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  Praise for Cheryl Hollon

  The Paint & Shine Mystery

  “With its colorful characters, charming Southern setting, and well-plotted mystery, the Paint & Shine series is the perfect blend of all things cozy.”

  —Ellery Adams, NYT and USA Today bestselling author

  “Using a palette of clever plot twists and intriguing characters, Cheryl Hollon creates a richly drawn world that’s both bucolic and dangerous in Still Knife Painting. Readers will take a shine to this addictive new series!”

  —Agatha Award–winning author Ellen Byron

  “Set against the blazing backdrop of an Appalachian fall, Still Knife Painting serves up a tasty stew of murder and moonshine. In this series debut, Cheryl Hollon weaves a tale as complex and country as the antique braided rug that figures in the story.”

  —Barbara Ross, author of the Maine Clambake Mysteries

  “This book is well paced, anchored by an excellent central character, and infused with a keen sense of place. Veteran scribe Hollon makes it all look easy. Rocking in Miranda’s chair on the porch, sitting under a quilt and taking in the view sounds like a plan to me. Pass that moonshine.”

  —Mystery Scene magazine

  The Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery Series

  “The novel’s pace is leisurely, built around character interactions, travelogue and lots of information about glass art and its history.”

  —Colette Bancroft on Cracked to Death, Tampa Bay Times

  “A zippy read. If you like cozy mysteries, you’re gonna devour Pane and Suffering.”

  —Creative Loafing, Tampa Bay

  “There is plenty of variety and not just workbenches in the lively story by Cheryl Hollon.”

  —Fresh Fiction on Pane and Suffering

  “Webb’s Glass Shop is certainly a place where you’d want to hang out.”

  —Kings River Life Magazine on Pane and Suffering

  “A fresh and original new series! Well-crafted with smart and intriguing clues.”

  —Krista Davis, New York Times bestselling author on Pane and Suffering

  Also by Cheryl Hollon

  Webb’s Glass Shop Mystery Series

  Pane and Suffering

  Shards of Murder

  Cracked to Death

  Etched in Tears

  Shattered at Sea

  Down in Flames

  Paint & Shine Mystery Series

  Still Knife Painting

  Draw and Order

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  Draw and Order

  Cheryl Hollon

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Praise

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Cast of Characters

  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

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Recipes for Moonshine Cocktails

  Recipes for Snacks - Cheesy Bits

  Acknowledgments

  Teaser chapter

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2021 by Cheryl Hollon

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

  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.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

  The K logo is a trademark of Kensington Publishing Corp.

  First Kensington Books Mass Market Paperback Printing: July 2021

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-2526-4

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-2527-1 (ebook)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-2527-1 (ebook)

  Dedicated to Ramona DeFelice Long Author, editor, muse. RIP.

  Cast of Characters

  Miranda Dorothy Trent

  Sandy

  Iris Hobb

  Lily Hobb

  Austin Morgan

  Gene Buchanan

  Alfred Whittaker

  Ben DeBerg

  Jennifer O’Rourke

  Kevin Burkart

  Kurt Smith

  Stephanie Brinkley

  Sheriff Richard J. Larson

  Felicia Larson

  Barbara DuPont

  Howard Cable

  Ora Cable

  Roy and Elsie Kash

  Tyler Morgan

  Doris Ann Norris

  Dorothy Marcella Trent

  Lance Campbell

  Anna Belle Cable

  Protagonist

  Miranda’s male puppy

  Cook

  Cook

  Local forest ranger

  Miranda’s late bachelor

  uncle

  Client #1—a freelance

  reporter

  Client #2—a criminal

  defense lawyer

  Client #3—a jewelry artist

  Client #4—owner of a

  financial services

  business

  Client #5—a cosmetic

  surgeon

  Client #6—a licensed

  pharmacist

  Wolfe County sheriff

  Coroner and sheriff’s wife

  Forensic anthropologist

  Miranda’s cousin

  Howard’s mother

  Miranda’s neighbors

  Austin’s sister

  Receptionist

  Miranda’s mother

  Brewery intern

  Howard’s younger sister

  Anna Sue Cable

  Ron Menifee

  Andrew Perry

  Scott Caldwell

  Doc Watson

  John Latchy

  Howard’s older sister

  Miranda’s handyman

  EMT #1

  EMT #2

  Local physician

  Cousin of Lexington

  Herald-Leader owner

  Chapte
r 1

  Early Sunday Morning in November,

  Miranda’s Farmhouse

  Short, earsplitting shrieks blasted from the fire alarm over the stove in Miranda Trent’s farmhouse kitchen. She startled, fumbled, and then almost dropped the final portion of her scratch-made country-fried chicken onto the linoleum floor. She held the dripping, golden-brown breast in her tongs over the spattering cast-iron skillet. Like a waiting-in-the-wings vacuum robot, her puppy, Sandy, skidded into the kitchen, toenails scrabbling for footing, and added crackly voiced wolf howling to the smoke detector wail.

