Author: Meri Allen
Published: July 26th 2022 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, Paperback 304 pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Ice Cream Shop Mysteries #2
First Sentence: After spending ten hours on my feet at the ice cream shop, I longed for a hot bath and a few hours curled up with an Agatha Christie paperback, a glass of pinot noir, and a cuddle with my cat, Rocky.
Blurb: When Udderly Delightful Ice Cream shop manager Riley Rhodes is summoned to Penniman’s Moy Mull Castle, it’s the cherry on top of a successful summer season. The gothic pile built by an eccentric New England Gilded Age millionaire has been transformed into a premiere arts colony by Maud Monaco, a reclusive former supermodel. As part of Moy Mull’s Fall Arts Festival, Maud is throwing a fantasy ice cream social and hires Riley to whip up unique treats to celebrate the opening of an exhibit by Adam Blasco, a photographer as obnoxious as he is talented.
As Penniman fills up with Maud’s art-world friends arriving for the festival, gossip swirls around Blasco, who has a dark history of obsession with his models. Riley’s curiosity and instincts for sleuthing – she was a CIA librarian – are piqued, and she wonders at the hold the cold-hearted photographer has over the mistress of Moy Mull.
But when Adam is found dead behind the locked door of Moy Mull’s dungeon, Riley realizes there’s more than one suspect who’d wanted put the malicious photographer on ice. (GoodReads)
My Opinion: The first twenty percent of the book is overly descriptive and does little to move the story forward. You know there will be a murder. You can guess who the victim will be, and you are ninety percent sure who did it and how. So why keep reading. That measly ten percent and the hope you have it wrong.
As you get to the final chapters, you realize you were correct from the beginning. The actual reason became inconsequential, and the reader realized there were many supplementary narratives Meri Allen could have incorporated early on to keep the reader engaged.
Now to the decision — should my radar be on for additional books by this author.
Blurb: When Udderly Delightful Ice Cream shop manager Riley Rhodes is summoned to Penniman’s Moy Mull Castle, it’s the cherry on top of a successful summer season. The gothic pile built by an eccentric New England Gilded Age millionaire has been transformed into a premiere arts colony by Maud Monaco, a reclusive former supermodel. As part of Moy Mull’s Fall Arts Festival, Maud is throwing a fantasy ice cream social and hires Riley to whip up unique treats to celebrate the opening of an exhibit by Adam Blasco, a photographer as obnoxious as he is talented.
As Penniman fills up with Maud’s art-world friends arriving for the festival, gossip swirls around Blasco, who has a dark history of obsession with his models. Riley’s curiosity and instincts for sleuthing – she was a CIA librarian – are piqued, and she wonders at the hold the cold-hearted photographer has over the mistress of Moy Mull.
But when Adam is found dead behind the locked door of Moy Mull’s dungeon, Riley realizes there’s more than one suspect who’d wanted put the malicious photographer on ice. (GoodReads)
My Opinion: The first twenty percent of the book is overly descriptive and does little to move the story forward. You know there will be a murder. You can guess who the victim will be, and you are ninety percent sure who did it and how. So why keep reading. That measly ten percent and the hope you have it wrong.
As you get to the final chapters, you realize you were correct from the beginning. The actual reason became inconsequential, and the reader realized there were many supplementary narratives Meri Allen could have incorporated early on to keep the reader engaged.
Now to the decision — should my radar be on for additional books by this author.
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