“And don’t forget the bookstore,” added Jasmine. “You were the one who saved it.”
That was a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, I’d inadvertently found Charlotte’s Web, and yes, our business had gotten a boost from all the news about “a truly big splash.” It still wasn’t enough to turn the tide, though. What really turned the tide was Belinda Winchester.
She may look homeless, but it turns out Belinda invested her lunch-lady earnings shrewdly over the years, and she’s rich. Her earnings support her kitten rescue, and she also fessed up to being the anonymous donor who gave the Charlotte’s Web sculpture to the local library years ago.
When Belinda realized what losing that autographed first edition meant for our family—and when she learned about the deadline hanging over our heads—she offered to become a silent partner in the business. Or maybe not-so-silent, since she’s working part-time at the bookshop now. She knows everything there is to know about mysteries, so Dad and Aunt True have put her in charge of that section. She’s as happy as a clam.
Aunt True also took her shopping for some new clothes, which is kind of like the blind leading the blind if you ask me, which nobody ever does. At least Belinda doesn’t look like such a bag lady anymore. Well, except for the kittens. She almost always brings one or two along with her to work.
Dad says he still thinks Belinda Winchester is odd, but Aunt True reminded him that while books bring people together, it’s people who bring communities together.
“A community is like a family,” she told him, “and every family has a few odd ducks. The important thing to remember is that they’re still family.”
Belinda Winchester is definitely an odd duck, and so is Ella Bellow. We all kind of wish Ella had moved to Florida, but she’s opening a knitting shop across the street from us next month instead. The sign is already up over her half of Earl’s Coins and Stamps. She’s calling it “A Stitch in Time,” but Dad calls it the “Stitch and Snitch,” since he says it’s destined to be our town’s new gossip central.
Ella also decided to keep her new kitten. She named it Purl, or as Annie Freeman tells everyone, “P-U-R-L, like the knitting stitch.”
On the night before winter swooped in again, I heard something outside as I was getting ready for bed.
Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!
I crossed to the window, threw it open, and leaned out to listen more closely. There it was again—Tu-whoo! Tu-whoo!
I held my breath. Could it be? I looked up at the full moon—an owl moon!—that hung in the sky. Its light reflected on the sodden snow below and shone through my window, puddling at my feet in a silvery glow.
I looked over at the picture book displayed on my shelf and thought of the father who takes his child owling.
Which in my case has never happened.
What if I rewrite the story? I thought. What if in my story, the girl asks her father to go owling instead?
“Dad!” I called, grabbing Gramps’s barn coat and wool hat and stuffing my feet into my sneakers.
He didn’t answer, so as I clattered downstairs, I reached for my cell phone and called him. A moment later, I heard the sound of his ringtone from the kitchen.
It was the theme song from The Magnificent Seven!
And right then and there I knew for sure that our family was going to be okay.
And that’s exactly how it all happened, absolutely truly, cross my heart and hope to fly.
Acknowledgments
Heartfelt thanks to Ellen Ingwerson and Clara Germani, whose expert knowledge of competitive swimming helped keep me out of deep water; and to MG (R) Lee Baxter for guidance on all things military. Any errors that managed to slip through the net are entirely my own. And a great big shout-out to my friend Victoria Irwin and to René Kirkpatrick and the entire staff at Eagle Harbor Book Co. on Bainbridge Island, Washington, for letting me play in their sandbox one long winter weekend. The world is absolutely truly a better place with bookstores like this one in it!
AUNT TRUE’S MINI PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIES
Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. salt (only if using unsalted butter, otherwise omit)
Filling
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 T. butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350° F.
FOR COOKIES: Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Add pumpkin, vanilla extract, and molasses; beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Add to pumpkin mixture and stir well. Using a teaspoon-size cookie scoop (or a heaping teaspoon), drop onto greased or parchment-lined cookie sheets.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookie springs back to the touch, or a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
FOR FILLING: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually mix in powdered sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Generously frost the flat side of one cookie with filling, then top it with the flat side of another one to make a “sandwich.” Repeat with remaining cookies and filling.
MISS MARPLE’S PICKS
The Borrowers by Mary Norton
Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
Cinderella by the Brothers Grimm
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Wolves of Willoughby Chase by Joan Aiken
HEATHER VOGEL FREDERICK is the award-winning author of the Mother-Daughter Book Club series, the Patience Goodspeed books, the Spy Mice series, and Once Upon a Toad. She grew up in New England and today lives in Portland, Oregon, with her family. You can learn more about the author and her books at heathervogelfrederick.com.
SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
Simon & Schuster • New York
Meet the author, watch videos, and get extras at
KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com
authors.simonandschuster.com/Heather-Vogel-Frederick
Also by Heather Vogel Frederick
The Mother-Daughter Book Club
Much Ado About Anne
Dear Pen Pal
Pies & Prejudice
Home for the Holidays
Wish You Were Eyre
Once Upon a Toad
The Voyage of Patience Goodspeed
The Education of Patience Goodspeed
Spy Mice: The Black Paw
Spy Mice: For Your Paws Only
Spy Mice: Goldwhiskers
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SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2014 by Heather Vogel Frederick
Jacket illustration and hand-lettering copyright © 2014 by Charles Santoso
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Jacket design by Krista Vossen
Art direction by Krista Vossen
Interior design by Hilary Zarycky
The text for this book is set in Fournier.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frederick, Heather Vogel.
Absolutely Truly / Heather Vogel Frederick.—First edition.
pages cm.—(A Pumpkin Falls mystery)
Summary: Twelve-year-old Truly Lovejoy’s family moves to a small town to take over a bookstore. Soon, she has to solve two mysteries involving a missing book and an undelivered letter.
ISBN 978-1-4424-2972-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4424-2974-1 (eBook)
[1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Families—Fiction. 3. Moving, Household—Fiction. 4. Community life—New Hampshire—Fiction. 5. New Hampshire—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.F87217Ab 2014
[Fic]—dc23
2013046926