I didn't realize this was a series until I got the arc, and then I knew what I had to do... So READ books 1 AND 2!

So I'll be honest, I liked book 1, I didn't love book two as much, but overall the books I found fine. Ranging between 2.5-3.5 stars.

ONTO my thoughts on 'A Killer Sundae' Book 3:

The mystery of the murderer surprised me this time; I fell for the red herring and will applaud that because that was an issue I found with the series. However, I will note that the less Maisie we received in this book was a blessing, and Bobby is such a child for telling REALLY DUDE?!

However, this cannot redeem all in this book; for the longest time, I wasn't sure if that cookbook was a key in the mystery or just some random thing. Also, the main character still tells too much instead of show, and we were given RANDOM info into the backstory of the main character that I had never seen mentioned before, and it felt strange. Also, I feel like we have never dealt with the evident fear and PTSD she has faced after almost being murdered three times now!

I am parting ways with this series, but I thank it for the good moments and cosiness.

This is such a fun cozy series! I love Win's friends and family members, and they all really get to shine a bit in this story, as well as featuring lots of great scenes involving the ice cream shop and their new food truck and their wares. The mystery had some really good suspects with some solidly messy characters involved, and there was a side story that ended up connecting in an unexpected way. Can't wait for more!

Abby Collette's back with another book in the Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series: A Killer Sundae!


Win and the Crewse Creamery crew are back with another scoop of icecream and a Murder to solve.

Win Crewse is super excited about the new food truck she bought to expand the operations of her family’s ice cream store, Crewse Creamery. With summer festivities well underway in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, the ice cream truck is proving a wise investment, especially since it’s allowing the creamery to essentially have two locations open. One of these is at the annual Harvest Time Festival, where Win and her employees are hoping not only to sell a ton of ice cream but also to point tourists drawn to the festivities back in the direction of their brick-and-mortar store, too.

To this end, Win is more or less pleased when her old schoolmate Kaitlyn Toles stops by for a sundae. A former Harvest Time Festival Queen, Kaitlyn has parlayed her good looks and killer instincts into chasing down stories as Channel 6’s star news reporter. Never mind that she’s ruffled a few feathers along the way: making friends was never really her deal anyway. But Win and Kaitlyn’s shared history makes them more inclined to look out for each other than not, with Kaitlyn offering to feature the Creamery’s food truck in her coverage of the festival, and Win taking care to ensure that no nuts come into contact with the highly allergic Kaitlyn’s sundae.

So when Kaitlyn collapses several hours later, and her boyfriend Cameron Toffey accuses Win of deliberately triggering her deadly nut allergy, Win is absolutely stricken. She and Kaitlyn were never the best of friends but she would never wish harm on the other woman, and certainly not in a way that would jeopardize the good name of her family’s business. When Kaitlyn is pronounced dead, Win is so deeply affected she doesn’t even know if she can offer the surviving Toles her condolences:

QUOTE
I got out of the car and started walking to the [Toles’] house, but my knees had a different idea, and they seemed to win over my stomach. I slowed down, my knees weak, feeling like they'd falter any minute. Butterflies set off in my belly that seemed to turn into bats. My mouth was dry. I was afraid.

Afraid they might believe Cameron. Blame me for Kaitlyn being dead. Afraid that I might not find the right words to say when I started to speak. Afraid that I would only make them more upset by being there.
END QUOTE

Fortunately for Win, it soon becomes clear that she had nothing to do with Kaitlyn’s death, which turns out to have been due less to an allergen exposure than to a very deliberate poisoning. But the arrival of a suspicious book has Win wondering whether someone else she knows could possibly be involved, both in Kaitlyn’s demise and in others’. Despite her strong aversion to solving murder mysteries, she finds herself drawn in, especially after a contrite Cameron shows up at the Creamery, begging for her help in figuring out what really happened to Kaitlyn and why.

Win’s best friends, as always, egg her on in their own separate ways. Maisie Solomon is just recovering from chicken pox and is even more excited than usual for an adventure. Riya Amacarelli is more level-headed, but she does have a thing for lead investigator, police detective Liam Beverly. The depictions of Maisie and Riya’s relationships with Win, through thick and thin, are one of the highlights of this charming series:

QUOTE
Riya was one tough cookie. She'd saved my life. Literally. But when it came to emotions, she wasn't sympathetic nor did she get teary-eyed. She would usually explode. Her fight-or-flight response was never the latter.

Maisie, on the other hand, was a vitamin-pill-popping, community-garden-eating, I-never-get-sick proclaimer (although she <i>was</i> sick now), the complete opposite. She thought she could fix everything with food. She would have appreciated my tears and probably would have cried with me.
END QUOTE

But can even her resourceful, supportive best friends save her when Win is face to face with a ruthless killer yet again?

It has been a delight to follow along with Abby Colette as her Ice Cream Parlor mystery series goes from strength to strength. I greatly enjoy reading of the bonds between Win and her loved ones, and appreciate her reluctance to just fall in love with the first or even second hot guy to cross her path. The mystery itself is also well plotted, with clues carefully seeded throughout the narrative. Three books in, I feel invested in the ongoing success of Win and the Crewse Creamery, and am excited for the next book in the series!

While this is the third installment in the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series, new readers to the series would still be okay if they start with this book. The author provides enough background information to fill in readers who have yet to read the other two installment.

It was nice to catch up with Bronwyn “Win” Crewse, the cast of characters, and her family’s ice cream shop. The mystery in this book included a fairly long list of potential suspects, mainly because the victim was not well-liked by many. There are enough twists and turns to keep readers entertained by the mystery and enough shenanigans by Win, her friends, and family, to keep the story going. The subplot related to a recipe book featuring Win’s grandmother as a nice addition to the story, adding an extra level of intrigue. Overall, this was a fun book to read! I would recommend this book to readers wanting to read a cozy mystery featuring a Black woman protagonist, multi-generational family dynamics, nosy friends, and a suspect list that’s a mile long. 😊

This isn't my favorite of the Crewse Creamery mysteries, though I'm not sure I can put my finger on exactly why. I like Bronwyn (Win) as a main character and I love the family business aspect of this, but I think the issue was that the end felt really rushed. There was so much fun mysterious stuff going on with the murder in this one (the murder of one of Win's high school classmates, of which she is initially accused), including a mysterious book of recipes that Win finds at the bookstore that is a signed copy for her late Grandmother, and which has a bunch of penciled in murderous additions to the recipes. I think maybe I'm just not meant for amateur sleuthing mysteries - one of the amateur sleuths always ends up in some kind of terrible situation with the murderer/criminal. Again, love the world of these, and mostly I like the characters, but the wrap up in the last few pages wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be.