Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke Read Free Book Online

would adore, meatloaf with three different sauces."
    "I saw that episode," Hannah said, and then she clamped her mouth shut. Connie Mac's recipe for a meatloaf dinner was totally ridiculous. There was no way. any busy Minnesota housewife would have the time and energy to mix up a meatloaf, wrap it en cro'te, prepare three different sauces, drizzle them artistically around the lip of an oversized china plate, and arrange slices of meatloaf in an overlapping design that was garnished with piping hot deep-fried parsley.
    "Didn't it look just wonderful?" Andrea insisted.
    "Yes," Hannah admitted truthfully. It had been a beautiful presentation, but she suspected that how food looked on television was a lot more important to Connie Mac than how it actually tasted. "You seem stressed, Hannah," Andrea said, looking concerned. "Are you worried about getting back to The Cookie Jar?"
    No, I'm worried that my tongue will start bleeding from biting it so many times, Hannah thought, but she didn't say it. Andrea had just presented her with an acceptable excuse for bowing out "You're right, Andrea. I still have a lot of baking to do. Could you finish the rest of the tour without me? All you have to do is show Connie Mac the Ezekiel Jordan house and escort her back out to the inn."
    "Of course. No problem." Andrea looked very pleased. "I'll stop by later to tell you how it went."
    "Great I'll dash back to The Cookie Jar then. Make my excuses, will you?" Hannah shrugged into her parka and practically flew up the stairs, leaving Andrea to cope with the biggest sweet-talker and manipulator ever to set foot in Lake Eden.
    "Try this," Hannah said, handing Lisa one of the blueberry muffins she'd baked for the Winter Carnival judges.
    "Gladly." Lisa took a bite and a rapturous expression spread over her face. "It's perfect I love blueberry muffins."
    "So do I. I just wish I had fresh blueberries."
    "The frozen ones are almost as good." Lisa took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. "My blueberry muffins taste like vanilla, unless you happen to bite into a blueberry. Yours taste like blueberries all the way through. How did you do that?"
    "Blueberry pie filling. I mixed some in before I added the frozen blueberries. The dough turns a little purple, but I like the end result."
    "So do I. They're absolutely delicious." Lisa finished the last bite and picked up the plastic boxes that Hannah had filled with muffins. "Do you want me to put these in the cooler?'
    "They don't need to be refrigerated. Just stack them on a shelf in the pantry and I'll deliver them tomorrow morning."
    Lisa opened the pantry door and stashed the muffins on a shelf. Then she came back and sat down again. "I still can't believe that Connie Mac asked your mother to repaint the kitchen walls."
    "And I still can't believe that Mother actually agreed to do it." Hannah just shook her head. Andrea had reported in right after the final leg of Connie Mac's tour, and she'd de- scribed everything that had happened at the Ezekiel Jordan House. Not only had Connie Mac asked Delores to paint the kitchen walls peach so that she could have her picture taken in the first mayor's kitchen, she'd also managed to talk Norman into coming in late this afternoon for a special portrait sitting.
    Lisa glanced up at the clock on the wall. "It's almost six. They must be through with the pictures by now."
    "Maybe, but I have a feeling that Connie Mac was late. I think she likes to make people wait for her."
    "She's on a power trip?"
    "That's the impression I got. She sure knows how to make people do what she wants. You should have seen Mr. Purvis cave in when she asked him to reserve the special sleigh for her. He couldn't agree fast enough."
    Lisa looked puzzled. "But I thought that sleigh was for the Prince and Princess of Winter."
    "Not anymore. They're riding in one of the regular sleighs now. Connie Mac can get anything out of anybody."
    "Not you."
    "I'm a hard case." Hannah began to grin. "Actually,