The Rocky Road to Ruin: An Ice Cream Shop Mystery (Ice Cream Shop Mysteries, 1)

Rocky Road has a wonderful mystery, which is deep-rooted in the town of Pennimen (don't have the book here so the spelling might be wrong -- apologies!), an old homey place where the heroine, Riley Rhodes once resided. She comes home for the funereal of her best friend's adopted mother, Buzzy -- the owner of Udderly Delicious, a wonderful ice cream shop. Caroline, bestie, has her estranged brother show up with his latest girlfriend, a well-known tennis pro, Angelica. Michael is murdered the same night and girlfriend disappears.
Riley finds Mike's body. Now, Riley was a traveling librarian for the DC library. And employed by a three letter government agency. Yeah. CIA. But she's no Fortune Redding. Instead, she spends half of the book not using any of her observing skills from the agency, or her librarian researching abilities. That made her seem stupid. All of a sudden, those skills kick back in, and she's on the hunt of the murderer. But by then, I disliked Riley. The other characters? Well-drawn and all terrific suspects. Except for the two delightful cats. Not suspects but beautifully created.
Riley eventually solves the mystery in a satisfactory manner. However, the author makes a blunder -- to me, anyhow -- while Riley quits her job with the DC library, anyone who devours mysteries and spy novels, knows you can't leave that three letter "family." I hope that gets cleared up in the next entry, which I will read. Recommended!

Loved this book!
I'm the kind of person who prides myself in guessing whodunit in murder-mysteries, but Meri Allen kept me on my toes the entire time! Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and can't wait for the next (or some sunflower ice cream)!

Meri Allen's book was a delight to read!
I would definitely recommend enjoying it with your favorite ice cream or making your own - margarita sorbet - yum!
The mystery was full of plenty of twists, turns, and suspects. It kept me guessing all the way through and had a great ending. I can't wait to read more in this series and see what happens to Riley next!

Love the cover art. I have a new favorite author.

THE ROCKY ROAD TO RUIN, the first book in the brand-new Ice Cream Shop Mysteries, by Meri Allen, is a delightful start to a delicious series! As the story unfolded, I greatly enjoyed that the protagonist, Riley Rhodes, isn’t your typical, stumble through an investigation, amateur sleuth. She’s not only a librarian with great researching skills, but she worked for the CIA until an overseas misfortune sidelined her. Heading home to support her best friend, Caroline, who’d lost her mother, Riley pitches in to run Caroline’s family ice cream shop. Ms. Allen has an admirable descriptive voice and I couldn’t help but want to visit the charming setting of Penniman, Connecticut. She not only captures the beauty of the location but also the yummy tastes and aromas of the Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. The author has developed appealing characters – both human and animal alike – and I especially loved Sprinkles, the cat who rules the household. The quirky feline steals each scene she inhabits!

There are multiple mystery threads running throughout the book, from long ago to current day, and the author effortlessly weaves them together into a cohesive story. I was so charmed by the story, I decided to sit back and enjoy the read as it unfolded instead of playing armchair detective. Either way, the mysteries and subplots are well-paced and entertaining scenes will keep the reader intrigued with lots of suspects and well-placed clues. Cozy mystery fans will drool over this new series by Meri Allen, who also writes as Shari Randall.

There are so many mouthwatering mentions of udderly delicious frozen concoctions throughout the story and I was pleased to see that there are recipes at the back of the book.

I was provided with an advance copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen is the first book in a cute new cozy mystery series. Riley Rhodes is a travel blogger and a librarian for the CIA. Unknown to her friends and family, she was sometimes given undercover assignments by the CIA as well. She returns to her hometown to support her best friend, Caroline, whose mother just passed away. When tragedy stirkes Caroline’s family again, Riley ends up helping run Caroline’s family ice cream shop as well as investigating a murder. This is a cozy in which Caroline’s sleuthing makes perfect sense given her background and she is quick to report her findings to the local police detective who is leading the investigation even if he doesn’t always act on the information she gives him.

There are some really original elements and complexity in this book. I was pleasantly surprised that the author avoided the obvious by having the local detective and Riley to have an attraction and instead has him wanting to get closer to Caroline. Sometimes there is a little too much going on, so all the various characters and their backstories can be hard to keep up with. A list of characters at the beginning would have been helpful. There is room for more development to several of the characters in future books since we don’t learn a lot of details about some of the supporting characters. However, I enjoyed the book and the way things are wrapped up to avoid loose ends while still building interest for future books in the series. There are recipes for two of the ice cream flavors that are featured in the story at the end of the book. I would definitely read further books in this promising new series.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing an advance copy of this ebook. The book was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

This book surprised me at the end. It was a bit hard to get into this book. The story moved a bit too slow at first. Then once I got to the end I was very intrigued. Just bought the second book to this series!

This first book in the Ice Cream Shop series is definitely a hit! Riley Rhodes, ex-CIA librarian, returns to her hometown in Connecticut to attend the funeral of her best friend Caroline’s mother. Tensions are running high as Caroline and her brother Mike cannot agree on what to do with their mother’s farm, property, and ice cream shop. When Mike is later found dead, there’s no shortage of suspects who were opposed to his plan to sell the farm and acreage to a developer. With her background in the CIA, Riley steps in to make sure justice is done and the killer is exposed. This book has all the ingredients for a great story-a picturesque small town setting, interesting characters and a well-crafted plot. I was convinced that I’d figured out who the killer was but I was wrong! Going straight to the next book in the series!

The protagonist of this new series, Riley Rhodes, has such a cool job as a librarian at the CIA who sometimes goes undercover. Her last job for them in Italy didn't go so well and Riley is on a leave of absence. Her best friend Caroline's mother passes away and Riley goes home to attend the funeral and comfort her friend and also try to figure out what she is going to do next. While there Riley helps out at the ice cream stand owned by Caroline's Mom, where Riley worked growing up. When a murder happens on the farm Riley starts nosing around trying to figure out what happened. The mystery kept me guessing and all of the ice cream flavors described kept me hungry throughout the reading of this book. I can't wait to read the next book in this series and also to try making the Sunflower Ice Cream recipe that is in the back of this book.

This is my first book by this author (by both writing names) and I loved it! Why have I not read her earlier? The mystery was great, the characters engaging, and the town dynamics very realistic. I will certainly be reading the next in the series when it comes out this summer, and will look for her other stories.