Back Room Bookstore Cozy Mystery Boxed Set: Books 1 - 12 Read online

  “That I do,” Holly said perkily. “You want to go out tonight? Isaac and I are hitting up a pizza place.”

  “While that sounds like a lot of fun, I’m going to have to pass tonight,” Monica said. “I’ve got plans with my sister.”

  “That’s right! You told me you had a sister. Is she in town or something?” Holly asked.

  “Yes,” Monica said, though that wasn’t entirely true. As far as Holly knew, Monica and her family were all from Chicago.

  “Well, you two have fun,” Holly said, grinning. “If she’s hanging around for a couple of days, I’d like to meet her! You’re twins, right?”

  “That’s right,” Monica said. “We’re identical, but it’s pretty easy to tell us apart. Different color hair.”

  “Really?” Holly questioned. “You don’t see that in identical twins, usually. Do one of you dye your hair?”

  “Nope,” Monica said. “Just different color hair and eyes. We’re pretty much the same apart from that appearance-wise, though. Her hair is jet black.”

  “No way!” Holly said, laughing. “Wow, that is pretty different from your strawberry blonde look.” Holly looked up at the cuckoo clock hanging on the wall. “Yup, I got to go. Everything should be in order and ready to go for the morning.”

  “Thanks, Holly,” Monica said. “I’ll see you first thing tomorrow!”

  Monica watched Holly leave, then she stood up to go lock the door behind her friend, waving at her through the window. “You ready to go?” Abigail asked eagerly, knowing that they were heading off to meet Mona. Abigail looked for any excuse to leave Bankstown; the feline familiar always felt much more at home in Wysteria.

  “Of course,” Monica said happily. After turning off the lights in the shop, they headed toward the back door. She grabbed her broom and snatched up Dracula, tucking it under her arm and thinking that Mona would get a good laugh out of it like she had.

  Monica and Abigail opened the back door and stepped through the blinding light into Mona’s Back Room Books. Mona was polishing up the back counter, so the two women nearly bumped into each other as Monica stepped through. “Sorry, Mona!” Monica exclaimed.

  “Watch it!” a large raven sitting up in the rafters of the high ceilings cawed at them. It was Lenore, Mona’s familiar.

  “Oh, be nice, Lenore,” Mona warned.

  “I see you’re all closed up on time for once,” Monica said. Mona’s side of the shop was usually bustling with ghouls and vampires at this time.

  “Yeah, I gave everyone the boot so that you wouldn’t have to wait around on me to close up,” Mona said with a laugh. “What’s that you got under your arm?” Monica laughed slightly and showed her sister the book. Mona’s face scrunched up slightly as she examined it. Mona grunted. “Uncle Drac? Do mortals know about him?”

  “They think it’s a work of fiction,” Abigail said.

  “It most certainly is a work of fiction,” Monica said. “The book is simply awful! Makes Uncle Drac sound like some sort of monster.”

  “You know, I haven’t seen him in forever,” Mona said. “I bet he’s hanging out at the castle tonight. Want to go pop in for a visit?”

  Monica clapped her hands excitedly. “I’d love to! You think he would mind us just dropping by?”

  “Are you kidding?” Mona said. “He loves us.”

  “True,” Monica said with a grin. The four of them made their way outside. The witches mounted their brooms; Abigail hopped on the back of Monica’s while Lenore seemed content flying on her own. They took off, and soon they were zipping over the town of Wysteria.

  The moon was almost full. “Almost that time of the month for the werewolves, huh?” Monica said, not having paid too much attention to the moon cycles now that she lived in Bankstown.

  “Yeah, I think the full moon is tomorrow night,” Mona said. “Should be another fun month. They are always running wild in the streets during the full moon. Jerry, Aunt Wilma’s old neighbor, lost track of the moon cycle last month and wound up changing and ripping up his favorite tux.”

  “What was he doing wearing a tux?” Monica asked, swooshing past her sister on the broom.

  “A date apparently,” Mona said. “But, forget about Wysteria gossip for a second. I want to hear how things are going with that mortal you hired.”

  “Well, actually,” Monica said excitedly. “She’s really awesome! She’s smart and fun to be around. She and her friend Isaac have really made me feel at home in Bankstown.”

