222-The New Deputy In Town

This week we're in small town Montana, which is apparently full of crime, and none of it really makes sense, but don't worry, the cowboy still gets the girl in the end!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, I am Delaney, and this is a book cult.
Today we're covering the new deputy in town by BJ Daniels,
who is a woman, in case anyone was wondering. So
for fun facts, this is from Christmas twenty twenty one,
and here was Sidney's message. She said, this year, the
cowboy has his shirt on because he is all business.

(00:32):
Only the best men are cowboys deep down. Obviy so
moved to Montana, mary a cop jk acab Love Sidney
aka Young Upstart. So now I know she got the
nickname Young Upstart in twenty twenty one, which I yeah,
we went to Vegas that year, so that explains that. Okay, anyways,

(00:53):
let's get right into it. So we open on some
girl putting on a blue dress and then like she
grabs a baseball.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Bat because she's ready to head to the.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Bar and just catch some man unaware and beat the
shit out of him. Basically that's her thing, that's what
she's doing. Then we cut to this other bitch named
Laneye Cavanaugh. She also has a sister named Lacey, and
I really disliked that. Laney and Lacey I think are
too close. They're not even twins, So I think their
names could be a little bit different, but maybe that's

(01:25):
just me. But these sisters are going to Montana for
like the next two weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Because they do like this week weekly, they do a.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yearly visit because it's like they grew up there and
it's like their grandparents live there, and I forget there's
like some backstory with their parents, but I don't care.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
And it doesn't matter.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
But they were basically raised by their grandparents, so they
stay like in their grandparents' house basically whenever they visit.
And so Lacey's cooking because she's always cooking. She's like
trying to start a catering business. It doesn't really come
up much, but that Lacey is a chef.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
That's what she does.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
And then so they're talking and then their cousin Maddie
comes over to say hi, to like greet them, you know,
nice to see you, you're back in town, YadA, YadA.
But Maddie is covered in bruises and she claims that
she like fell or some shit, but the bruises are
like on her arm, like if someone grabbed her. So
Laney is very like suspicious about this. Meanwhile, here's another character,

(02:33):
Deputy sheriff Nick Rogers. He is also in Montana for
the time being, so like he's like a cop, but
he's like from California, I think, and he's like covering
for this, like the small town sheriff that's on vacation
in Florida, but he only covers on the weekends. So

(02:54):
he's like weekend cop for the small town I guess.
Just don't don't question it, don't think about it too much.
He's there, so he's been busy as hell for the
past like two weeks that he's been there. Because for
the past two I forget if it's Friday or Saturday night,
dude's have been getting beat up at the local bar.
And this week is no different because here comes some

(03:17):
guy that was beat up outside of the bar, and
like all the other guys, he doesn't remember much other
than he was attacked from behind, perhaps with a baseball bat,
and he just like has the shit beat out of him, basically.
So cut back to Lacey and Laney. Maddie had just
left and Lacey is talking about throwing her an engagement
party because Maddie just got engaged to some lame guy.

(03:38):
His name is like Bo something Bo Evans, and Laney
is like, I don't know, maybe you should ask her
before throwing an engagement party, but like Lacey is already
like she's like, I'm gonna do it. I'm planning all
the food. This is gonna be the debut for my
catering company. It's gonna be great. And Lane is like,
I think something's up with Maddie because she has lost
a lot of weight in the past year and she

(03:59):
seems like she's trying really hard to seem happy. But
Lacey is just like, you know, she's engaged, blah blah blah.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
She's happy.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
I don't see anything wrong. And Laney is like, okay. Also,
Landy's an accountant. I don't think I ever mentioned that,
but she's an accountant in case anyone was wondering. But whatever,
So Lacey's planning all that food, and Laney thinks something's up.
So Maddie, meanwhile, she's been going to the bar every
weekend to go dancing, but she's not dancing with her fiance.

(04:30):
So people think that's like suspicious and there's something up
with her.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
It's a small town. People talk back to Nick. He
has been called to some lady's house because all of
her chickens are missing, which like really seems like the
perfect small town crime in my mind. So he like
and she's like such a bitch to him too. It's
really funny actually, because he like shows up and she's like, yeah,
all my chickens are gone, and he's like, okay, was

(04:55):
it like a coyote or some shit? And she's literally like,
do you see any bla do you see any feathers?
And he's like, oh, okay, well did they like wander
off or something? And she's like, I have like thirty chickens.
You think all of them just wandered off. And he's
like okay, I'm gonna look around for clues, and she
just like goes inside and ignores him. So he's like

(05:18):
walking around looking for clues, and he like eventually finds
this boy down the street and he's like, hey, my
dog is a thief and I'm really sorry. The dog's
name is Prince, by the way, because this dog the
kid had like walked by the house one time and
the dog tried to steal a chicken and he said no,
but apparently the dog was like I'm gonna get some
fucking chickens because he went and stole the chickens one

(05:40):
by one overnight, basically install all thirty of these fucking chickens.
And so they I forget how, but they get all
the chickens back to the lady's house whatever, and so
that's fixed.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Like, like I said.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
It's a really small town. I think there's like fifty
people that live in this town, so it's really easy
to like track down this kind of shit, like it's
two streets over whatever.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
You know.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
So but for Nick, it's also a really good place
to hide since it is middle of nowhere and he's
trying to hide because Nick has a mysterious past. But
we don't get the mysterious passed until way later in
the book, and I probably don't even explain it well,
so don't expect much out of that. But Nick goes
back to his office and he sees a car drive

(06:25):
up and a woman gets out, and then like this
dude shows up and starts yelling at her, and Nick
is like, I'm a cop from the big city. I
can recognize domestic abuse when I see it. So he
goes outside to like break this up, and the guy
is like, hey, this is between me and my fiance. Well,
he's like my girl fiance, you know. He stumbles over

