Murder, Take Two. Carol J. Perry

      

      Also by Carol J. Perry

      Late Checkout

      Final Exam

      Bells, Spells, and Murders

      It Takes a Coven

      Grave Errors

      Murder Go Round

      Look Both Ways

      Tails, You Lose

      Caught Dead Handed

      MURDER, TAKE TWO

      CAROL J. PERRY

      KENSINGTON BOOKS

      www.kensingtonbooks.com

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      Table of Contents

      Also by Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Author’s Note 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 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Chapter 41 Epilogue RECIPES

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      Copyright © 2020 by Carol J. Perry

      To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.

      This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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      ISBN: 978-1-4967-3139-5

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-3140-1 (ebook)

      ISBN-10: 1-4967-3140-9 (ebook)

      For Dan, my husband and best friend

      Author’s Note

      The 1830 murder in Salem, Massachusetts, of Captain Joseph White referred to in Murder, Take Two really happened. Dick Crowninshield, the son of one of Salem’s wealthiest and most famous families, was the alleged killer. I’ve long been fascinated by that story and have taken this opportunity to weave it into a mystery tale of my own. My dad, Arthur Phelps, worked for the Salem-based Parker Brothers game company, so the game of Clue, which also figures prominently in this adventure, is a familiar old friend of mine.

      Look into any man’s heart you please, and you will always find, in every one, at least one black spot which he has to keep concealed.

      —Henrik Ibsen

      Chapter 1

      “Hello. Lee? Roger Temple here. I guess you’ve heard about our nephew.”

      I hadn’t heard from Roger Temple—or from his identical twin brother, Ray—for nearly a year, but I knew from Roger’s “cop voice” that this wasn’t a casual, just-to-say-howdy call. The Temple twins are retired Boston police officers who’d taken a course on television production I’d once taught.

      I’m Lee Barrett—nee Maralee Kowalski—thirty-three, red-haired, Salem born, orphaned early, married once, and widowed young. I’ve worked in television, mostly in front of the cameras, since graduating from Boston’s Emerson College. I’d been a show host on a Florida home shopping channel, a network weather girl, and even had a brief, ill-fated stint as a call-in psychic, but for a short time I’d worked as an instructor in television production at the Tabitha Trumbull Academy of the Arts—Salem’s newest school—known locally as “the Tabby.” The school was located in the sprawling old building that had once housed Trumbull’s department store in downtown Salem. Now it bustled with the activities of aspiring dancers, poets, painters, actors, and more.

      “What’s going on, Roger?” I asked. “And what’s this about your nephew?” I sat at my kitchen table, waiting for the microwave to ding, telling me that my frozen macaroni and cheese dinner was ready. I remembered that the