THE ROCKY ROAD TO RUIN BY MERI ALLEN

The Rocky Road to Ruin is the first delicious book in the Ice Cream Shop mystery series! Culinary cozies are my favorite type to read and this one delivered!

Rating: ★★★★
​Release Date: July 27, 2021
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: The Ice Cream Shop Mystery series #1 
Pages: 330 pages
Format: Paperback. Source: ​Purchased. ​

Justice will be swirled by amateur sleuth Riley Rhodes in the first in Meri Allen's brand-new mystery series, The Rocky Road to Ruin!

Riley Rhodes, travel food blogger and librarian at the CIA, makes a bittersweet return to her childhood home of Penniman, Connecticut – land of dairy farms and covered bridges - for a funeral. Despite the circumstances, Riley’s trip home is sprinkled with reunions with old friends, visits to her father’s cozy bookshop on the town green, and joyful hours behind the counter at the beloved Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. It feels like a time to help her friend Caroline rebuild after her mother’s death, and for Riley to do a bit of her own reflecting after a botched undercover mission in Italy. After all, it’s always good to be home.

But Caroline and her brother Mike have to decide what to do with the assets they’ve inherited – the ice cream shop as well as the farm they grew up on – and they’ve never seen eye to eye. Trouble begins to swirl as Riley is spooked by reports of a stranger camping behind the farm and by the odd behavior of the shop’s

​mascot, Caroline’s snooty Persian, Sprinkles. When Mike turns up dead in the barn the morning after the funeral, the peace and quiet of Penniman seems upended for good. Can Riley find the killer before another body gets scooped?

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AMAZON KINDLE | AMAZON PRINT | LISTEN WITH AUDIBLE

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THE SERIES (SO FAR)

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READ MY BOOK REVIEW

​The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen is the first book in this ice-cream inspired cozy mystery series! While this one did start off slow for me, I found myself enjoying it more and more as I read it. I think it took a little while for the characters to grow on me, but they did! Now I can’t wait to start the next book which releases on July 26th! Just be warned, once you start reading this, especially on a hot summer day, you’ll be craving ice-cream!

As with all cozies this is a fast paced and fun read. I didn’t guess the killer which is a major bonus and I enjoyed learning about ice-cream and the varied flavors you can make. I never would have thought sunflower would be a flavor but now I want to try it! If you’re interested in culinary cozies, then this is a great series for you!

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗙𝗘𝗖𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗦 𝗢𝗙:
• Culinary (ice cream) Cozy Mysteries
• Amateur Sleuths
• Summery Cozies

𝗠𝗬 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: ⭐⭐⭐⭐