Mysteries are my jam. In high school, I would rush home from soccer practice just so that I could catch Murder She Wrote reruns. Cozy mysteries are essentially Murder She Wrote in book form—quick reads, with minimal violence, featuring everyday people (usually women) solving crimes. Most cozy series also feature a theme—a bookstore, crafts, magic, cats, magical cats, etcetera—and part of the fun is finding a series with a theme you enjoy. When I saw the first book in the Ice Cream Parlor series was A Deadly Inside Scoop, I was hooked. Murder mysteries + ice cream + punny title = my love language.
Bronwyn (or Win as she prefers), is returning to her small Ohio hometown. She is on a mission to restore her family’s ice cream shop to its former glory—including decadent handmade treats. Things start a bit rough, as delays push her opening date all the way back to a snowy day in October. Things continue to go downhill when an unexpected visitor from her family’s past shows up, and to top it off Win finds a dead body. Win is content to let the police do their work until her father ends up as a potential suspect. Once that happens, Win and a cast of her friends and family stop at nothing to find the true murderer.
For a new series, this book shows a lot of promise. The first book in cozy mysteries can be a bit rough as the main character figures out the basics of being a detective and Deadly Inside Scoop is no exception. Win has a ways to go before she becomes a master detective and at times it was a bit painful to watch her miss obvious clues. The mystery itself was not the hardest to figure out, but the book was still enjoyable and had a great cast of diverse characters. Bonus points for delicious descriptions of ice cream with several recipes included.