  “How fun can a mortal really be?” Mona asked.

  “You need to give them a chance,” Monica said. “Mortals aren’t as boring as everyone makes them out to be.”

  “I suppose so,” Mona said, nodding her head forward. “We’re almost there.”

  Monica glanced up to see a large castle on a small mountainside coming into view. It was a large white castle with reddish roofing. Vines grew up the sides, giving it an almost eerie look. The women flew between the tall trees and landed on an opened drawbridge. “Uncle Drac!” Mona shouted, and soon a mystical black fog appeared from within the castle grounds. It crept toward them, slowly taking form. Soon, a handsome man was standing before them.

  “My girls!” the man cried in a thick Transylvania accent. “Vat a pleasure! Come in! Come in!”

  The man led them through the enormous gates. Once they entered the interior of Bran Castle, the vampire was excitedly calling for his servants to prepare something for his girls to eat. “Sometin nice!” he declared, and the three female vampires scurried off to the kitchen. “Good help. Zose girls have vorked for me for as long as I can remember.”

  “They’re not the women Stoker refers to as your wives, are they?” Monica asked, pulling the book out from under her arm to show Drac.

  Drac frowned heavily. “Ah! Vere did you get zat nasty little book!” He took it from her, examining it. “Ah, Stoker! Rotten mortal. I vas good to him. Tell him fun stories, and vat does he do? Make myself the villain in my own tale!”

  “I’m curious to see how much of this was true,” Monica asked.

  “Hardly a vord of it, dear!” Drac exclaimed. “You know I do not feast on mortals! I do love a good cow… Tell me, girls, how is my Vilma?”

  Monica and Mona’s Aunt Wilma had been with Drac for many years during their youth. The two had eventually broken up, but they had split on good terms. Dracula was always going to be “Uncle Drac” to the two young witches. “She’s good,” Mona said. “Enjoying her retirement from the bookshop, I believe.”

  “Ah, she alvays loved that shop!” Drac exclaimed. “And, you two girls are running it now?”

  “That’s right,” Monica said. “I run the mortal side, and Mona takes care of the mystic side.”

  “How fun!” Drac said. Abigail huffed. She and Lenore had been fairly quiet since arriving in Dracula’s castle. Drac glanced down at Abigail. “I see someone is not pleased vith her new living arrangements?”

  “Of course not!” Abigail hissed as Drac led them into one of the castle’s dining rooms where his housemaids were placing out a nice meal for them.

  “You didn’t have to feed us,” Mona said. “We just popped in to say hello.”

  “I vill alvays feed my girls,” Drac insisted. He was still holding the copy of Dracula in his hands. “Zis little monster vas the reason I left Transylvania. Vrite a book about me! I duplicate my castle and move! No more Count Dracula in Transylvania!”

  “Nice,” Monica said, sitting down at the table with Drac, Mona, and the familiars.

  “Sorry you had to do that over a book,” Monica said.

  “My castle became too crowded vith tourists,” Drac said. “But I knew a number of vitches who vere able to help me. I still have my home.”

  “How much time have you spent on the other side in your days, Uncle Drac? Monica acts like it’s the best place she’s ever been,” Mona said with a laugh.

  “Oh, zee mortal vorld is a fascinating place,” Drac said. “But, at z
ee end of zee day, I am happier among my own kind. Abigail has spent much time among zee mortals.”

  “And I prefer to spend as little time there as possible,” Abigail huffed. “But my witch is obsessed.”

  “Oh, shut up, you grumpy old cat,” Monica said.

  “Not a cat,” she hissed.

  “I don’t know about zat,” Drac laughed. “My girls, you simply must come to my soiree tomorrow evening!”

  “Having a party?” Monica asked excitedly.

  “Az a matter of fact, yes!” Drac said happily. “Tomorrow night under zee full moon! Please, you simply must!”

  Monica and Mona exchanged glances for a moment, but they both nodded. “Absolutely!” Monica said. “We would love to. I haven’t been to one of your parties in ages.”

  “Vonderful!” he said, clapping his hands. “I do love a good party.” He held up the book, passing it back to Monica. “Ridiculous story, but an excellent read, if I do say so myself.”