(06:46):
it and he's like, you don't need to interfere, and
Nick is like, who are you guess what. It's Maddie
and her fiance Bo Evans, and so Maddie's like, oh,
I just I don't I don't need anything, and so
they just like leave and Nick is like, weren't you gonna, like,
like you were coming to my office and she's like nope,
and then they just leave, and so he's like, I

(07:07):
wonder why she was coming to the office whatever. Later on,
he is introduced to Laney and Lacey. I forget why
they're all in the same area of town. I guess
I don't know, and him and Laney like instantly have
like so much chemistry, like they're both like.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh my god, hot hot, oh my god.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
Lacey notices this, and so she invites Nick to Maddie's
engagement party, which is happening on Saturday. I don't know
what date is currently, but it has to be the weekend,
so maybe it's Friday.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah, I guess, I don't know. It doesn't matter. It's
a day of the week. Nick says he'll try to
make it to the party if Laney saves a dance
for him, and she's like, I will cut to Arlene Evans.
She's Bo's mom. She's at a diner with her children.
She has three children, her precious baby boy Bo I
think Bo is eighteen, and then she has a lame,

(08:00):
unmarried daughter. Well, she has two daughters. They're both unmarried.
One of them is Charlotte, who is seventeen. She's gorgeous,
everything that Arlene wants on a daughter, YadA YadA, Violet
fucking Violet. She doesn't like Violet because Violet is fat
and therefore a terrible daughter who will never get married.

(08:20):
And like to Arlene, all that matters is her daughter's
getting married, and she's like a boy mom, so she's
like really weird about her son. Anyways, she has gathered
her children because she has news for them. But first
Charlotte is like, oh my god, bo, I saw your
fiance Maddie and she was at the bar dancing with
some old dude. And bo was like, okay, she's allowed

(08:44):
to dance with people. We're not even married yet. And
Arlene is like, okay, back to me. I gathered you
here to tell me that I started a business, and
her kids are like what. And her business is an
online dating service for rural single and her kids are like,
that's fucking dumb. But she's like, Violet, maybe I can

(09:06):
find you a man with this fucking dating site. And
her kids are very not into it. Cut back to Nick.
There's so many characters in this book that I had
to get the point of view of, and I thought
it was so unnecessary. It's literally everyone, it's a.

Speaker 3 (09:20):
Real dating site, and they already know everyone. Do they
really the rural dating site?

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Just wait until you hear everything that happens with this
rural fucking dating site. It's so dumb. Anyways, we're back
to Nick. He's thinking about how he should not go
to the engagement party just to dance with Laney, but
he really wants to because he's like, I don't want
to blow my cover. I need to keep a low profile.
Oh mysterious backstory. And then some guy shows up to

(09:49):
his office and he's like, Hey, my name is Glenn.
I'm a reporter for the local paper. We really want
a story on you since you're new in town. And
that's exciting but also I figured I should tell you
that I was attacked outside of a bar about a
month ago, but he doesn't want to make a report
because he doesn't want like he doesn't want anyone to
know about this attack because he hasn't.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Told anyone about it.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
But he was like, I heard about like the other
guys getting attacked outside of the bar, so I figured
I should come forward. And Nick is like, I think
you might have been the first victim, So like I
really do want your story, but you don't have to
make a report about it. And Glenn's like okay. So,
like I hadn't even been drinking, like I was just
like at the bar, and then I stepped outside and

(10:29):
I just like woke up covered in bruises, feeling like
I'd been hit by a truck, and like all I
remember is I smelled some kind of like.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
Old lady perfume me smell, and that's it.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
And Nick's like, okay, cool, like, thank you for your
story because this does prove that there has been an
attack every Saturday for the last month. And he's like cool,
and Glenn is like you want to do that? Can
I interview you for the paper? And Nick's like no,
I'm too shy, too shy to be in the paper.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
I don't want to do that.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
So Glenn leaves, and then Nick pulls out a cell
phone from his hiding spot in his desk or whatever,
and he turns it on and sighs and relief that
there's no messages waiting for him, And I'm like, can
I just like know his fucking backstory? Like why why
do we gotta tease about how mysterious like whatever. Meanwhile,

(11:18):
news about Mattie and Bo's engagement party has spread through
the entire small town since there's only fifty of them,
and Arlene is fucking pissed that she was not asked
to cook for it because she has a bunch of
like blue ribbons from baking at the fair or some bullshit.
I don't know, but she's like, I should be a
part of this. There's also this whole other, like very

(11:39):
small side story about how the town has a sewing
circle with all the like ladies, and the sewing circle
has like a town cookbook and it was like a
whole thing that the town and this cookbook whatever. Anyways,
back to the engagement party, Maddie is freaking out about
the engagement party because she didn't really want it. But

(11:59):
her mom, Sarah is like, girl, you've been engaged for
a month. And Mattie is like, okay, we haven't even
picked a wedding date. So like, because her mom's like,
of course you're gonna have an engagement party. You've been
engaged for a month, and she's like, okay, but we
haven't been planned the wedding, so I don't know how
we can but whatever, and her mom's like, just be
thankful you're gonna have this party. And her mom is

(12:20):
also thinking because her mom is a giant bitch, because
she's thinking that Maddie hasn't been spending enough time with
Bo lately because Bo is supposed to be able to
control her and handle her, and Maddie's been having a
lot more backbone lately than Sarah likes. And I was like,
what the fuck is this fucking book?

Speaker 2 (12:39):
What is this town? Like?

Speaker 1 (12:40):
I don't whatever. So cut to the day of the party.
I don't know how many days it's been maybe one,
maybe a week, but Lacey is finishing up with all
the treats for the party. She's been baking all week
and making everyone like try her treats and everything, and
Mattie is freaking out because she's like great for the party,
but she also like doesn't really want the party and

(13:02):
thinks it's like maybe too much, And so Laney and
Lacy are like, oh my god, girl, you seem so
off lately.

