# Read the first page of Breach of Crust by Ellery Adams

Read the opening of Breach of Crust by Ellery Adams free, no signup. A pie shop owner finds a socialite dead in the lake.

- Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/breach-of-crust-ellery-adams
- Genre: Cozy mysteries
- Year: 2016
- ISBN: 9780425276037
- Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9780425276037&s=read-page
- Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9780425276037
- Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9780425276037

## The opening

Ella Mae cut a wedge of black bottom peanut butter pie and slid it onto a plate. Wiping away an errant crumb with the edge of a paper towel, she garnished the surface of the peanut butter mousse filling with a drizzle of melted chocolate and then piped three neat polka dots of chocolate directly onto the white plate. Setting the pastry bag of chocolate aside, she reached for a bag filled with whipped cream and piped two peaks in between the chocolate dots. She’d just put the plate on a server tray when Reba pushed through the swing doors leading from The Charmed Pie Shoppe’s dining room into its kitchen.

“You won’t believe this,” she said, pulling a red licorice twist from her apron pocket and dropping on the stool next to the worktable.

Ella Mae shot her a wry grin. “We live in a world where people have magical powers. My aunt Verena knows when people are lying. Aunt Dee can infuse her metal animal sculptures with sparks of life. Aunt Sissy can influence people with her music. My mother can make plants grow by humming to them. And what about you? How many fiftysomething women could win a mixed martial arts championship with one arm tied behind their back? I can believe in all sorts of things.”

Reba’s expression turned wistful. “I’ve always wanted to try cage fightin’. It looks like so much fun.”

“You know it wouldn’t be a fair fight,” Ella Mae scolded the woman she’d known all her life, the woman who’d been a second mother to her. “It’d be like watching a cat toy with a bird that has a broken wing.”

“I guess so. But what about among our kind? It could be a whole new source of entertainment. Just imagine! Saturday night fights in groves across the world. You could watch me . . .” She trailed off, looking horrified. “I’m sorry, hon. I don’t know why I keep forgettin’ that you can’t enter a grove anymore. I still can’t wrap my head around that.”

Ella Mae pointed at the wedge of pie. “Why don’t you tell me what you came in here to tell me so you can deliver this to our customer? It’s almost closing time.”

Reba searched Ella Mae’s face as though expecting to find signs of regret or pain etched into her smooth skin, but Ella Mae had learned to accept what had happened to her earlier that spring. She only wished her friends and family would make their peace with the fact that Ella Mae was no longer magical. Their constant scrutiny and deliberate avoidance of certain subjects were driving her crazy.

Brandishing the pastry bag of whipped cream, Ella Mae narrowed her eyes and said, “Spit it out, Reba, or I’m going to pipe a Santa Claus beard on your face.”

“Whipped cream and red licorice do not mix.”

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