Murder A La Mode (Coffee & Cream Cafe Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – New York
Gemma Halliday Publishing (August 8, 2023)
Digital – Number of Pages 230

Synopsis

From author Lena Gregory comes a delicious new series that will warm your heart and leave you guessing until the very end…

When twenty-five-year-old Danika Delaney, black sheep of the Delaney clan, returns home to Long Island to take over Jimmie’s, her eccentric uncle’s old fashioned malt shop on eastern Long Island, she’s not exactly thrilled. But things start to look up when her uncle tells her she can do whatever she’d like with the shop, and it seems she might realize her dream of a small trendy café. That is, until she discovers the body of her ex-boyfriend’s estranged wife in a melted puddle of rocky road in the malt shop basement. With her two sidekicks, her sister and a good childhood friend, in tow, Dani searches for–or stumbles upon—one clue after another. But as she narrows down the suspect list, she realizes if she’s not careful she may end up in a puddle of her own…

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Review

This first book in a new series makes a big splash…or perhaps a dip into the cozy realm. Lena Gregory has written many series, and all have been quite enjoyable.

This new series features an ice cream shop (yum!) in New York. While this book doesn’t focus a lot on the ice cream portion of the business, I think that might come in future books.

Danika returns home after being told she is taking over her uncle’s shop. Could she have turned it down? Maybe, but she didn’t have much else going on in her life, so why not go back to your roots and try something new? What she doesn’t expect is to find her first boyfriend’s wife dead in the shop. While she never really intended to become a sleuth, she is thrown into it and actually does a remarkable job uncovering the clues and the killer. Well, almost. She nearly becomes a victim, but a special character saves the day. Read the book to find out who!

I really enjoyed Gwen, Danika’s friend. These two are quite a pair. I do have to question their judgment sometimes, but that is what good friends do, crazy things for one another.

I don’t know if I suspected this character was the killer. I don’t think I had any specific character in mind, but there were several I wish it would have been just because they are not nice characters. But you need that tension to make a story successful.

There could be a potential love triangle in future books. There is Danika’s first boyfriend, Luca, and the police detective, Jake Barlow. There were misunderstandings in the past between her and Luca, but does that mean she wants to restart a new relationship with him? Especially now that his wife is dead? Only time will tell if they will rekindle their relationship or just be friends.

I really enjoyed this start to a new series, and I can’t wait to see what she has planned for the makeover of the ice cream shop. I am hoping for more ice cream flavors and dishes to whet my appetite.

We give this book 5 paws up.

About the Author

Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, but she recently traded in cold, damp, gray winters for the warmth and sunshine of Central Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.

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