Speaker 2 (13:08):
Are you getting like cold feet?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
And Maddie is like, no, oh my god, I'm so
excited to marry Bo. He's perfect for me and like, yeah,
we fight sometimes, but like that'll all get better once
we're married, which you know, obviously marriage and baby solve
all problems exactly. So Maddie leaves to like get ready,

(13:30):
I guess, and then this bitch, Geraldine Shaw shows up.
She's one of the old ladies in town, and she's
all mad because her diamond bracelet is missing and she
just showed it to Maddie and like let her try
it on, and the girls are like, Mattie totally never
took that. There is no way, like you probably just
like misplaced it or something. So gerald Jane leaves and

(13:52):
then Lacey is like, oh my god, my caramel puffs
fell and now this this is an omen. This party's
gonna be a disaster. Also, I don't know if it's
been mentioned yet in the book, but Maddie works for
Geraldine Shaw, so like they do have a connection. They
do know each other, so it's not weird that Maddie
was trying on her jewelry and stuff, but like whatever.

(14:13):
So at the party, Nick shows up and he immediately
gets caught by Arlene, and Arlene introduces herself and then
she's like, bo is my son. This is his engagement party.
And this is my daughter Violet.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
She is single.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
And Nick can tell that Violet is so uncomfortable about
all this, and he's just like cool, I gotta go.
And then Lane's grandpa shows up and he's like, this
is my granddaughter Laney. And they've already met obviously, But
then Nick sees in the background Arlene grabbing Maddie and
dragging her outside, so he's like, sorry, I gotta go,
and then Laney's all like, oh, he.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Didn't even like look at me. He like ran off instantly.
Maybe he doesn't like me.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
But he goes outside and he sees Arlene yelling at
Maddie and so he's like, hey, everything okay, and Arlene
is like, oh, I was just trying to talk to
Maddie really quick, ha ha ha, and Nick's like, oh, well,
I was hoping to like get a dance with her
and like talk to her about something. And so Arlene
just like leaves, She just like leaves them outside, and

(15:16):
so Nick is like, are you okay? And Maddie's like crying,
and she's like, you'll only make it worse. You can't
help me. And Nick's like, I could help you if
you like let me. And then Bo shows up and
he like grabs Maddie and pulls her inside and is like,
rh I don't know. So Nick follows them inside and

(15:37):
then he hears screaming and he sees a crowd over
by the snack table, and fucking Geraldine is on the
ground convulsing with a macaroon crushed in her hand. Macaroons
are the coconut puff types. They are not macaron's the
little sandwich French cookies. Just in case anyone is confused,

(15:58):
because I was mildly confused.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
For a small amount of time.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Anyways, she got that cookie crushed in her hand, and
then Nick smells some bitter almond and then Geraldine just
fucking dies on the ground. Later on the corner tells
Nick that Geraldine died of asphyxiation, and that asphyxiation was

(16:22):
caused by a ginormous dose of cyanide in that cookie.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
I think it was a cyanide poisoning.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Then nope, I don't know how this shit works asphyxiation
because it was just so much cyanide in that one cookie.
And this causes Nick to freak out a little bit
because cyanide is what Keller used. But there's no way

(16:49):
that Keller was able to follow him here, And you're like,
who the fuck is Keller?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
You don't get to know yet.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
But I think this is when you find out that
Nick's best friend also died via cyanide poisoning. And I
guess this Keller guy is involved.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I don't know, Okay, don't.

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Worry about it anyways, So he knows that Geraldine was poisoned,
and no, none of the other cookies were poisoned, because
only Geraldine died and she had grabbed the last cookie.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
From the tray.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
So Nick goes to talk to Lacey since she made
all the food at the fucking event, but she isn't home.
So he talks to Laney and said, and Laney is like,
my sister did not poison her. We barely even know Geraldine,
there's no motive, and Lacey was like putting out more
treats because Violet had been stuff in her fucking pockets with.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
Treats all night.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
And then Geraldine grabbed the last macaroon on the plate.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
So then we cut back to Arlene.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Even though we're in the middle of a murder investigation,
Marlene's pissed that Geraldine had the gall to have a
fucking heart attack at her son's engagement party. Fucking selfish.
Of course she had to ruin it, make the entire
night about her, YadA YadA. Such a narcissist. Yeah, so

(18:08):
Arlene's pissed because also fucking no one wants to join
her Rural Singles dating website.

Speaker 2 (18:15):
But luckily she got Hella pictures of everyone at the party.
So what does she do.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
She uses those pictures to make profiles for everyone, including Nick,
the handsome, mysterious sheriff with a mysterious past. He gets
a profile, Everyone gets a profile. Cut back to Nick.
He goes to talk to Maddie next, but she is
also not home, but her mother, Sarah is, and Sarah

(18:42):
is like Maddie barely even knew Geraldine. She worked for her,
but Geraldine barely even paid her because she was really
tight fisted with her money. And Nick is like, Sarah's
fucking weird and probably hiding something, but whatever. Cut to Laney.
She's heading to Geraldine's house because that.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
She I forget.

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Oh wait, yeah, it's the reading of the will. She's
going to the reading of the will because that's where,
like Mattie said she would be, and she knows that
Maddie needs some support, so she sits with Maddie as
Geraldine's lawyer reads out the will. Turns out, Geraldine left
her house to the sewing circle that she was a
part of, so everyone's pumped about that, but she left
everything else to Maddie, which makes Mattie, who has new

(19:27):
bruises on her arms and wrists, burst into tears.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
So that's like weird.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
So everyone else leaves and Laney talks to Maddie alone
and she's like, hey, Geraldine was poisoned and Mattie's.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Like what, and Lady's like, I know.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Also, her bracelet was stolen after she showed it to you,
and Maddie is like, I put it back. I don't
know what happened. You know, she left her door unlocked
like everyone does in this damn town because you know,
small towns, they don't lock their doors, and so and
she's like, also, so she had like a bunch of
jewelry out because she was gonna sell it all for
some reason.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
So that is suspicious.

