The Chocolate Magic Cozy Mystery Box Set Books 1 to 7 Read online

  The Chocolate Magic Cozy Mystery Box Set - Books 1 to 7

  Olivia Swift

  Copyright © 2021 by Lirios Publishing

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  The Chocolate Magic Café - Book 1

  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

  Spirit Magic

  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

  Celtic Spirits

  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

  Lonesome Spirits

  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

  Epilogue

  Christmas Spirits

  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

  Kindred Spirits

  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

  Painted Spirits

  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

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also from Lirios Publishing

  The Chocolate Magic Café - Book 1

  Copyright © 2018 by Olivia Swift

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  1

  Magda Caraganic was twenty-five, five foot five, and had a slender figure. She liked to look good but had no need to exercise as the constant work of the chocolate business meant that she very rarely sat still. Even when she was working, she was always moving her feet and thinking about the next job at hand.

  Magda had a big, colorful apron wrapped around her and a white cloth tied around her mane of long, dark-red hair to keep it out of the way. She had a natural tendency toward that color, but the modern selection of hair dyes meant that the shade was, at the moment, a deep plum. She was piping the finishing touches to some truffles with a steady hand and trying to hold down the excitement of maybe, just maybe, opening her own chocolate café.

  The place smelled delicious. As her friend Rula tried to steal a truffle from the finished ones at the side, Magda said they were counted.

  “Don’t even think about it,” she said. “I have got to have five hundred of these finished by tomorrow, and this is the last hundred.”

  “You always have a few extra just in case,” Rula said with a smile.

  “For accidents and not to satisfy your appetite,” Magda answered, but she looked up as she finished the final decoration and grinned. “Go on then—just one.”

  Rula snatched at the one she knew was coffee and milk chocolate before Magda changed her mind.

  “I am ready to go when I remove this apron,” Magda told Rula and peeled off her head covering and the apron. “I’ll just check that the cats cannot get in here while I am away. In fact, I think I’ll pop them in the bedroom to be sure.” She slipped through the door into the living room and called for Abigail and Crystal who followed her like little dogs into the bedroom.

  Rula took a mandarin orange truffle and ate it quickly.

  “I know you’re eating,” Magda shouted from the distance. Rula considered taking another and thought better of it. The five hundred truffles on the counter looked amazing.

  “I’ll help you to box up later, if you like,” Rula offered as the chocolatier came back in with a jacket and purse in hand.

  “Thanks. That would be great,” Magda said. “Let’s go and see what this place is like.”

  They used Rula’s car, even though it was not far, and drove into the center of the small town. The main street, with parking bays slotted along both sides, was busy. As you drove along, the view of the mountains rose in magnificent glory as a backdrop to the town. The lakes could not be seen from the main street, but the place lived on tourism as visitors flocked to swim, fish, climb, hike, camp, and in the winter, snowboard and ski. The locals accepted the huge number of tourists be
cause it was the lifeblood of the place, and most folks made a good living from the seasonal intruders. Magda was no exception because the stores loved her handmade, local goodies that were packaged as if her Hungarian ancestors made the chocolate somehow exotic and special. Magda Caraganic’s truffles had built up a reputation.

  Rula found a place not far from where they were heading and parked. The two girls walked toward the hiking shop, which was apparently where the entrance to this plot of land was located. They were both well aware that their slim figures attracted attention along with the killer heels and skintight jeans.

  “Mornin’, girls,” Mikey called from the hiking shop as they came to where he was putting out a display.

  “Hi, Mikey,” Magda answered. “Is there a pathway down the side of your building?” The man nodded and stepped over beside them.

  “Right there,” he said and pointed. They all walked to the corner of his building and looked down the side. “Why would you be asking that?” he queried.

  “Magda has apparently inherited whatever is behind there,” Rula told him.

  “Really?” he replied. “Don’t think I ever looked at what was down there. It must be behind the bank because there is no space behind my place.”

  “Thanks. We’ll let you know if it is anything spectacular,” Magda said.

  The passageway was wide enough for three people to walk abreast. The ground felt hard, but grasses and weeds were growing through it. The two buildings on either side made it quite dark, but when they reached the end of the bank building, the place opened up and it was brighter. The stone walls of what had once upon a time been a stable had a roof, and around it was a level area that could loosely be called a garden. The small, arched windows in the stonework had been placed high enough to be out of the reach of the horse residents but they looked attractive.

  Behind the building a sheer rock face went straight up for about thirty feet.

  “Wow. I guess the people who bought the rest of the estate didn’t want a bit of a cliff edge and a piece of scrappy ground,” Rula remarked as they went toward the building.

  “I suppose there was more land and a way around the cliff before the town grew up and blocked it,” Magda added as she turned the key in the big double doors to the building.

  “I guess the doors were this big so that you could actually ride in on a horse,” Magda said. The doors were heavy, but they were able to push them wide with a bit of a struggle.

