BOOK REVIEW: A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette @AbbyVandiver @BerkleyPub #adeadlyinsidescoop #bookreview

A new favorite cozy mystery series for me—Abby Collette’s Ice Cream Parlor Mysteries have it all! The characters are fantastic, I love the ice cream shop theme and seeing how she grows her business, and the mystery was well-done and compelling. Loved it!

About the Book

This book kicks off a charming cozy mystery series set in an ice cream shop–with a fabulous cast of quirky characters.

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she’s going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors—many from her grandmother’s original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.

To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It’s not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she’ll catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown…

Reflection

A Deadly Inside Scoop is the first in a new cozy mystery series featuring the Crewse family, one of the only Black families in Chagrin Falls, Ohio and owners of a family ice cream parlor business started by the late and great Grandma Kay. I completely fell in love with the Crewse family and Crewse Creamery! The family is close-knit, supportive, and quirky. I fell in love with the whole family!

Bronwyn “Win” Crewse has been working in marketing in NYC and earning her MBA. When a health scare brings her home, she realizes that her dream is to reopen her family’s ice cream parlor, Crewse Creamery. Her grandparents had owned and operated it for years, before handing it over to her Aunt Jack who changed it to a novelty shop (a change the family was not in support of). When Win’s PopPop gives her the key to the store, Win spends a year restoring it to its former glory with a few key upgrades (seriously, the glass wall overlooking Chagrin waterfalls sounds stunning!).

Now, after some setbacks, Win is finally ready to reopen the store. But on her grand opening day a snowstorm blows through and no one comes in. Dejected, Win draws inspiration from her Grandma Kay and goes to collect some fresh snow to use in her ice cream. But before she can collect the snow, she trips over a dead body.

When it becomes clear that the unique murder weapon and the sordid history of the victim with Win’s own family has made her father the prime suspect, Win decides to help investigate. Afterall, she was the one who discovered the body, and she has a few leads! With help from her PopPop, friend Maisie, and a few other characters, Win hunts a killer all while trying to market her shop and make some ice cream to die for!

Abby Collette has a gift with characters. I have to give my first shout out to Win’s grandfather PopPop, who is just the delight of this entire book from his very first scene to the heart-pounding finale. Win’s two best friends Riya and Maisie are also so much fun. Riya has a bit of a temper in a delightful way, and Maisie… marches to the beat of her own drum. Loved them! There are so many great characters I’m looking forward to learning more about the people of Chagrin Falls in the next installment!

I also appreciated that the mystery was kept at the forefront and the secondary focus was getting to know the characters. We didn’t rush into a love story, or spend too much time pulled away from the mystery, but I also felt I got to know everyone and will know the characters going into the second book. There are a few I’d definitely like to know more about, such as O and Mrs. Deveraux!

The mystery itself totally got me! I didn’t guess the murderer and I also didn’t guess how all the pieces would come together. It was a great mystery and a fun new series!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.