly Martin requests my help in narrowing down her dance card from two great guys to one, I reluctantly agree to employ my psychic nose for the good of my bestie’s future.
But who knew dating could be deadly?
After Gilly’s ex-husband is arrested for murder, I am more than okay with my Detective Hottie boyfriend locking the meathead up and throwing away the key. However, being a jerk doesn’t make someone a killer, and the case smells fishy from the get-go. So, I’m putting my personal feelings aside and using my smell-o-vision to investigate.
* * *
Get the FREE short story The Importance of Being Gilly that inspired the novel! Link at the end of the book.
Chapter
One
Early August…
“Celibacy is for the birds. Birds who hate sex,” my best friend Gillian “Gilly” Martin lamented. “I can see why it fails to keep teenagers from doing the hanky-panky when it’s taught in school.”
We watched as dozens of teens danced to music I wasn’t all that familiar with. Earlier, I’d recognized a Taylor Swift song, but only because my niece Ari walked around for a month belting out the lyrics to “You Need to Calm Down”. I didn’t hate it.
“What about Luke? I’m sure he’ll happily make a booty call,” I half-teased.
Luke Robson, a security supervisor for a luxury hotel in Kansas City, had been trying to make long distance work with Gilly for over half a year. The two had sizzling chemistry but Robson had wanted Gilly to move to the city, and Gilly had wanted him to move to Garden Cove. Something neither of them wanted to do.
“Luke’s dating someone else now.” Gilly sighed. “But man, oh man, he knew how to rock my boat.”
“What about that doctor? You know, the one that took care of me in the hospital,” I said. Doctor Scott Graham had asked Gilly out twice that I knew of, but she’d turned him down because of Luke. Now that sexy security guy was out of the picture, there wasn’t any reason for her to say no. “He was pretty cute.”
“Hot, you mean,” Pippa, our other BFF, added. She was chic in a pair of skinny crop jeans, a short-sleeved peach sweater, and a pair of strappy heels. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun.
“And he’s nice.” I raised my hands with a shrug. “I’m sure if you gave him a call…”
“No,” Gilly said quickly. “I’m on a man-cleanse.”
“That sounds like it should come with a warning,” Claire Portman said, as she walked up to our table. “Side effects may include flatulence and loose stools.”
Gilly’s eyes widened as she choked on a laugh. “I hope that’s not the case.
“Me, either.” But I fully supported Gilly’s self-imposed man-hiatus until she found someone who would move planets to be with her.
“That’s a grand plan,” Claire said, primping her expertly colored caramel brown hair. She’d been a beauty queen in her heyday. Thanks to good genetics and an extremely gifted plastic surgeon, she looked better at seventy than a lot of fifty-year-olds I knew. “It’s always lovely to see you, Nora. Where’s that gorgeous young man of yours?”
My guy, Ezra Holden, was a detective with the Garden Cove Police Department, and he was nineteen years my junior. I didn’t dwell on our age difference, since it was something I couldn’t change. Even so, I knew Claire didn’t mean anything ageist by her comment. Claire thought anyone under the age of sixty was young.
“He had some work to finish up,” I told her without going into a lot of detail. He was executing a time-sensitive warrant and, unfortunately, it had coincided with the going-away party. His son Mason was the same age as Gilly’s twins Marco and Ari, and this party was to celebrate the three of them. I shook off my thoughts and smiled at Claire. “He’ll be here when he wraps up his police business.”
“All work and no play,” she replied.
I smirked. “There’s nothing dull about Ezra.”
She waved her hand delicately. “Of that, my dear, I have no doubt.” Claire dipped her head and kissed my cheek. “Isn’t my grandson handsome?” She gestured toward the dance floor. Mason, her grandson by marriage, was dancing with a handful of friends. “I hope Ezra makes it. He should see this. It’s good to see your children happy.” She glanced over at her son Roger and his wife Kati, Mason’s mother, as they visited with friends a few tables down from us. Both Kati and Roger were laughing and smiling.
I nodded. “It is good.”
She rewarded me with a smile that radiated pure joy. Then something caught her attention. I glanced over to where she was looking and saw a tall, thin, silver-haired woman wearing a beautifully draped ice-green dress. Next to her stood a blonde woman in a black silk tank top and cream dress slacks, and black pumps.
“There’s Marta LaMonte and her granddaughter, Lauren,” she confided. After, she nodded to Pippa, Gilly, and me. “I have to go, darlings. Enjoy your night.”