Speaker 1 (20:07):
Nick meanwhile, is finally talking to Lacey and she is
cooking some some scrimp scampy, some scramp some scrampy some
shrimp scampy for lunch. And he's like, just like, you know,
talk while you cook, because that like calms her down.
And so she's like, I made the macaroons because somebody,
maybe Arlene, maybe Violet, maybe Charlotte, I don't know, someone

(20:30):
told me that they were Bo's favorite. And I had
noticed that the plate was all almost empty, so I
grabbed it to put out more and then I heard
someone choking and saw Geraldine collapse. So that's her story.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
And then she's like, hey, do you want to like
stay her a lunch?

Speaker 1 (20:47):
And he agrees because he wants to see Lanie again,
and he's thinking about how like his family would fucking
love Laney, she would get along with them, because you know,
he's had two entire conversations with her at this point,
so we really know it's her very well. And then
like Lacey's asking him like if he knows how to cook,
and he's like, yeah, I know how to cook like
some because my grandma taught me how to make like

(21:08):
Italian dishes.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
And then Lane walks in.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
And she's like, hmm, that explains your dark roots, but
not the name Rogers and he's like, yeah, I don't
know where that came from. And like in the reviews
they were like, how like what he just like looks Italian?
Like there's nothing like nothing Italian about this man so
far they would make you think like, oh he's Italian whatever.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
He's just slightly genetically not Italian.

Speaker 1 (21:34):
He's just maybe kind of maybe not who knows whatever.
So Laney is freaking out that Nick's questioning Lacey because
she's like, Lacey has no fears because she knows she's innocent.
But Laney has watched enough true crime shows to know
that sometimes the innocent people get put in jail for
these types of things because they're so confident that they're

(21:56):
not gonna be seen as a suspect. And like she
cooked all the food, so like she would be suspect
number one.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
So Laney, while she was at Geraldine's house, saw her
financial records and knows that she was withdrawing a lot
of money every month and she was running out of money,
so that means someone was probably blackmailing her.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
Also, would you like to.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Guess how much a ton of money every month is?

Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's a thousand dollars? When was this written? Good question?
Don't know.

Speaker 1 (22:30):
Don't think it was that long ago. Don't think that
a thousand dollars was worth that much, but I don't know.
I mean it is, it's money, I guess, But yeah,
someone was probably blackmailing Geraldine. So Nick has dinner whatever,
and then he goes to like talk to Arlene again
and ask her about Geraldine, and Arlene is like, well,

(22:50):
Geraldine was super frugal and cheap and like never spent
any of her money. And Nick's like, okay, I know
for a fact though she died broke, and Arlene is like, yeah,
that's just what she wanted you to think. She was
like hiding money in her house and everyone knew it,
and he's like okay, And so he asks about Maddie
He's like, what about like what's their relationship or whatever?

(23:13):
And Arlene is like, oh my god, yeah, Geraldine paid
her a few bucks an hour. It was two dollars
an hour that she got paid, and like she just
did like very little chores for her and stuff. And
then Arlene is like, and you know, Geraldine's bracelet was missing,
and that's why I was talking to Maddie at the
party because Maddie swore she didn't take it, and so
I obviously had to tell bo about it because how

(23:35):
could he marry someone like that's stealing bracelets and he
could totally marry someone better than Maddie. And Nicka's just
like okay. So he leaves and he goes to Geraldine's
house because he knows at this point that everyone leaves
their doors unlocked, so you might as well just go
in there and see if you can see anything and
kind of like see what's what the house is like.

(23:56):
And so he's looking around and who's he run into?
But fuck it Lany and she's like, oh, I was
just grabbing my sweater and she just like grabs this
random blue sweater that's like off the back of a chair.

Speaker 2 (24:07):
And Nick's like.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
That that sweater's a little too frumpy for her. I
don't think it's hers, and he's like, can I smell that?
And he smells it and it has some like old
floral smell and he's like, what's that smell? And she's like, lavender,
that's the old lady floral smell apparently, and then Laney
blurts out something about the missing blanket.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Oh bracelet, not blanket, that's a typo.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Laney says something about like she's like Maddie didn't take
like I know the bracelet's missing, like Maddie didn't take it,
but like I have pictures of it and I'll share
them with you.

Speaker 2 (24:45):
So like you know what you're looking for.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
So she like sends in the pictures or whatever, and
then she's like, also, this sweater is not actually mine.
So Nick is like okay, So he takes the sweater
because of the smell, and he's all like promised, like
no more investigating, like you can't do this, it's dangerous,
and then he drives off. But he drives past the
community setter and he sees the door cracked and he

(25:07):
goes inside and there's fucking Laney in there and he's like, girl,
what the fuck. And she's like, you need me to
help solve this case, I'll give you a fucking warning
right now. She does nothing that really helps. She gives
him like town background and that's it. But whatever. She's like,
I can help you. You don't know this town like
I do. And then she's like, I looked at Geraldine's

(25:29):
financial records and she was withdrawing one thousand dollars a month.
And Nicka's like, oh my god, blackmail. And she's like, yeah,
that's what I was thinking. And then they talk about
the macaroons and like because the macarene recipe was in
like the Sewing Circles recipe cookbook, so she's like anyone
could have gotten the recipe. That's the recipe Lacey used.
And he's all like, well, why did they do the macaroons?

(25:51):
And Laney is like, well, Lacey said someone told her
they were both favorite, and Nicka's like, okay, but Arlene
told me that bo is allergic to so like she
wouldn't have said that. Bau wouldn't have said that that's suspicious.
And Arlene had smelled almond on the cookies, and Lany
is like, Lacey used that family recipe from that cookbook
and there's no alved E extrickt in there, and she

(26:14):
would not have changed the recipe. So someone had to
bring one single poisoned cookie for one specific person. But like,
was it really intended for Geraldine? And if it was,
who done it? Because Mattie was the only one who
benefited from her death and she seemed surprised and shocked
that she was given anything. And Nicka's like, I'll tell

(26:35):
you right now, I do not think that Lacey or
Maddie did it. And so this this is off Laney
because she's been doing all this to prove her sister
and cousin's innocence.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
And she's like, what the fuck? So you'd both think
you think they're.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
Both innocent, And he's like, Okay, I don't think that
Maddie murdered her, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (26:51):
Think she's innocent. There's something going on.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
With her because there's still the bracelet that's missing and
the blackmail to figure out. But he and Laney agreed
to meet, like they're gonna do dinner in a movie
I think later, and then he goes back to the
office because the latest dude to get beat up outside
of the bar, has made a statement and this guy
got beat up. It was like the night after the

(27:14):
engagement party murder and crime did not stop, or the
night of the murder even I think, because it was
on a Saturday night.

Speaker 2 (27:21):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (27:23):
So the latest guy is here to make a statement
and he's here to talk to Nick, and Nick has
that sweater that he found at Geraldine's place, so he's like, hey, smell,
smell this. Does it smell like that smell you smelled?
And the guy is like, yeah, that's the smell I
smelled after I got attacked.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
But like why, And.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
Nick's like, I think you were attacked by a woman.
And the guy is like, what the fuck? You better
not tell anyone else that. There's no way I was
attacked by a woman. It was a big beefy dude.
And Nick is like okay, and then the guy leaves,
so he's like, I know this smell has something to
do with it.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
This sweater. Whoever owns this fucking sweater? So he goes
to dinner with Laney.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
They spend a lot of time talking about Geraldine's death
because you know, the cookie was smashed in her hand
and her hand was like scratched up like someone tried
to pry her hand open, so they think that Geraldine
wasn't the intended target. And after I don't know if
it was before or after Geraldine collapsed, Laney heard a
woman's voice like shout no as it was happening, so

(28:21):
she's like, I think.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
It was a woman. The murderer was a woman. So
they have that.

Speaker 1 (28:28):
Nick sends pictures of the bracelet to pawn shops in
the area and then whatever they do their date whatever,
I think they.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Might kiss at the end of it and whatever.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
So he sends the bracelet to the pawn shops and
the next day he gets a call that the bracelet
is at a pawn shop and he's like, okay, who
sold the bracelet? And the pawn shop guy is like, okay,
that's the funny part. The guy said his name was
Nick Rogers, and Nick's like, oh, he's fucking with me.
And he's like, okay, what did the guy look like?
And the guy describes bo Evans. So Nick goes to

(29:01):
talk to Maddie, who is with Laney, and he's like, hey, girl.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Who did you show the pictures of the bracelet too?

Speaker 1 (29:06):
And Mattie's like no one, and he's like really, not
even Bo. And she's like, well, Bo wouldn't steal it,
like he why, no, he wouldn't do that. And Nick's like, okay,
but didn't Arlene yell at you at the party about
the missing bracelet? And then she told Bo about that
and he didn't say anything about taking it. And then
Nick's like, did Arlene give you those bruises on your arms?

(29:29):
And Maddie starts to like deny it all, and then
she's like, I love Bo. No one's ever gonna love
me like Bodas and Nick's like, okay, well Bo is
gonna be arrested for stealing this bracelet. So he goes
to Arlene's house because Bo is unemployed and lives at
home and which I mean, he's eighteen.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
So it's like but Violet answers.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
The door and she's like, I don't know where BO is.
But Nick can hear really loud music and he's like,
is he in his room? So he he walks in
and he like follows the music to Bo's door and
knocks on the door and then barges in and turns
down the music and he's like, you're under arrest. And
Bo is like, I didn't do anything to know bracelet,
and Nick is like, I didn't even mention no bracelet.

(30:14):
So he arrests Bo and then he's like, where's Arlene
And Violet is like, oh, no, one told you. She's
at the hospital because she fell down the stairs last
night and broke her arm and has a concussion, and
he's like what. So the next day is Geraldine's funeral
and not very many people show up, but Nick goes
and he sees that like Maddie and Arlene and like

(30:37):
BO and them are there, but Maddie is like as
far away from Arlene as physically possible, and even though
Bo is in jail, Maddie is still very right or
die for him, and she's like, he only pawned the
bracelet to help pay for our wedding. So it's like,
oh oh. And this is when Nick and Laney agree

(30:57):
to go to the movies later, which I don't think
the funeral is the best time to plan a date,
but like, I guess if it works, so yeah, they're
gonna do that later. But Nick also feels really guilty
because he's been lying to Laney on the daily, so
he's like, I should try to avoid her, but I can't.
And then the next day, Nick gets a call from
a judge and the judge is like, hey, bo, it's

(31:18):
gonna be let off with a warning because this is
his first offense and his mom needs his help at
home since you know, she fell and broke her arm
and stuff. And Nick is pissed about this, but like,
there's nothing he can do about it. It's the judge
made the decision.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (31:33):
So he and Lanny go on their date, which includes
dinner at Dairy Queen, and then they go to a movie,
which I was like, wow, look at him. That's a
that's a fun date, guys. But I guess it's like
small town Montana. Maybe there's only like two restaurants.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (31:48):
But of course they end up talking about the murder
and how Geraldine was only paying Mattie two dollars an hour,
so they do not think Mattie was the one blackmailing her,
because what even was the reason for the fucking blackmail,
And then they talk about how Geraldine had a husband
and the husband died the year before, but he had
died back home in like Minnesota or wherever the fuck

(32:10):
he was from.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
And they had.