  As light flooded in, they could see one huge room with a couple of stalls that proved it had been a stable. There was nothing much else in there, and Magda looked at Rula, grinned, and almost jumped up and down.

  “The chance to have a soda fountain type of place for hot chocolate.”

  Rula slipped an arm around her friend’s shoulders and agreed.

  “There is space, services on the main street, and the curiosity value to bring people in. We need another pair of eyes. Call Branston.” Magda took out her phone and called her cousin.

  Branston Carter was a cousin on her mother’s side of the family. Aunt Gertie who had left her the piece of land was her father’s sister. Branston had always been a good friend of both girls and was the first person they called when a man was needed. He was almost always cheerful and lived life to the fullest.

  “Branston, we are at this plot that Aunt Gertie left me; have you got time to run over and see what you think?” Branston, on the other end, said that it was no problem as he was not far away.

  As Magda hung up, Rula said, “You know, and I know, what sort of place you would like. I also know that you have boundless energy but that you want to just concentrate on making the stock. If we have a try at this venture, that leaves me to run the place and serve the customers. I would like that, and you can simply be the chocolate genius that you are. I can keep my job at the hotel in the meantime.”

  “I know, and I can’t wait to be the owner of a chocolate shop. I do worry that I'll not get the orders done and the whole thing will fall on its face,” Magda said.

  “Just enjoy telling us what you want and I will figure out the rest,” Rula told her.

  They were looking around the outside of the building when Branston arrived, and he was not alone.

  Her cousin was sporting full cowboy gear with a Stetson that looked heavy enough to push his head into his shoulders and a shirt with so many fancy decorations he could be used at Christmas.

  “Lordy, Lordy,” Rula said. “You’ve been working at the holiday ranch again, pretending to be a cowboy.” The man grinned.

  “Get paid well for it.”

  “You have a perfectly good and well-paid job,” Magda told him.

  “But it’s no fun, and there are no horses to ride,” Branston said and saw her frown as she noticed who had walked in behind him. “Brought Sam because you need a builder to look at things.”

  “But do I need this builder?” Magda replied. Sam Barnes ignored the remark completely and walked around the small plot and then inside the building.

  “I did some work on the main house,” he said. “I never knew this rock face came down to the main street. What you going to do with it, girls?”

  “Nothing you would like, Sam,” Magda retorted. “You like modern, slick, and soulless.”

  “You were going to add ‘just like yourself’ and stopped. I guess that’s an improvement.”

  Rula joined in to stop the argument that had gone on between the two for as long as they could remember. She told him they would like a natural wood look resembling an old-time mining cabin. It would have a covered veranda for chairs and tables as well as seats inside, but the working parts and serving areas would be up-to-the-minute modern and sophisticated.

  “How much space is available inside?” he asked without waiting for an answer and pulled out a tape measure. “The building seems quite sturdy, but it will still need a survey. This entire space would make a superb and huge kitchen, which I am guessing Your Ladyship would require. You would need an extra wooden extension and the whole of the front and sides covered by a veranda that would disguise the stonework.”

  Magda was annoyed that he had gotten spot on what she had in mind but nodded and asked if it was possible. She really did want to take this chance and go for her dream.

  Sam Barnes could feel that. She would never have believed it. He pushed it to one side. In all the years of his friendship with Branston, he had learned a lot about Magda Caraganic. The group was friends, and he sometimes wondered if Magda actually enjoyed the arguments.

  “If this building passes a structural survey, it will be easy peasy,” he said in a down-to-earth tone. “Working with wood is always quite quick. We would need some foundations poured before putting up the extension. That would have to be brought in manually, but it isn’t a huge amount.”

  “How much space would the extension take up?” Rula asked, and Sam paced it out and came back in the door.

  “There would still be plenty of room for a garden with more seats.” He glanced at Magda and could not resist the chance to annoy her again.

  “If the mysterious descendant of Hungarians makes exotic and sensational truffles, would that be the theme, Miss Caraganic?” He emphasized the "ch" on the end of the name because it had always made her rise to the bait before.

  “Well, my ancestors were Hungarian,” she answered huffily.

  “You are third generation American with a fancy name,” Sam told her and saw the flare of annoyance in her eyes. They had been over this argument a million times. He smiled, and to make up for it, told her she did a wonderful job with the chocolate. He enjoyed making her respond but had the sense not to spoil her possible new venture.

  “If the fancy name means I get the odd freebie, and the tourists like it, I’ll live with it,” said Sam.

  “That was almost an apology, Sam Barnes. Are you growing up at last?” She paused. “Well, speaking of chocolate . . .” Magda fished a small box out of her shoulder bag and opened it. “Bef
ore you just swallow these, I want an honest opinion on the flavor and tell me what you think it is.” She passed around the box, and they all took one and nibbled with eyes half closed and waiting for the sensation.