Murder at the Cooking School: Book 7 of the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series
Read Murder at the Cooking School: Book 7 of the Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery Series Online
Authors: Dianne Harman
MURDER AT
THE COOKING SCHOOL
By
Dianne Harman
(A Cedar Bay Cozy Mystery
Series - Book 7)
Copyright © 2015 Dianne
Harman
All rights reserved,
including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form
without written permission except for the use of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely
coincidental.
Website, Interior & Cover design
by
Vivek Rajan Vivek
Paperback ISBN: 978-1514851425
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Every time I get a
favorable email or someone posts a compliment on my Facebook page, or tells me
how much they enjoyed one of my books, I’m thankful and yes, amazed that I’m
able to write books that people like to read. I thank you, my loyal readers,
for making both the Cedar Bay and the Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery Series so
successful. Murder in Cottage #6 was recently named as ‘One of the Top 50
Self-Published Books of 2014 - 2015” by Readfreely, and I’ve been recognized as
an Amazon All-Star author for many months because of the popularity of my
books. It truly humbles me. None of this would have happened without you!
As always, a deserved
shout-out to Vivek Rajan for his ability to turn my book cover requests into
brilliant realities and for effortlessly formatting my books.
I’m so lucky to be married
to my best friend who takes care of everything around the house, so I can
follow my passion – writing. He’s a harsh critic, but because of his attention
to detail, he makes me look good. Thanks, Tom!
Lastly, in full
disclosure, my husband I were fortunate enough to spend a week at a cooking
school in Tuscany several years ago. All of the recipes in this book come from
our time there. I’ve used them many times over the years, and I find them every
bit as good now as they were when we learned to cook them in Tuscany. My
biggest challenge while at the cooking school was figuring out how the chef
made everything look so easy. Tuscany is a magical place, but fortunately we
didn’t have to deal with a murder.
Newsletter
If you would like to be
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Table of Contents
Kelly Reynolds, the owner of Kelly’s
Koffee Shop, one of the most popular places to eat along the Oregon coast, and
her husband, Mike, the Beaver County, Oregon sheriff, were standing in front of
the baggage carousel in the Florence, Italy, airport waiting for their luggage.
“Mike, I’m really, really
tired, but I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited in my whole life. I can’t
wait to see what the cooking school and the castle look like.”
“I’m beat, too,” Mike
said. “That layover in Heathrow didn’t help. I’ve never tried to sleep on a
short hard surfaced couch in an airport with a gazillion people coming and
going, and I want to tell you that it’s not something I want to ever try and do
again, but if that’s what was required so we could get away from all we’ve been
involved in recently, I guess I’ll have to take it.”
“Well, we’ll probably have
to go through Heathrow again on the way back, but for the next few days I’m not
going to do anything but cook, drink some wine, and soak up the wonderful
Italian ambience. I refuse to think about the murders we’ve had to solve. I’m
so sorry your aunt was murdered, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t tell you that I
certainly appreciate you being the heir to her estate which made it possible
for us to go on a very belated and long overdue honeymoon. Oh, I see our bags.”
A few minutes later they
walked through the airport doors and began looking for the white van from the
cooking school, pulling their luggage behind them. The instructions the school
had sent them indicated that the van would be picking up several people who were
arriving around the same time to attend the cooking school. They were told to
look for a white van with an Italian flag painted on the side.
“Mike, look over there.
That must be it,” Kelly said gesturing towards a white van with the flag of
Italy prominently painted on the side. They walked over to it as a large man
got out of the driver’s side and took their luggage.
“
Benvenuti
. Welcome
to Italy. My name is Alberto. I will be your driver during your stay at the
Castello
di Nardo
. It will be a one hour drive, so please make yourselves
comfortable. The other guests are already in the van. You’re the last ones to
arrive.”
They stepped into the van
and introduced themselves to the other six cooking school students. Within
minutes they were on their way to a long overdue honeymoon and adventure. They
never suspected that their romantic cooking school honeymoon in Tuscany would
find them yet again in the midst of another murder investigation.
*****
Kelly and Mike spent the one hour
drive to the castle looking out the window of the van at the beautiful Italian
landscape while Alberto gave a running commentary about what they were seeing.
He made several turns off of the
superstrada
or expressway and eventually
turned onto a long driveway dramatically lined with enormous old cypress trees
leading up to the impressive
Castello di Nardo.
“A crude form of the
castle was first built in the Middle Ages,” the affable driver said, “and then
during the Renaissance it was completely rebuilt and converted into an
aristocratic residence called the
Castello di Nardo
. It has a private
chapel which is situated in a panoramic position on a hilltop slightly above
the castle. The property has belonged to the Nardo family for centuries. The
state of art cooking school, which you’ll be attending, is located in the
castle which is situated in the center of the large estate where the family
produces Chianti wine and olive oil which is sold throughout the world.
“The
Castello di Nardo
has recently been carefully renovated to make it into a boutique hotel. The
architect and builder preserved the original rooms with antique furniture,
large 17th century stone fireplaces, and floors made with terra cotta stone and
marble. It’s been equipped with every modern convenience such as central
heating, Internet connection, satellite TV, and laundry service.
“The garden, which
overlooks the valley below, is surrounded by very old trees, and on the large
stone terrace there’s an Olympic sized swimming pool with a Roman staircase
lined with mosaics, two bathroom/dressing rooms, and plenty of lounging
furniture. Next to the pool area is a hydromassage pool with access to a
gymnasium and sauna. The entire terrace is lit up at night by large, wrought
iron lamps. It’s really quite spectacular,” he said, passing through the
entrance gate to the castle and coming to a stop in a large circular driveway.
The door of the castle
opened immediately and an imposing, rather unattractive, woman walked out,
accompanied by a younger man dressed in a traditional black and white hotel
uniform. A huge dog stood on one side of the woman and on the other side was a
dog that looked like a hunting dog.
“
Buonasera,
I am
Signora
Tonia Nardo. Welcome to my family’s castle, the
Castello di Nardo
. I
hope you enjoy your stay here. Matteo will show you to your rooms. Wine will
served in the library at 7:00 p.m., and dinner will be at 8:00. If you need
anything, please call the front desk.”
The guests got out of the
van and followed Matteo up the stairs while two young men unloaded the luggage
and followed them. Kelly and Mike stared at the beautiful 18
th
and
19
th
century oil paintings which were casually displayed on the
walls of the winding staircase. Matteo showed the guests to their rooms, and as
they entered the room where they would be staying while they were at the
cooking school, Kelly and Mike both realized a great deal of money had been
spent modernizing the castle. Electricity, running water, a flat screen television,
and a telephone had all been installed. There was even a place on the desk for
recharging cell phones and electronic tablets.
The antique furniture in
their room looked like it had been in the castle for many years, if not
centuries. Kelly had always enjoyed looking through magazines that featured
antiques and stood in the middle of the room admiring the antiques surrounding
her. What looked like a period lamp was on the nightstand, and a very old and
authentic looking marble bust was prominently displayed on the dresser. If the
furniture and furnishings hadn’t been in the castle for centuries, someone had
taken a great deal of care decorating it to make sure that both the castle and
its rooms looked just as they had so many years ago.
“Oh, Mike, this is
absolutely incredible. If the cooking school is half as good as what we’ve seen
so far, this is going to be fabulous. Thank you again for coming up with the
idea to spend our long delayed honeymoon at a cooking school in Tuscany. I
think we’re going to love this!”
“I couldn’t agree more. We
have two hours until we’re having wine in the library. Think I’ll try to grab a
nap. Want to join me?”
“No. I want to look at
this view. I don’t want to waste a minute of our time here. Enjoy your nap, and
I’ll wake you in time for wine at 7:00 in the library.”
The room overlooked a
broad valley with rolling hills in the distance. Although it was just beginning
to get dark, Kelly could easily make out the castle’s vineyards and olive
trees. She remembered being told by someone once that it was considered rude to
ask how many acres of ranchland or farmland a person owned. Kelly assumed the
same was true for vineyards, but she was sure that the Nardo acreage had to be
in the many hundreds. It was stunningly beautiful. The paintings and
photographs of Tuscany landscapes that she had seen and admired in books and
magazines for years were reflected in the beautiful landscape before her as she
stood nearly mesmerized, in front of the window admiring the view.