  “Iris! Grab the stepladder and turn that screeching thing off.”

  The hot bacon-grease-and-butter mixture crackled like fireworks in the ancient skillet. A roiling plume of smoke rose from the angry frying pan. Miranda hurried to put the chicken on the draining rack, move the skillet to a back burner, and turn off the flame.

  Grabbing a pot lid from the open shelf next to the stove, she slapped it over the still-sizzling skillet. Miranda sighed relief and wiped both hands on her logo-imprinted apron. She turned around to watch Iris Hobb, one of her local cooks, set up the stepladder right next to her huge commercial range. “I wanted crispy chicken, but I think I went a little too far.”

  Iris stepped onto the ladder, grabbed the smoke alarm, gave it a quick twist, took it off its mounting plate, and then removed the battery. The resulting silence was beautiful.

  “Where’s the fire?” Lily, the second cook and sister to Iris, walked in through the back door. She planted her hands on her hips. “I thought that thing only went off for a fire.”

  Miranda opened the window over the sink on the other side of the kitchen. “It was the crackling of the grease. The modern ones are sensitive to airborne particles.” She flapped a kitchen towel toward the window opening. “Pump the back door open and closed a few times and help me clear the air.”

  The chilly morning rushed through the kitchen as Iris and Lily helped Miranda whoosh away the smoke. Meanwhile, Sandy, her fluffy blond terrier-mix puppy, ran around the kitchen begging to play and nearly tripping them all. He thought smoke clearing was a wonderful game.

  After a few minutes of door swinging and apron flapping, the smoke in the kitchen dissipated and the burning smell faded. “Go ahead and put the battery back in. Maybe we’ve blown things out enough for the little beast.”

  Iris replaced the battery and the alarm didn’t make a sound.

  “Perfect,” said Miranda. “Put it way over there.” She pointed to the counter next to the sink. “We’ll let it sit over there for a few days. If it stays happy, we’ll remount it over the back door instead of over the stove. Southern cooking involves lots of bacon grease and butter so we do get a lot of spatter.”

  As the owner of Paint & Shine, a cultural-adventure tour business set in the Daniel Boone National Forest, Miranda wanted her clients to enjoy the best examples of Southern food possible. Her eastern-Kentucky farmhouse was normally the location for the meal. But today’s offering was an old-timey packed lunch to eat out on the trail overlooking the cliff formation called Battleship Rock.

  “Thanks for coming in early on Sunday, ladies.”

  “It’s no problem,” said Iris. “Although Grandmother Hobb was mighty upset with us.”

  “We take her to church every week,” said Lily. “In fact, we’re using this as the perfect excuse. We don’t enjoy the fire-and-brimstone preaching anymore.”

  Iris added, “We never did, but now that we have a paying job, she can’t say nuthin’.” They smirked and winked happily at each other.

  “Thanks. Iris, is the dining room ready for packing up the lunch boxes?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Iris. “We only needed the chicken.”

  “Great.” Miranda grabbed the draining rack with the eight golden-fried chicken breasts and went into the dining room. On the large round table was an assembly line for packing each picnic meal into a vintage handwoven white oak basket. Miranda placed the chicken next to a roll of waxed paper.

  “Okay, let’s first wrap the chicken in the waxed paper and put it on top of the gingham square at the bottom of each basket, like this.” Miranda demonstrated. “Then we put the green beans, pickled cabbage, pickles, and the mustard potato salad in the lightweight cardboard box.” That idea was supplied by her mom. She had told Miranda that Tupperware containers hadn’t been affordable for most farming families when reusable containers came to hand absolutely free. “Wrap the corn on the cob and the corn bread individually in aluminum foil. The cobbler gets wrapped in aluminum foil as well, and then finally, we put the lemonade moonshine cocktail in a mason jar.”

