Croissant Murder (A Patisserie Mystery with Recipes) by Harper Lin Read Free Book Online Page B

everything. Maybe she should call Sophie Seydoux and get the name of her therapist.

    “Take it easy on that pastry,” Sebastien said.

    “Too much alcohol and too many sweets,” she muttered. “I can cut the alcohol, but not sure about the sweets.”  

    “Put down the pain au chocolat and let’s get back to work.”  

    “Fine. I need to get my shit together, don’t I?

    Sebastien was working on the apricot-and-melon macaron for their fruity summer macaron collection.  

    “Well, I have been doing most of the inventing lately,” he said.  

    “How was the banana macaron anyway?”  

    “See for yourself. It’s coming out of the oven, and I’m making the coconut filling. I think I’ve finally perfected it.”  

    Since the shells needed to cool before they could pipe on the filling, she busied herself helping Sebastien improve the starfruit recipe.  

    As she started to work, she began to relax. This was what she loved about being in the kitchen. There was something soothing about weighing the ingredients, mixing them together, and watching the colors change. A few simple ingredients could make the most delicious, decadent, and beautiful treat. That was the joy: the transformation from the ordinary to the extraordinary.  

    Unlike painting, working in a kitchen wasn’t something she struggled with. Even perfecting the recipes after multiple attempts was still fun. Maybe it was because she didn’t need to prove to herself in this field. There was no pressure and she only enjoyed herself.  

    When she’d seen Mathieu’s new paintings, she’d rediscovered how much she wanted to be a painter. Even though the art world couldn’t see it now, she was certain his work had merit and that he was going to go places. Mathieu had something to say and he was not the type to compromise artistic integrity. She had meant it when she said that his work was brilliant. Although they’d had some personal conflict, she respected him, from one artist to another.  

    Seeing how productive Mathieu was, how persistent, Clémence felt she could do more. A lot more. She was too stuck in her comfort zone to pursue her big passion. She’d barely gotten started on her series of dessert paintings. The one and only painting she’d worked on was of the pistachio macaron, and she hadn’t been to an art class at the Spinoza Atelier since she started investigating Sophie’s kidnapping.  

    The teacher and her peers couldn’t blame her for taking some time off, but she couldn’t make excuses to herself anymore. She needed to get her life back on track. There were no more murders, no more ex-boyfriends, no more chaos to get in the way.

    Mentally, she made a list of all the things she needed to straighten out:

    1) The issue with Arthur. A non-issue really. She wouldn’t see Mathieu from now on. If he contacted her again, she’d respect Arthur enough to say no. His girlfriend Charlotte would also appreciate their lack of contact. Arthur was still mad, but she couldn’t see why he wouldn’t forgive her when she proved how much she loved him. Maybe she’d give him a full-body massage that night, and feed him some fresh-made macarons.  

    2) Restrict to eating only one dessert a day. Then one every two days. Stop grabbing junk to eat on the go, and consume more vegetables. If she needed to, she could get her chefs to make her healthy meals to take home.  

    3) Exercise. Go to bootcamp with Berenice. Maybe she could even start taking self-defense classes. It would definitely come in handy.  

    4) Go back to her art classes, starting tomorrow. No more excuses. It didn’t matter if she wasn’t as talented as Mathieu or other artists. She had to push herself to do what she loved.

    The macaron mix was done, and she smiled in pride. She scooped the mixture into a piping bag then piped perfect one-inch circles on a lined tray.    

    She felt better already, making the macarons and a checklist.

    Sebastien began piping the