A Deadly Inside Scoop

March 16, 2020
This perky series launch from Collette (the Logan Dickerson mysteries) introduces Bronwyn “Win” Crewse, who has taken over Crewse Creamery, the ice cream parlor her family has owned for decades in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, after her aunt’s retirement. Win is excited to remodel the business and recreate her late grandmother’s innovative recipes. But when a snowstorm keeps all her potential customers at home on Win’s opening day, she decides to comfort herself by making a batch of ice cream with snow. On her trek to find pristine snow, Win trips over the body of Stephen Bayard, who years earlier plunged Win’s family into a legal nightmare. Bayard was killed with a lethal injection, and Win’s father, a surgeon at the local hospital, becomes a prime suspect. With the enthusiastic help of her best friend, Maisie Solomon, Win sets out to prove her father’s innocence. Readers should be prepared for lots of coincidences and jumping to conclusions, but a pair of plucky female sleuths, a close-knit family, and ice cream shop lore more than compensate. This is a tasty treat for cozy fans. Agent: Rachel Brooks, Bookends Literary.

Chandra Skyye brings both female and male characters alive in a pitch-perfect narration that creates larger-than-life characters. When Win returns from New York to Chagrin Falls in order to reopen her family's ice cream shop, a murder takes place, resulting in the police looking at members of her family as suspects. So Win and her best friend, Maisie, set out to do their own sleuthing. Skyye's portrayal of Maisie highlights her madcap temperament, and she creates the perfect grandad character with Pop Pop. Skyye's clear and steady narration is perfect for this cozy murder mystery and its likable protagonist. K.J.P. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine