Revenge of the Chili Queens
Read Revenge of the Chili Queens Online
Authors: Kylie Logan
Praise for the Chili Cook-off Mysteries
DEATH BY DEVIL’S BREATH
“The second Chili Cook-off mystery is a spicy blend of a feisty heroine, colorful casino performers, and a deadly chili contest. The highly likable cast of characters and their hilarious hijinks make this series a blue-ribbon winner.”
—RT Book Reviews
“Cozy mystery lovers will be delighted to read this spicy mystery. It is a fast-paced page-turner of a read . . . with engaging characters.”
—MyShelf.com
“Witty dialogue, numerous suspects, and a strong development of characters highlight the strength of writing by an author . . . [who] continues her record of entertaining readers with insightful characters and laughter.”
—Kings River Life Magazine
CHILI CON CARNAGE
“Maxie is an edgy firecracker of a main character, and I can’t wait to see the trouble she gets into on the Showdown tour. I’m also anxious to meet her dad, the infamous Texas Jack Pierce. I’ve always found that chili gets better with time, and I predict that this fun new series is going to continue to get stronger and stronger!”
—Mochas, Mysteries, and More
“This is a fun mystery in a unique setting, and Maxie’s dedication to finding her father promises that there will be an enjoyable future for readers in this new series.”
—Kings River Life Magazine
“I am always excited when I find a new book by Kylie Logan. To not only find a new book but a new series is heaven. She draws you right into the story and you can’t help but read the book to the very end . . . This is a fun, fast-paced read . . . If you like your mystery hot and spicy then you should be reading
Chili con Carnage.
”
—MyShelf.com
“The mystery aspect of the novel was well-thought-out and planned. Maxie is a sort of no-nonsense character and her investigation proves that . . . I’m looking forward to the next book in the series as much for the family drama as I am for the mystery . . . A great first effort!”
—Debbie’s Book Bag
“As the first in a series, this is a solid mystery, introducing readers to an interesting setting and a unique cast of characters.”
—CA Reviews
Berkley Prime Crime titles by Kylie Logan
Button Box Mysteries
BUTTON HOLED
HOT BUTTON
PANIC BUTTON
BUTTONED UP
League of Literary Ladies Mysteries
MAYHEM AT THE ORIENT EXPRESS
A TALE OF TWO BIDDIES
THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HARLOW
Chili Cook-off Mysteries
CHILI CON CARNAGE
DEATH BY DEVIL’S BREATH
REVENGE OF THE CHILI QUEENS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014
REVENGE OF THE CHILI QUEENS
A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with Connie Laux
Copyright © 2015 Connie Laux.
Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices,
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BERKLEY® PRIME CRIME and the PRIME CRIME design are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.
For more information, visit penguin.com.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-59280-9
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / August 2015
Cover illustration by Miles Hyman.
Cover design by Diana Kolsky.
Logo design by © Paseven/Shutterstock.
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.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.
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Oscar and Ernie have already had a book dedicated to them so this one is for Casey!
Acknowledgments
I am one lucky author.
Each year, I get to spend an entire week with my brainstorming group. In the fall of 2013 we spent that week in beautiful Chautauqua, New York. Among the trees quickly morphing into gorgeous shades of red and bronze, the four of us took long walks, shared meals . . . and talked. We talked and talked and talked. In our brainstorming group, each member has two sessions during the week in which to discuss any aspect of her current work in progress or some future planned book. Sometimes we come with full-fledged ideas that just need some fleshing out. Other times, we come to the table with problems with characterization, or questions about plot. In my case that fall, I’d started writing
Revenge of the Chili Queens
and had a few chapters done, but I was at a loss for what else was going to happen in the rest of the book.
Brainstormers to the rescue! We talked out my plot and what had happened in the two previous books in the Chili Cook-Off series. We made notes and threw out possibilities and finally, we made a trip to the store, bought a poster board and a pack of sticky notes and got to work, writing down scene ideas and plopping them into what looked to me like an endless amount of empty chapters. It didn’t take us long before we had the skeleton of the story and after that, the details just naturally fell into place.
Thank you, brainstormers Shelley Costa, Serena Miller, and Emilie Richards. You saved my chili on this one!
I’d also like to thank my family, especially David, who was left at home that brainstorming week with a new-to-us cat and a dog we’d just taken in to foster. I’m happy to report that everyone made it through the week in one piece!
As always, my thanks to the folks at Berkley Prime Crime and to Northeast Ohio Sisters in Crime, a great group of sisters and misters who are always supportive and enthusiastic.
Contents
Praise for the Chili Cook-off Mysteries
Berkley Prime Crime titles by Kylie Logan
Almost-Authentic Chili Queens Chili
A preview of
And Then There Were Nuns
CHAPTER 1
They say there is nothing hotter than Texas in July.
They
are not only dead wrong, but that collective
they
owes me an apology, a clean blouse—since my white cotton peasant shirt embroidered with bright flowers was already wringing wet—and a tall, icy margarita.
Those perfect-haired, big-smile, smooth-talking weather forecasters on TV didn’t offer much consolation. They said the record high temperature for San Antonio in October was one hundred degrees, and that it looked like over the next few days, that record would be broken.
By the way, that record was set way back in 1938.
Didn’t it figure.
See, 1938 or thereabouts was exactly what we were trying to recreate there on the plaza outside the famous Alamo.
The year 1938, and the reign of the San Antonio Chili Queens.
“Are you just going to just stand there, or do you plan on doing some work tonight?”
My half sister, Sylvia, zipped by and tossed the comment at me, dragging me out of dreams of the AC back in the RV we used to travel the country with the Chili Showdown, the event that wandered from town to town all over America, hosting chili cook-off contests and showcasing chili in all its glory, as well as chili fixins and all the must-haves that go along with a good bowl of chili, stuff like beans and sauces. Too bad she was carrying a head-high stack of plastic bowls and she couldn’t see the look I shot her way in return.
Work?
In this heat?
The words I grumbled are best left unreported.
But never let it be said that Maxie Pierce isn’t one to pitch in. Especially when that pitching in meant reenacting the role of one of the city’s famous Chili Queens, those wonderful women who were part of a tradition here in San Antonio for more than one hundred years. The Chili Queens cooked pots of steaming chili in their homes, then, once the sun went down, carted them to plazas around the city to feed the customers who couldn’t get enough of the bowls of spicy goodness. For all those years, the Chili Queens were at the center of San Antonio nightlife. Along with them, the plazas filled with diners and musicians, with talk and singing and music that continued into the wee hours of the morning.
Of course I would work. But not because Sylvia asked me to.
Chili, see, is in my blood. Just like it’s in the blood of my dad, Texas Jack Pierce, a man who’s been missing for a few months and whose place Sylvia and I had taken behind the counter of the Hot-Cha Chili Seasoning Palace where he sold dried peppers and spices and chili mixes that were famous from one end of the country to the other. So it’s only natural, even though I’m not from San Antonio and nowhere near old enough to have ever had contact with any one of the original Chili Queens, that I definitely feel a connection.
I bet there were plenty of nights they melted in the Texas heat, too.