What the Hatmaker Heard
Books by Sandra Bretting
MURDER AT MORNINGSIDE
SOMETHING FOUL AT SWEETWATER
SOMEONE’S MAD AT THE HATTER
DEATH COMES TO DOGWOOD MANOR
ALL HATS ON DECK
WHAT THE HATMAKER HEARD
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Table of Contents
What the Hatmaker Heard
Sandra Bretting
LYRICAL UNDERGROUND
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
LYRICAL UNDERGROUND BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 by Sandra Bretting
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.
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Lyrical Underground and Lyrical Underground logo Reg. US Pat. & TM Off.
First Electronic Edition: July 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0576-2 (ebook)
ISBN-10: 1-5161-0576-1 (ebook)
First Print Edition: July 2020
ISBN-13: 978-1-5161-0579-3
ISBN-10: 1-5161-0579-6
Printed in the United States of America
Chapter 1
Like the exotic animals that boarded Noah’s Ark so long ago, each architectural detail on the beautiful mansion in front of me had a perfectly matched mate to go with it.
First up was a pair of elegant mullioned windows, which flanked the front door like boxy lapels on a gentleman’s dinner jacket. Next came a sweeping staircase, split in two, with the halves trailing to the ground like loose ends of a silk bowtie.
Finally, two spiraling water towers bookended the mansion, ready to catch whatever rainwater was lucky enough to fall on such a gorgeous property.
I stared at the house for a good minute or so, transfixed by the intricate details, the grand scale, and the unusual color choices made by the owner.
Whoever came up with the home’s design outdid herself when it came to the paint. A limewash of pale yellow covered the stucco walls, while the shutters and banisters popped in a coat of peacock blue. Peacock blue! Such an inspired choice for the gingerbread style, and it made the white staircase even more striking.
I couldn’t help but smile. Not because I loved jewel-tone colors and architectural symmetry, but because the mansion was so gloriously out of place. Here I’d driven past sugarcane field after sugarcane field, all of the ground parched by the July heat, only to find a bright Easter egg of a building nestled among the marshlands.
“There you are. I’ve been looking all over creation for you.”
Lorelei Honeycutt, heiress to the property and my newest client at Crowning Glory,