Luisa Bianchi, the chef at
the
Castello di Nardo
cooking school said, “Sal, listen to me. I tell
you I heard Tonia talking on the phone with that famous TV chef, Elena Oberti.
Even someone like you must have heard of her. Since you don’t do anything all
day but lie around the house and watch television, I know you’ve seen her. She
has her own cooking show on television. I’m sure Tonia’s going to get rid of
me, so she can hire Elena Oberti.”
Luisa’s
husband, Salvadore Nardo, the brother of Tonia Nardo, the owner of
Castello
di Nardo,
looked away from the television set and turned to her. “She can’t
get rid of you. She knows I’ll tell her husband about the affair she’s been
having with Giovanni Rossi. No, that is just not possible. You must have
misheard what she said on the phone.”
“Listen
to me, you stupid man. No wonder your parents gave her the castle. She is going
to fire me, and then what will we do? The only other place I could teach cooking
classes is at Berto Moretti’s cooking school on the other side of the village,
and he will never hire me. He hates Tonia and everyone who works for her, and
if I don’t work, we’ll be out on the street. We have to do something.”
“Luisa,
I’ve been thinking,” Salvadore said. “That castle should rightfully be mine. If
it was mine you could teach even more cooking classes, and we’d get all the
money that the cooking school brings in, not just some of it. I could run the
hotel, and you could run the cooking school. I know my parents were always
worried that Tonia’s husband would get the castle if something happened to her,
but remember I told you before we were married that my mother said they put a
clause in their Wills that the castle would revert back to the Nardo family if
anything ever happened to her. Guess what? Once my sister Tonia is gone, I’m
the only member left of the Nardo family, and we’ll get the castle.”
“Of
course I remember that. You’ve told me enough times.”
“I
know, but until now it wasn’t all that important. Everything seemed to be going
along fine. You worked at the castle teaching cooking, and I was able to stay
in the house and take care of my medical condition.”
“Sal,
I would hardly call having a sore back from time to time a medical condition
that keeps you from working. You have a degree in engineering, and you could
find work without any problem.”
“That’s
easy for you to say, but when you’re an engineer oftentimes you’re required to
climb up into buildings and do other strenuous physical things. You know I
can’t do anything like that, because it might make my back worse than it
already is.”
“What
you mean is that you wouldn’t be able to drink grappa all day if you had a job.
Sal, we need to do something. The only reason I agreed to marry you was that
you told me someday we’d live in the
Castello di Nardo.
” She looked
around at the small dingy room of their tiny house. “This sure doesn’t look
like any castle to me.”
“Yeah,
well you told me you were going to be a famous chef, and to my knowledge, the
only place you’ve ever cooked is in my family’s castle, and that was only
because I blackmailed my sister and got her to hire you.”
Luisa
sat down heavily at the foot of the couch where Sal was laying. She reached
over and pushed the mute button on the television remote and said through the
tears that were now streaming down her face, “Sal, we have to do something,
now. Seriously, we’ll be out on the street if your sister hires a new chef. If
you’re unwilling to do anything, maybe it’s time for me to take action.”
“What
are you talking about? My sister wouldn’t dare get rid of you. I don’t think
she loves her husband, but I sure don’t think she’d want to be divorced either,
and I don’t see Giovanni Rizzo leaving his beautiful wife to marry my ugly
sister. If she fires you, and if her husband finds out she’s having an affair,
he might leave her. So if both you and her husband are gone, she’d be all alone
with no one to help run the cooking school. That’s what I meant when I said
she’d never fire you.”
“I
don’t necessarily agree with you, but here’s something I’ve been thinking about
for some time. You need to get rid of your sister. If something happened to
her, you’d be the sole and rightful heir to the castle, and our lives would
forever change for the better. Things happen around castles. People take falls.
Old buildings crumble for no reason and crush someone. When a woman or a man is
out hunting, sometimes they’re accidentally shot by another hunter, and often
no one knows who shot them.”
“Are
you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”
“Let’s
put it this way. If you don’t take care of this situation within forty-eight
hours, I will. Am I making myself clear?”
“Yeah,
I get it. Now go get me some more grappa. I need to come up with a plan.”
“Feel
free to come up with one, because if you don’t I’ll put mine into effect. We
belong in that castle, and I intend to be there very soon, one way or another.”