A slow dance came on, and I watched Marco pull a cute brunette into his arms. Ari glanced over at our table and waved as she started dancing with Mason, Ezra’s son. The two of them had been thick as thieves since before their senior year. I’d asked Ari if the two of them were dating. She’d said no. I, admittedly, had been relieved. I was Ari’s godmother, and I was in a relationship with Mason’s dad. I worried about sides if the two of them got messy.
And now all three of them, Marco, Ari, and Mason, were technically adults and heading off on their next adventure. Which is why we were sitting in the ballroom at the resort where Gilly’s ex-husband worked. It was a sendoff party for the three of them hosted by Gilly, her ex, Giovanni Rossi, Kati Portman, who was Mason’s mother, and Ezra. It was taking place at Portman’s on the Lake because Kati and her husband managed the resort for Claire, and Gio was the head chef at Players, the resort’s fine dining restaurant. In other words, the price was right.
“I can’t believe my babies are going off to college,” Gilly said. “It seems like just yesterday I was bringing them home from the hospital.”
“I remember that day,” I told her. “They were so tiny, but I knew they’d never want or need for anything with you as a mom.”
Gilly’s brown eyes glistened with tears. She hugged me. “You’re going to make me cry.”
“We can’t have that,” I said, giving her a good squeeze. “Not when your makeup is this fabulous.”
Gilly had gone to the beauty shop that afternoon for a makeover, including hair and makeup. She always looked beautiful, but the ladies at Curl Up and Dye had done my girl right. She wore a black pair of wide-leg pants, low-heeled sandals, and an off-the-shoulder v-neck top that showed off all her glorious curves.
Gilly sniffled then dabbed at her eyes with a cocktail napkin. “You’re right.” The side doors opened, and a handful of wait staff started wheeling in carts full of food. “Ugh,” Gilly muttered. “The great Gio is making his entrance.”
Dinner for the party was being catered by Players. Gio, a James Beard nominee and a Michelin Rising Star award-winning chef, and the absentee father of my godchildren. I wanted to punch him in his smug face every time I saw him. Tonight, was no exception.
The catered dinner, of course, had been Gio’s grand gesture for his mostly grown children, who he’d managed to ignore for over a decade when he left his family to pursue his dream of celebrity in Vegas. When he’d returned to Garden Cove, he’d given Gilly a whole song and dance about how he’d come back because he missed his family. Ari, however, had told me that Gio had gotten fired from his cushy gig because he’d been caught sleeping with his boss’s wife.
Currently, Gio wore a black and white chef’s coat with a black hat. For all his many, many flaws, the guy was still handsome. His hair was peppered gray now, and it somehow made him even more attractive. I used to worry that Gilly would fall back into his arms. He could be extremely charming when he wanted to be. Gilly, however, was no longer the same woman Gio had never been good enough for, and she’d instantly shut down any notion he had about getting back together.
Twyla Reynolds, Players’ hostess, directed the servers as if she were conductor. She looked in our direction, but when I waved, she quickly looked away.
“That’s weird,” I told Gilly.
“What?” she asked.
“I swear Twyla just actively avoided eye contact with me.”
“She probably didn’t see you, Nora,” Gilly said.
I shook my head. “I’m pretty sure she saw me.”
“Come to think of it, she hasn’t been in the shop for a long time.” Pippa frowned. “She’s one of our regulars. She’s even a member of the Scent of the Month club.”
Gilly shrugged. “As a wise man once said, paranoia will destroya.”
“If by a wise man, you mean The Kinks,” I countered. “Then yep.”
“I’m just saying, I’m sure there’s no big conspiracy,” Gilly said. “People get busy. They have lives. Let’s focus on the real issues tonight. Like the fact that my ex-husband gets to play hero at our kids’ farewell party, and,” she sighed, “he gets to look great doing it.”
“Aww.” I put my arm around Gilly’s shoulders. “I think someone is having a different kind of party. One of the pity variety.” I gave my bestie an assessing look. “Besides, you are way hotter than Gio.”
Gilly’s shoulders went back, and her head rose a little higher. “That helps. Let’s get in line for grub. I’m starving.”
While Twyla was directing diner traffic, a tall, slender man with dark brown hair and wearing a gray suit put his hand on her shoulder. He leaned in to speak to her. She shook her head and darted her gaze somewhere over her shoulder before saying something I couldn’t make out from this distance, and then shook her head again.
The man moved around her and grabbed a plate.
“Who’s that guy?” I asked Gilly, pointing to the distinguished gentleman.
“Trident.” When I gave her a blank stare, she added, “Aaron Trident. You know, the mayor of Garden Cove.”
He looked back at Twyla, and I got a good look at his face. Sure enough, it was our town mayor. “Oh, duh.” I winced. “So who invited the mayor to the party?”