  “Won’t the drink get warm?” asked Lily.

  “It will be fairly cool up there, but I’m going to tuck in a few ice cubes. Realistically, if they want an authentic picnic experience, then lukewarm lemonade is what it must be.”

  “This pack is already heavy,” said Iris as she hefted one of the backpacks with a Paint & Shine logo patch sewn onto the back. Miranda did the sewing herself and saved the cost of ordering them already attached from an imprint specialist.

  “These clients have assured me that they are fit athletes and can carry more than twice the weight of these day-trip packs. We’ll see. I mean, as a group they call themselves Risky Business Adventurers. That must mean something. This is my first remote-trail offering. I hope it’s a success.”

  Miranda was anxious. As a way to calm her worries, she was taking extra food to feed Ranger Austin Morgan and extra drawing supplies in case some got ruined, and finally she packed some emergency equipment in case of, well, an emergency. She would make sure Austin knew about them. All that made her feel more confident.

  Austin was her down-the-road neighbor. An experienced forest ranger, he was a vital, colorful, but unplanned part of her cultural adventures. He usually stopped by the trail overlook site she had chosen for the painting session and gave her clients a history of the area’s geology. In addition, he knew a thousand tidbits of local lore to sprinkle into his ranger talk.

  Iris wore a logo apron over a T-shirt she had embroidered with a strip of her namesake flower down one long white sleeve. She frowned. “You’re going to have Austin up there, aren’t you? You’ll feel better after he arrives to give the group one of his ranger talks.”

  Miranda raised her eyebrows. “I will.”

  Iris continued, “You’re worried that he might not make it all the way up the Indian Staircase to the view of Battleship Rock.”

  “He hasn’t missed an event yet.” Miranda realized that she sounded a bit defensive. Could it be that his part of her events was becoming important to her in more than a business way? “He must enjoy them.” Or could it be that she felt grateful for his help solving the case of the murdered cook when she first opened the business last month? What a calamity.

  Lily, wearing a T-shirt with lilies embroidered down the opposite sleeve to Iris’s, slipped the last lunch basket into the sixth and final client backpack. “The lectures are part of his job, but he does seem keenly dedicated.” Lily and Iris exchanged a knowing glance.

  Iris looked up and down at Miranda’s light jacket, logo shirt, sturdy jeans, and hiking boots. “Is that all you’re going to wear? November weather can be pretty tricky up on the cliffs.”

  “Good catch. I forgot to pack my all-weather jacket and pants. Thankfully, they fold up into small self-contained packets. I’m also going to put in my emergency pop-up tent. Each of the backpacks already have a tiny survival kit.”

  “That should do it,” said Iris.

  Miranda’s clients had requested a specific location for their cultural adventure. Given the distance of the hike and its remoteness, Miranda had chosen to provide a lesson in charcoal sketching rather than the normal activity of creating an acrylic painting of the Battleship Rock overlook. After all, everything hauled up to the vantage point had to be hauled back down.

  Lily and Iris helped her load the pile of backpacks into Mira
nda’s white van.

  She was just about ready to leave when the phone rang in the living room. Iris dashed into the house to answer it before it rolled over to the answering machine. In another moment, she opened the screen door and yelled, “It’s the distillery supplier. He says there’s a problem.”

  “You mean another problem.” Miranda glanced at her watch. She had a few minutes to spare. She went into the living room and picked up the phone. “This is Miranda Trent. What’s the problem this time?”

  “Good morning, ma’am. I’m the owner of Custom Metal Craft. I’ve run into an issue with your stainless-steel fermentation tank. It’s not a serious one, but there will be a small delay.”

  “Another delay? You’ve missed every date that you’ve promised. Every date.”

  “Yes, ma’am, but your specifications are unique.”

  “Unique?” Miranda formed a fist and shook it at the phone. “What you really mean is that you have no experience with anything but the standard size of fermentation tank. Don’t tell me this is the first special order you’ve ever built?”

  There was absolute silence on the other end of the line.

  Miranda placed her hand on her forehead and looked up at the ceiling. “This is your first special order, right?”

  Again the silence drew out into a long pause. “Yes, ma’am. I don’t know how I’m gonna make this up to you, but I promise that I will. Your fermentation tank is an absolute genius of a design.”