Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $9.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Big Top Treachery: Cirque de Slay Cozy Mysteries, #2
    Big Top Treachery: Cirque de Slay Cozy Mysteries, #2
    Big Top Treachery: Cirque de Slay Cozy Mysteries, #2
    Ebook114 pages1 hour

    Big Top Treachery: Cirque de Slay Cozy Mysteries, #2

    By CeeCee James

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Christmas at the Circus!

    What if the holly berry meant more than a cozy Christmas tradition? When Trixie, billed by the Concello circus as the world's smallest Lady Godiva, finds a large ruby on the circus grounds, she thinks she's one of the luckiest people on earth. Until she learns the stone's past is stained as holly-red as the jewel itself.

     

    When the police get involved, suspicion is cast not just on Trixie, but on her other friends at the circus. The pressure is on with Trixie getting threats from an anonymous source. When the calliope player is murdered, Trixie knows the threats she has been receiving aren't just to scare her... she'll be the next to die if she can't find out the truth about the stone and unmask the murderer.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCeeCee James
    Release dateJul 26, 2022
    ISBN9798201154134
    Big Top Treachery: Cirque de Slay Cozy Mysteries, #2

    Read more from Cee Cee James

    Related to Big Top Treachery

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Cozy Mysteries For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Lauren + Chris

      Dec 23, 2019

      Lauren + Chris
      1 min read

    • Article

      Coming Soon...

      Dec 15, 2020

      David Tennant stars as Phileas Fogg in this new adaptation of Jules Verne’s novel. Phileas is joined on his voyage by sidekick Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma) and journalist Abigail Fix (Leonie Benesch).  The cookery show returned earlier this year afte

      1 min read

    • Article

      When Peace Seems Impossible

      Dec 28, 2021

      When Peace Seems Impossible
      4 min read

    • Article

      Q&A Percy Daggs III

      Mar 26, 2022

      Q&A Percy Daggs III
      5 min read

    • Article

      The PROMISE

      Aug 18, 2021

      The PROMISE
      9 min read

    • Article

      Tomorrows

      Mar 15, 2022

      The night, as most nights, was like a dream. At ten, once I’d fed the dog the last scraps off the stove. Once I’d cursed the cat for scratching up my mama’s antique furniture, then welcomed him back into my arms. Once I’d slicked my hair into a ponyt

      26 min read

    • Article

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes

      Jul 26, 2022

      An Afternoon In Her Shoes
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Do-Over Romance

      Aug 5, 2024

      A Do-Over Romance
      7 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2022

      First prize 10 and under Tang Li, age 9 Palmetto Bay, FL My name is Anisa. I was in Hawaii on vacation. I enjoyed sipping refreshing drinks, overlooking the turquoise ocean, and dancing with others, before I overheard that the priceless Fire Ring wa

      10 min read

    • Article

      Puppy Love

      Mar 19, 2021

      Puppy Love
      5 min read

    • Article

      Now That I’ve Arrived

      Dec 30, 2020

      Now That I’ve Arrived
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Escaped Jaguar

      May 9, 2019

      The Escaped Jaguar
      5 min read

    • Article

      Planetesimal

      Aug 15, 2022

      Planetesimal
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Perfect Match

      Apr 5, 2021

      It’s my sister’s fault that I’m standing outside a hair salon on the Saturday of my anniversary, too scared to go in. I’m not sure I was this nervous on my actual wedding day. Androulla had been bugging me for months that my look needed “updating” an

      7 min read

    • Article

      After “The End”

      Oct 10, 2022

      I walked down the road with a hunched back and a wet cigarette in my mouth—the fire had died a while back. My hands were tucked into the pockets of my jacket, and my hair fell over my face, limiting my sight. But I wasn’t really seeing where I was go

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 30, 2019

      Summer Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      A Temporary Arrangement

