Battered and Buried (An All-Day Breakfast Cafe Mystery) by Lena Gregory
About Battered and Buried
The best-laid plans may go awry, but the best-laid clues could frame a man for murder.
Never one to let a day off work go to waste, café owner Gia Morelli and a friend head out for a blissful kayaking trip through the local national forest. But the peacefulness of the day is soon shattered when they come across Cole, her head cook, standing over a dead body. Worse still, the victim was a lifelong enemy of Cole’s, and clues found on the body point to the cook as the culprit. When the police take Cole in and subject him to an intense grilling, Gia vows to do everything she can to prove his innocence.
As even more incriminating evidence surfaces — including when the murder weapon itself is found hidden at the café — Gia knows she’s up against someone brutal enough to kill and devious enough to frame Cole for the deed. With the police ready to make an official arrest and wrap up what they consider an open-and-shut case, Gia turns for help to an old friend who’s not above breaking the law himself. Because if she can’t find the killer, Cole may go from serving up hot dishes to serving a life sentence . . .
About the Character Guest Post
A Day in the Life of Gia Morelli
Hi, I’m Gia Morelli, owner of the All-Day Breakfast Café. Until last year, I spent my days working behind the counter of a busy delicatessen in the heart of Manhattan. But that was before a series of unfortunate circumstances sent me fleeing to central Florida in an attempt to escape my past. If only I’d known then what I know now, but anyway…
Now, I start off each morning scanning my new yard at the edge of the Ocala National Forest for critters before making a mad dash for my car — if the coast is clear. It’s not always. On the days said critters are blocking my path, I spend my mornings searching for someone to remove and “relocate” them as far as possible from my domain. Don’t judge. I was born and raised in New York City. I’m used to cats, dogs, pigeons, even rats on occasion. I was not prepared for alligators, bears, snakes — poisonous ones! — or the mother of all spiders — the thing had hair, for crying out loud. And now, as if all that weren’t enough, a racoon has taken up residence in the tree beside my garage, and his favorite hobby is tearing through my garbage pails.
I also spend my days creating a mental list and checking off the positives and negatives of living in Florida. The critters definitely go in the minus column.
My best friend, Savannah, goes in the plus column. I don’t know what I would have done without her for the past couple of years. In addition to being my rock, the only friend who stood by my side when things got rough, she also found my house, helped me set up the café, and lent a shoulder to cry on whenever I needed it. When she insisted on taking me to the animal shelter to pick out a puppy, I thought she must have lost her mind. But then I found Thor, the adorable black, rust, and white Bernese Mountain Dog puppy, and fell in love. Now, I can’t imagine life without him or my newest addition, Klondike, the black and white kitten Thor saved from a coyote.
Aside from the café, which I absolutely love running, I’ve also made some amazing friends, who have now become family to me. Savannah’s cousin, Hunt, who started out suspecting me of murder, is now my fiancé (which I still can’t wrap my head around). Trevor, who owns Storm Scoopers, the ice cream parlor down Main Street from the café, has become a good friend. We often kayak through the Ocala National Forest together on our days off, which is where we stumbled across two other good friends, Cole and Cybil, standing over the body of Cole’s nemesis, Rusty Bragge a day after he caused trouble in the café. So, now, in addition to everything else, my days will be spent with Savannah trying to prove Cole’s innocence to everyone, including Hunt.
About Lena Gregory