  Monica laughed. “I was afraid you would be mad at me for saying I was enjoying it.”

  “So long az my girls know I’m not some mortal-consuming fool zat goes bump in zee night, zen I am fine vith you enjoying a bit of classical literature zat picks fun at me,” he said, waving his hand a bit.

  They enjoyed their dinner with Uncle Drac, and as it grew later, the young witches were soon heading out. They were both rather excited about the prospect of attending one of Dracula’s grand balls, since they had not been to one since they were girls. There was always wonderful music and dancing, and the food was usually beyond mouthwatering. Their Uncle Drac was quite the social butterfly, unlike the version of him found in Stoker’s work, which Monica still had tucked under her arm as she and Mona flew back to the shop. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night?” Monica asked as she landed.

  “I’ll see you then!” Mona called, flying off toward her home in Wysteria, Lenore following close behind, as Monica and Abigail headed inside and over the threshold between the two worlds.

  3

  The following day started just like any other day at Back Room Books. Monica and Holly opened right on time, and Officer Brian entered for his daily dose of coffee. He remained behind a bit longer that morning, deciding to test Chief Tollr ’s temper a bit. “I don’t know what his problem is,” Brian said, sighing heavily as he watched the minutes tick by on the cuckoo clock. “I mean, nothing ever happens in Bankstown. I suppose after Darren was killed, he’s a bit on edge. Our town hasn’t ever really dealt with something quite like that before. Something so public. I think he just wants to assure everyone that the police are present. Doesn’t want anyone thinking we won’t be able to handle ourselves.”

  “I suppose it’s a good thing that he is thinking that way, then,” Monica said, smiling brightly at Brian. The man’s cheeks turned a slight pink before the sounding of the clock made him realize just how late he was going to be.

  “I got to run,” he said. “I’ll see you ladies around.” He hurried out the door.

  “That Chief Tollr can be a real monster sometimes,” Holly said. “I’ve seen him really lose it and snap at his officers before, but he definitely has a handle on things. I suppose a firm hand is what you need in a good police chief, but he acts like we’re in some crime-ridden city. Constant, unaltering vigilance is his theory. He got in trouble a while back after roughing up an officer he caught snoozing in his patrol car while on duty.”

  “Yikes,” Monica said, though she was only half-listening. She was thinking about the party that evening. She simply could not wait. She had been up late the night before picking out what she was going to wear. Even Abigail was in a decent mood that day knowing that they would be returning to Wysteria for a second evening in a row. Abigail liked to mingle on occasion and remind people she was still around despite being sentenced to live as an unnatural witch’s familiar.

  Isaac stopped by around lunchtime, bringing with him some sub sandwiches to treat them with. Monica grinned ear to ear, glad he had thought of her. Isaac and Holly were good friends, and they were very quickly welcoming her into their small friend group. Monica listened to Isaac talk on and on throughout their lunch break about his alien conspiracy blog while Holly made fun of him. “I’m telling you, Bankstown is a hotspot for alien activity,” Isaac insisted halfway through his sandwich. The next thing Monica knew, Isaac was writing down the name of his blog and getting her to promise to look at it sometime.

  “I’ll have a look,” Monica assured him. “I think it’s interesting.”

  “I’ve told you to stop encouraging him,” Holly said. “He really needs to focus on his actual journalism career.”

  “My career is going just fine, thank you very much,” he said. “My blog is just a side thing, anyway. But, I’m telling you, they live among us.”

  “You are borderline insane,” Holly said. “Why do I even hang out with you?”

  “Because I am the most interesting person you know,” he said.

  “I suppose that’s true,” Holly groaned. “This town is pretty boring.”

  “I don’t know about that,” Monica said. “I have had a lot of fun since coming here.”

  “Well, that’s because you’ve been hanging around me,” Isaac said with a wink.