      Oct 2, 2023

      A Temporary Arrangement
      19 min read

    • Article

      Uncontrollable, Irrelevant

      Dec 6, 2022

      My sister called me the other day. She wanted to let me know that I had once more been merciless and cruel in my relations with our parents. “They say there’s a lot of anger in you,” she said. “It makes them mad. It hurts their feelings. They think y

      14 min read

    • Article

      Me & Davey Waters

      Jan 15, 2023

      Me & Davey Waters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Haunted

      Sep 27, 2023

      Haunted
      6 min read

    • Article

      Just The Way YOU ARE

      Feb 7, 2023

      Just The Way YOU ARE
      9 min read

    • Article

      LOVE Is The Word

      Jan 3, 2023

      LOVE Is The Word
      6 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Festival

      Sep 15, 2018

      My husband, who loved festivals, who was a great fan of festivals, wanted to get to the square in time for the first band at eleven o’clock. From bed, the dog and I watched him dress. He tried on various T-shirts, declaring some of them too tight and

      13 min read

    • Article

      The Freshening

      Sep 15, 2018

      My cashier’s black hair was beautiful. Though not unlike mine, it was shinier and thicker, and hung glamorously down to her waist. It looked strong, too, like Christopher Reeve’s in the Superman movies. A strand of Superman’s silvery hair could hold

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Alpaca EXPERIENCE

      May 25, 2021

      The Alpaca EXPERIENCE
      6 min read

    • Article

      Supportive Husband

      Sep 12, 2023

      There were less intimate places available, so it was odd when a woman took the seat directly facing mine across the subway aisle. I looked up from my book and right back down: a couple of months before, we’d gone home together. She had a Southern acc

      22 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Big Top Treachery

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Big Top Treachery - CeeCee James

      Chapter 1

      The red Christmas lights twinkled outside my cabin window, decorations that the circus had sent up a few nights earlier. White clouds formed on the glass from my breath. I wiped it with my sleeve, deep in thought.

      My grandmother had red hair. Not fire engine red, nor the sassy color on the picture of a hair dye box that advertised deep undertones. No, it was what she used to tell me was a strawberry blonde.

      I was about five when she first told me this, and I can remember staring hard at her hair in search of the strawberries. It was an age when I thought dogs could purr, a fat man with a big beard filled my stocking, and little fairies swept away my teeth from under my pillow during the middle of the night.

      So, I was confused when I didn’t find any strawberries. But I do remember that when the sun hit it, her hair appeared threaded with copper wire. It had made me wonder back then if maybe grandma wasn’t mistaken and rather than strawberries, there were pennies hidden in her bouffant curls.

      Grandma liked her makeup. Every morning I’d sit on her special stool and watch her put on her mascara. Her eyes would open wide, with her mouth imitating. She’d dab the brush on near nonexistent eyelashes, making them appear like magic. After that, she’d open a pot and apply rouge to her cheeks. Never touch your face with your pointer finger, Susannah, she’d say. Always use your middle finger.

      How come, Grandma? I’d ask.

      Your index finger is too strong, she’d declare. And then she’d lean in close to her mirror with it miniature movie-star-looking lights on the side, and color a mark on her face. I’d look at my index finger and wonder at its strength. Then I’d stare at her black mark.

      What’s that, Grandma?

      It’s my beauty mark, she’d say. She’d tip her head and show me so I could see. It’s pink before I color it in.

      You don’t like pink? I’d asked.

      No. Pink is ugly, but black is beautiful.

      Fifteen years later, I turned until I could see my own face in the mirror shoe-horned under the window of the cabin. I’d been disappointed as a child that I hadn’t had a pink bump on my face to color in black. But as I grew older, it became obvious that I wouldn’t have a mark for beauty, colored in or otherwise.

      You see, I was no looker. My ears were too big, my nose like a lump of clay. My eyes, although brown and thickly lined with eyelashes, were a tad too close together.

      Everything about me was a bit off, which matched my short stature—so short that I wasn’t supposed to ride the roller coaster according to the sign that was at the circus front gate. It didn’t matter though. Freddy, the roller coaster attendant, always let me on.