Speaker 1 (32:12):
Buried him there, whereas Geraldine was buried on the family
plot in town, and Nick is like, if they were
like so in love, why wouldn't they be buried together,
Like that's weird, and Laney's like, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
I guess it was in his will or something.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
And then Laney's talking about how much she loves it
here in Montana, but she would only move here for
the right man, and Nick knows.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
He can't be that man. He's not a good man.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
But then he drops her over her place and he
does like kisser goodbye, even though he knows he shouldn't.
And then in the morning he starts looking into Geraldine's
husband's death and there's no record of it in the
like town paper she had put that he had died
at home in Minnesota or whatever, but when Nick called
the guy's hometown, they had no record of his death
or the burial, cremation.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
None of that noise. So that's like really weird.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
And then Nick pulls out his secret cellphone again to
see if it's cover is blown, and it hasn't, but
there is a message saying that the trial has been
moved up to next week, so he'll have to be
there for that. So he is testifying in a trial
about something, but we don't know what yet.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
So then Nick is.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Greeted by the kid and the dog that steals things, Prince,
and it turns out that Prince has stolen stuff from
all the houses on the block. So the kid is
going door to door with all the stolen stuff, like
in a wagon so people can claim it. And Nick
sees that there's a baseball bat that the dog found
and he's like, hey, write down who claims what and
then bring me a list when you're done, and the

(33:40):
kid is like okay, And so then Nick goes to
talk to Maddie and he's like, hey, what did you
do for Geraldine?

Speaker 2 (33:46):
And I think she's like gardening at the.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Time, and she's like, oh, I don't know, like some
gardening and chores around the house, Like why do you
care And he's like, well, I'm trying to solve this murder,
so you know. And then Nick is like where did
you bury the body?

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Is like what the fuck?

Speaker 1 (34:02):
And he's like, hey, it's just us, Like who did
you tell and he means like Geraldine's husband, that's the body,
and Maddie is like I didn't tell anyone, but like
obviously someone knew and was like black mailing Geraldine about it,
and Mattie is like, well, he didn't know what he
was doing. He was really sick, Like Geraldine was only
protecting me because he hurt me. And Nick realizes that

(34:25):
Geraldine's husband was sexually abusing Maddie and that's why she
had changed so drastically in the last year. And then
like Geraldine had found out and killed her husband for Mattie,
which like baller love that, and then they had buried
him in the yard basically, and so because of all
that stuff that happened to Maddie, that's how she ended

(34:46):
up getting in.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
This like abusive relationship with Bo's.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
Family and like why she's stuck with him even though
he's a piece of shit. And Nick is like it
all makes sense now, and he's like, okay, who was
blackmailing Geraldine though? And Maddie looks up to where her
mom is watching in the window and he's like it's
your mom, and so like, yeah, it's Sarah, And so
he calls Lane to come over, and Lanny comes over
because he just like you need to get here now,

(35:11):
and She's like what, and HeLa hangs up, and so
she gets there and he's like, okay, Maddie's going to shower,
and like he like waits still hears the running water
and he turns to Lane and he's like, okay, I
took out anything she could like hurt herself with in
the bathroom. But this is what happened, and Laney freaks
out and Nick is like, I know, but it kind

(35:31):
of explains a lot, and like Sarah agreed to turn
herself in for the blackmail, and like.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
No one realized, you know.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
What happened with Maddie, but like she's gonna need some counseling,
and Laney's like I agree. So then he goes back
to work or whatever, and the boy and his dog
come back, and the boy gives Nick a list of
all the stuff, but no one claimed the baseball bat,
so Nick takes it and he like sends it to
a crime lab or some shit because it's got like
some mysterious dried brown liquid looking stuff on it. So

(36:02):
then he learns that Mattie agreed to go get counseling
and is gonna get treatment out of town. I think
it's in like Missoula or some shit, and she agreed
to do it if bo didn't get to know where
she was going and didn't like know what was happening basically,
But they still don't know who killed Jeraldine because Sarah
swears it wasn't her, and so Laney is staying in

(36:23):
town until she can figure until they can figure it out.
But like she does have to leave soon because she
lives in like Arizona or some shit. So Nick had
overnighted the baseball bat to a crime lab to get analyzed,
and they call him instantly to tell him that the
baseball bat had human blood on it, and not only that,
but it matched the last guy that was attacked at
the bar, because you know, they can do DNA testing

(36:44):
in like two hours, just like on CSI. That's how
that works. So Nick decides to make a copy of
the baseball bat. He just like buys the same type
and like roughs it up and shit, and decides to
return it to the one house on the block that
did not claim anything that Prince had stolen, and that
house happens to be Arlene's house.

Speaker 2 (37:06):
Lane ends up.

Speaker 1 (37:06):
Going to Arlene's house because she's in she sees an
ambulance driving away, and it turns out that Arlene odd
on pain pills. That's what Violet says. And Violet is like, yeah,
she maybe did on purpose, but Bo was like, she
did not, it was an accident.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
It's just she.

Speaker 1 (37:22):
Forgot she had taken pills for her arm YadA YadA.
But Lane is like, okay, I was here because Arlene
told me she like had a bunch of pictures she
took at the engagement party and she said that like
she would give me copies of them for like twenty
bucks basically, and because she thinks Nick might be able
to get clues from the pictures. And Bo is like, oh,

(37:44):
I'll give you the copies.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
How much were you gonna pay it?

Speaker 1 (37:47):
And she's like forty bucks, and so he makes the copies.
She gets the forty bucks because I think at this
point Lane knows about the dating site or she like
found out about it, and she's like, what the And
she saw the pictures because I think she saw hers somehow,
and then she sees something in the background and she's like,
I think these could help Nick.

Speaker 2 (38:07):
So that's why she gets the pictures.

