COZY MYSTERY: Murder At The Festival: A Cozy Mystery in the Mountains (Book 4) by Liz Turner

almost a grown up.”
    “What are you getting defensive for? I’m not criticizing you. You’re wonderful with Byron and Annie.”
    “It’s not that, Karen. I just feel that you're a little harsh on both Margie and her mom.”
    “Well, like I said, I never liked either of them,” Karen said. “Now forget about them, how’s that hunk of a man of yours?”
    “He’s not quite “my man,” Victoria said.
    “And yet you knew exactly who I’m talking about.” Karen teased. “Weren’t you supposed to go on a date with him sometime this week?”
    “Tomorrow,” Victoria smiled. “He said he’s making my dinner. We might go for a walk after.”
    “Simple pleasures.” Karen sighed. “You’ve got to find out if he has a single friend. Maybe we could double date.”
    “Last time I asked, you said you were too busy with work.” Victoria pointed out.
    “I guess I’m burning out on work now,” Karen said. “Balance is a beautiful thing, and very hard to maintain. I seem to tip over into one bucket or another. I’m either completely immersed in work and ignoring the rest of you, or I’m constantly hanging out with you and deciding to chuck work.”
    “I’ve noticed that,” Victoria said. “It’s that artistic temperament of yours.”
    Karen shrugged. “At this point, I’ve stopped fighting it. How do you do it, Victoria? You’re a model of all that a woman should be. You even find time to clean the house.”
    “Hardly!” Victoria snorted. “You should see how messy my room is half the time.”
    “I snuck in to borrow your sweater the other day,” Karen said. “So I did see. Speaking of which- here’s the sweater.”
    “Karen! That’s one of my favorites.”
    “I know. You have excellent taste, by the way.”
    As a teenager, Victoria would regularly have long arguments with Karen about her habit of stealing her clothes. As a grown-up, she just found it endearing. Grabbing the sweater she said, “If I find any spots on it, I’m going to steal your favorite shoes. Fair warning.”
    “Noted.” Karen laughed.
    The doorbell rang downstairs, and Karen gave Victoria a look. “Were we expecting someone?”
    “Not that I remember,” Victoria said.
    She headed down and saw that Byron had already opened the door and was in conversation with the Mayor.
    “Calum,” Victoria said, putting a hand on Byron’s shoulder. “What a surprise to see you here.”
    “Hello, Victoria,” Calum smiled. Today, he was dressed in a pinstripe suit with a light silver tie and a pale lavender shirt. He had this habit of looking as if he had just wandered off a magazine photo shoot.
    She escorted him to the living room, and when it became apparent that he wanted a private talk, she shooed off the children.
    “What did you want to talk about?” She asked once they were alone.
    “I wanted to ask you, as a friend, if you’d like to investigate Margie’s disappearance,” Calum said.
    “Finding missing people isn’t exactly my specialty,” Victoria said. “These days I’m all about baking and making good food.”
    “Come on, Victoria, you have a background in tracking down leads, don’t you?” Calum asked. “I’ve read some of your true-crime books, you know. Why did you give up writing them?”
    “I lost my partner,” Victoria said flatly. “He was always better at tracking things down anyway. My role was mostly to… think about things.”
    “All I know is, I trust you. You’re someone who’s in the fabric of this town. I can’t hire an outsider, but I can rely on you to just talk to people. To get a feel for what went on. I can count on you to ask the right questions.”
    “Why is the Mayor interested in the case of a runaway girl anyway?” Victoria said. “That’s one of the first questions I’ll ask.”
    Calum’s cheeks went faintly red. He took a deep breath. “This is the first crime on my watch.” He said. “I don’t want anyone to say that I took a lackadaisical approach to