  The day went on as usual. Isaac left after lunch, and before Monica knew it, the day was over, and Holly was heading out a bit early. She wanted to go look at a local pet shop; she had been talking about adopting a dog ever since Monica had first met her a little over two weeks before. As soon as she was gone, Monica scurried to one of the side closets that usually held extra boxes of merchandise, but today, she had hung up a nice purple dress to wear to the count’s party. She changed quickly. The lovely ballgown wrapped tightly around her waist and flowed freely at her hips. She pulled out her wand and tapped the top of her head. “Sursum capillum!” Her hair zipped up on her head, tying itself up into lovely braids. She checked herself in the mirror, knowing good and well her spellcasting was not her best skill, but it seemed that she had managed to pull the simple spell off without a hitch. “Great!” she exclaimed, spinning around. “Want me to fancy you up a bit, Abs?”

  “Touch me with that wand, and I will claw your eyebrows off,” Abigail warned with a loud hiss. “I’ve seen your wand backfire on you one too many times, dear.”

  Monica rolled her eyes, and the two of them exited through the back room. They were soon entering into Mona’s spot on the other side, and she could see Mona had already gotten dressed up herself. It seemed the two sisters thought alike. Mona wore a similar ballgown in black, but it was accented in the same purplish color Monica was wearing. “Well, don’t you two just look adorable,” Abigail said sarcastically. Abigail very rarely spoke to Monica without a slight hint of bitterness in her tone.

  “Your familiar needs an attitude adjustment,” Mona said, Lenore laughing slightly from her perch at the front of the shop. Lenore always liked to give Abigail a hard time. Mona turned to Monica. “Want to go for a fly-around? Party doesn’t start for another hour.”

  “Ooh, I just got my hair perfect…” Monica said. “Sure, why not. Not like another spell won’t fix it up.”

  The two headed out. Abigail hopped up onto the back of Monica’s broom, and Monica kicked off. She flew with both legs on one side of the broom to keep from ruffling her ballgown, and Mona was doing the same. There was just something about flying under the light of a full moon that made for such an excellent flight. It was peaceful, and nothing could be heard from way up high like that except for the faint sound of werewolves howling as the moon continued to rise on the distant horizon, the night growing a bit later.

  “So, things still going well on your side of the shop?” Mona asked.

  “Absolutely!” Monica exclaimed. “I think I’m going to start letting Holly watch the shop some on her own from time to time so that I can start exploring the town a bit more. I mean, I haven’t really seen too much of it. I want to get to know more of the loc
als.”

  “It’s really funny how fascinated you are by mortals,” Mona said. “I wish I understood what you find so interesting about them.”

  “Oh, so many things!” Monica cried. “I mean, the people are so…simple? They are inventive. The things they have come up with to get by without magic… I’ve recently discovered this thing on their computers called the internet. My goodness! It might as well be magic. You can look up information just by typing it in, and I mean information on anything.”

  “Interesting,” Monica said, and Abigail huffed.

  “Oh, hush, Abigail,” Mona said. “We know you don’t like mortals. You could not possibly have made that clearer. I don’t dislike mortals, personally. I’m just not as curious about them as my sister.”

  “Hey, look!” Monica called out suddenly, pointing at the ground.

  There was a werewolf jumping around. It was a smaller breed—one of the ones that appeared less monstrous during transformation and more wolf-like. “Is she trying to get our attention?” Mona asked.

  “I noticed her earlier. She was following us a minute ago,” Monica said. “Yeah, she’s definitely trying to get our attention. Hang on, Abs, I’m diving.”

  The sisters dove, eventually landing their brooms by the wolf. It sat and wagged its tail. “Oh, hey, Tonya,” Mona said, smiling at the wolf. “Were you trying to get our attention?”

  She nodded and howled. “Um…” Monica shrugged. “I don’t understand wolf.”

  Tonya seemed very frustrated and began grunting and yelping. Lenore cleared her throat. “She is saying that she heard noises coming from your bookshop.”

  “Oh, dear!” Mona exclaimed.

  “She thinks someone might have broken in,” Lenore said.

  “We need to go!” Monica said, jumping back on her broom. “Thanks, Tonya! Enjoy the full moon! I’d love to catch up sometime when we can talk!”

  Mona jumped on her broom as well, and the two zoomed across Wysteria as quickly as their brooms would take them. “I’m glad Tonya chased us down!” Mona exclaimed. “Who would want to break into the shop?”