Speaker 1 (38:09):
Anyways, Nick also sees the ambulance drive away and he
follows it to the hospital and Arlene is in there
and he talks to her and she's like, I didn't
try to odi, it was just an accident nor whatever.
And then he smells lavender and he's like what does
that smell? And she's like, oh my god, that's my perfume.
My mom gave it to me.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
Isn't it amazing?

Speaker 1 (38:28):
And he's like okay. So then he heads to Arlene's
house and Laney's already gone, and he is like, hey,
like Violet answers the door or whatever, and he's like,
I was looking for your mom. He acts like he
doesn't know, and they're like, oh, yeah, she's at the
hospital again. And he's like, oh shit, well I found
this bat that a dog stole and I was wondering
if it was yours. And Bo was like, hey, that's mine.

(38:49):
It's been missing for like a really long time. And
then he like turns the Violet and he's like, does
some kid try to bring it back? And you said
it wasn't mine? And she's like I don't fucking know.
Like Charlotte said your baseball was broken, Like how was
I supposed to know?

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Whatever?

Speaker 1 (39:04):
So Bo takes the baseball bat back, and Nick leaves
to go stick out the bar that night because it's
Saturday night time for a man to get beat up,
and he's thinking about how he's gonna go. He's gonna
have to go back to California to testify against Keller,
but he's willing to risk his life for it, because
he doesn't have much of a life anyways, because his

(39:25):
life is at risk doing this testifying whatever. So he's
banking heavily on what's gonna happen tonight and hopes that
he can figure out the murder or what, figure everything.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
Out and leave basically.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
So he's sitting there waiting and he watches, and he
sees Violet leave the back of the bar, and then
she just gets in her car and drives away, and
he's like, fuck, I really thought it was her, and
he's gonna leave, and then he sees a guy peek
his head out of the door like he's making sure
the coast is clear. The Violet's not there, and then
the guy walks back to his truck and Nick watches

(39:59):
as someone else I don't nowhere, it smacksim with a
baseball bat. So Nick runs up and arrests the person,
which is Charlotte, and she is like, oh, I knew
I shouldn't have come out tonight, and she's booked by
morning whatever, and she says that she did it because
men were always so nice to her because she's pretty,
but they wouldn't give her sister the time of day,

(40:20):
so they all deserved it. And Nick knows that Charlotte
is probably not going to get charged with anything because
she is only seventeen and there is no way that
any of those men are going to press charges against
her because they already don't want to talk about the event,
let alone if it was a seventeen year old that
was fucking doing it. So then he learns that the

(40:40):
cyanide that was used to kill Geraldine came from artificial
nail glue that it has now discontinued, and he realizes
that Charlotte, Arlene, and Sarah all had fake nails, so
any of them could have done it. Those are his suspects.
And then he gets a call that someone just tried
to smother Arlene in the hospital, so he rushes over there,

(41:01):
and then his secret cell phone rings just as he's leaving,
but he ignores it and a voicemail is left saying
that his cover is blown and he has got to go,
and he just doesn't look at that, even though he
hears it ringing, but it's fine. He goes to have
dinner with Laney like nothing is happening.

Speaker 2 (41:19):
They the dinner is at her.

Speaker 1 (41:21):
House this time they end up fucking finally a whole bunch,
And then the moment is ruined in the morning because
like she turns on the TV and Arlene is on
TV talking about her dating service because for some reason,
it's on the fucking news and they're just like displaying
everyone's profile picks and they show like a picture of
Lane and then a picture of Nick with a big

(41:42):
heart around them saying perfect match. And Arlene's just talking
about it on the TV. And so then Nick freaks
out and he's like I gotta go, like I have
to leave, like.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
He knows he's fucked.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
And then he had a call that someone tried to
kill Arlene again but they were caught.

Speaker 2 (41:57):
In the act and guess who it was. It was
a Violet.

Speaker 1 (42:02):
So he goes to the station and Violet is like, yeah,
I tried to smother her before too, but my siblings
were behind all the other attempts because Arlene's killed. Kids
have been trying to kill her for a while, starting
with the macaroon. Meanwhile, Laney sees a car in the driveway,
but it's not Nick.

Speaker 2 (42:21):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
Nick gets a message and it's Keller saying that he
has Laney and Nick better come if he wants her
to live. So yeah, the back to the murder part.
The macaroon was meant for their mom, but Geraldine had
grabbed it before their mom did, and then they just
kept trying to kill her by pushing her down the
stairs and like giving her her pain pills and YadA YadA,

(42:43):
and it didn't work. We'll come back to that, but
that's your murderer. But Nick knows Keller is on to
him because he gets a call and it's Laney saying
that Keller has her and Nick better come if he
wants her to live. So he freaks out. He goes
to get all this stuff because he knows there's a
good chance that he's gonna die today. So she makes

(43:05):
a video saying that if he's dead, Keller did it,
and he did it because Nick saw Keller kill two
police officers and he was going to testify against him,
because Keller was also a police officer and Nick's like
childhood friends, so they are maybe like partners or something,
but then Keller went bad or maybe it was always.

Speaker 2 (43:21):
A bad cop, YadA YadA.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
So Nick mails this video to the police department and
then heads off to meet with Keller. Keller has stopped
at some like abandoned hotel and told him to go there,
and then he like takes Lannie to the pool and
makes her striped naked, and she's like, I don't want
to do that, and Keller is like, I'm not gonna
do anything. I just want Nick to think that I
have done something, and he's gonna put her in the

(43:44):
pool because Nick has a fear of water that we've
never heard about before.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (43:49):
So Lane gets naked and he ties her hands and
feet together and makes her stand on the edge of
the pool and it's like dark, he doesn't have any
lights on. So then Nick gets there and Keller immediately put's.