      You be careful there, Trixie, he’d say, and double back to check my lap belt. I’d glared at him once when it looked like he was trying to cop a feel. Being a small woman, I couldn’t afford to take any chances and was always on the alert to keep myself protected.

      One thing I had in common with my grandma was that my shining glory was also my hair. Not strawberry-blonde like grandmother’s; it was black and hung like a silky curtain halfway to my knees. It was bewitching like hers, and I kept it in a braid when I wasn’t working in the circus ring. People told me that they saw copper strands in it that were brought out by the sunlight. I’d looked hard and never seen them myself. It made me smile every time I heard it, though.

      Coughing erupted from the other bunk. I glanced over to see if Sally was okay. She was a sword swallower who shared the little cabin with me.

      She was cross-legged, lying back on a pillow with a book propped up against her knees. When there was time to relax around here, we grabbed it with both hands.

      I was lucky to have Sally as my roommate. I’d been with the Concello Circus going on two years so far, and was still getting to know the other workers. I have to admit, I’m the shyest person in the world. Sally was so easy going and caring that I was warming up. Even though previously, my life had been shaped with the feeling that I was the odd person out—someone to be stared at and mocked—things were changing. Here, at the circus, I was starting to feel that I fit in. Like the puzzle shape of who I was, wasn’t so strange and accidental after all.

      Sally’s sword swallowing act was something I could never get accustomed to, even though I should be used to it since I’d seen it nearly every night since I started work here. She collaborated with her partner, Vincent, and together they swallowed sabers and fiery swords to the gasps and astonishment of the audience.

      I knew some of the show was pomp and ceremony. Still, there was real danger, as her face showed right now. It was red on one side from where her hair had briefly caught fire last night, giving her first degree burns across one cheek. Always the professionals, Vince had quickly doused the fire, and Sally had continued her act as though nothing had happened.

      How on earth were you able to do that? I’d asked later that night as she held ice to her face.

      Sweetie, don’t you know? The show must always go on.

      At nearly midnight, the Ringmaster himself had come to check on her. He’d stayed less than a minute, his blue eyes searching her injuries while asking in a deep clipped tone if she was okay.

      She’d blushed so hard that her other cheek had matched her burnt one. I’m sorry. The fuel splashed on my skin when I lifted the torch. It won’t happen again.

      His long, white fingers had straightened his tuxedo jacket as he listened. Then he’d given her a curt nod and left without even looking my way.

      He was scary. You didn’t cross the Ringmaster.

      There was rustling from her bunk now as she set down the book and reached for a jar. She unscrewed the lid and gently patted cold cream against the burn. Her thin blonde hair appeared a little frizzy on one side but otherwise it was twined up in its usual braided bun. She got up to see herself in the mirror.

      How’s that burn feeling? I asked, scooting over a bit on the bench so that she had room.

      It’s okay. She sat down with a sigh and arranged her makeup on the tray before her. Seizing another pot, she began to dab on her performance foundation, a thicker paste than what she wore usually. Her nose wrinkled slightly from what I assumed was the sting. Sally would never admit to it though. In her eyes, pain was weakness, and she never showed any weakness.

      Did I tell you, my son is about to be set free? She reached for a triangle sponge and then patted it across her cheeks and neck.

      No. Really? I asked. I was surprised. She rarely brought up her son, as if he was off limits. All I knew about him was that her husband had taken the boy away when he was young in an ugly custody battle, and that her son later went to jail for stealing a car.

      Mmhmm, she said. Her mouth opened into an O as she worked the makeup into all the smoker’s wrinkles that fanned from her lips. She stopped primping and peered at herself. Satisfied, she grabbed her red lipstick and spun it up, then pursed her mouth. After drawing it on, she pressed her lips together on a piece of tissue, and then checked her teeth. The grimace was scary, and I sucked in my breath.

      She glanced at me in the mirror. I can tell you now, trouble is coming. I can feel it in my bones.

      Chapter 2

      Startled at her statement, I automatically leaned away. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hear the explanation of why Sally

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1