Speaker 2 (44:00):
Laney into the pool.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
But luckily she's like a good swimmer, so she she'll
like sink to the bottom and then propel herself to
the up, take a breath, go back down, hop up,
just over and over and over again, just like breathing,
how she can whatever. It's like, this is like a
forty page fight that I just like skimmed through because
it doesn't matter because she does her little hop around

(44:25):
and then Nick is fighting Keller, and then it's like
she ends up getting the like the gun drops in
the pool and she fucking gets it out of the
pool and gives it to Nick somehow. So then Nick
shoots Keller, but Keller also shoots Laney, but it's like
in the side and it goes straight through, so it's okay,
So yeay, she gets treated whatever saved. Nick goes to

(44:46):
testify and deal with that court case so that Laney
doesn't have to be involved, and then when it's all solved,
he returns to Montana. He has not talked to Laney
at all after he left, by the way, He just
like cold turkey leaves and then it's like a month
later some shit.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
He comes back.

Speaker 1 (45:02):
And Laney has been hanging out with her sister and
her cousin. I don't know why she's still in town,
but she is. And the town is still reeling from
the Evans' kids trying to kill their mom. Violet is
in a max security prison because her siblings had turned
on her at the trial and said she was behind
everything so they wouldn't get charged. So she got pissed

(45:23):
and tried to attack them in court. So she's in
a maximum security prison because she's dangerous and I really
felt bad for Violet at the end of this whatever.
But then Nick goes back and Lany's all happy to
see him because she's like, I love you and he's like,
I love you. And then he's going to take a
permanent job there and they get to live happily ever

(45:43):
after the end. Totally believable storyline, right, like, no.

Speaker 2 (45:50):
No critiques.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Up.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, everyone has heard this story before. It's happened to everyone.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
So this got three point eight stars out of five,
which I guess is not terrible, but I don't, so
let's get into it. This book was a little different.
The new deputy wasn't from Whitehorse. In fact, nobody knew him.
He was actually a substitute law man who tries to
find the many quirks of small town living and he

(46:21):
falls for a girl.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
But there is a twist. He's being sought out by
a gangster trying to kill him five stars.

Speaker 3 (46:30):
If the bedroom scenes had been as graphic as the
action scenes, it would have pulled five stars out of me.
Four stars.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
That one made me laugh really hard because there was
another one that was, oh wait, it's it's this one.
I think this was a good read, but I was
seventy two percent done and then there was a sex scene.
I can live without that. I like the suspense and
the romance was good until the descriptive sex. I will
not be recommending this book to my ninety four year

(47:01):
old mother. Three stars. I was like, it's not a
descriptive sex scene. First of all, it's literally just like
we like had sex on the porch because we couldn't
make it.

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Inside, and it was great.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
And then we had sex inside too. Like that one
made me laugh, especially when the other one was like
I would have given it five stars if there was more. So.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
If you like somewhat logical plots like I do, stories
that make sense. Why would this town allow a deputy
sheriff to be left alone in the town when he
may have to run at any given moment, leaving the
town unprotected, then I would say that this is not
going to be the book for you. Two stars.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
Most of the bad reviews were like, this makes no sense.
Why is he like covering just on the weekends? Like what,
He's just some random fucking deputy, not even from that state.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Whatever.

Speaker 1 (47:57):
Okay, the second plot line in this book can of
Nick moaning that he has to stay undercover otherwise he's dead.
He does so every few pages, so that soon, so
that soon gets irritating, and you wish for him to
get caught so you'll finally hear what it's all about.
Only at the end of this book do we get
the explanation why he's on the run. The plot line

(48:17):
is implausible and riddled with holes.

Speaker 2 (48:20):
One star.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
A lot of people said it was riddled with holes.
Here's my question, do you think the plot is believable
at all?

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Not really, I just like there.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
Was just it feels like they were trying to throw
so many tropes in it one time and.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
Then it's like it's like and then it just gets
all solved so neatly, so like nope, it was the
siblings trying to kill their mom, ha ha, and now
this guy is being murdered.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
And I don't know, like I I don't know. I mean,
it was a quick read. I guess, but I think it.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
I just yeah, I'm not gonna read it again, that's
for sure. I agree with the two to one star rating.
Let's see what are my final thoughts. Could have been better?
There was really no chemistry to build with the couple,
so I don't really get how they fell in love,

(49:13):
but I guess that's kind of It's a harlequin romance novel,
so I can't question it too much because that's how
these things work. They made eye contact, and they were
in love, and she was practically pregnant at that moment
that I'm kind of surprised that none of these have
ended with a pregnancy thus far, or pregnancy scare or anything,

(49:35):
especially the one, the one that had the plotline where
his tragic backstory was he got a bitch pregnant and
then she died and then there wasn't even a pregnancy
in that.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
That he could like heal and be like I got
a baby this time.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Like, I'm kind of disappointed there's been no babies whatever.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
Anything to add I know I covered it pretty well.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
Okay, So if you guys want more, book Cult. Most
of the other episodes include Sydney. If you've forgotten. We're
still in a Sydney hiatus because she had her press
just little baby Boy. She'll be back someday. Don't worry,
there's lots of those episodes Wherever you listen to podcasts
while you're there, make sure to give us a five
star review. Tell Sydney her baby's cute.

Speaker 2 (50:16):
She knows.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
You can also follow us on Instagram, at Bookcold podcast,
on TikTok at Boo book cultpod or online at bookclpodt
WordPress dot com. Next week I will be reading His
Country Girl by Jillian Hart, which I'm only like thirty
pages in, but there is a lot of Jesus, a
lot of prayers, a lot of thinking the Lord, so

(50:38):
we'll see how that one goes. That's not necessarily a
bad thing, but thanks for listening.

Speaker 3 (50:44):
You're now part of the cult.

Speaker 1 (50:46):
No, it takes these back sies, especially if your partner,
your cop partner, is like a murderer and now you
have to testify against him, but he wants to murder
you before you can testify against him, so then you
have to murder him first, which I guess is kind
of harsh. You can't take that back.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
Nice