A Sprinkle in Time (Shake Shop Mystery)

by Dana Mentink

"The first shake shop mystery delivers all the delectable ingredients cozy mystery fans crave. This terrific series debut is certain to tempt the reading palates of fans of Cleo Coyle, Sarah Graves, and the much-missed Diane Mott Davidson."-Library Journal, STARRED Review for Pint of No Return

The second book in the Shake Shop Mysteries-a new murder in town has Trinidad Jones thrown for a scoop!

It's Alpenfest in Upper Sprocket! Yodelers are congregating in the square, tourists flocking to the town, and Trinidad Jones is scooping up some fall flavors at her Shimmy and Shake Shop.

The cherry on the sundae is her upcoming feature in The Scoop magazine. She's determined to serve up the perfect interview, but it won't be easy, thanks in part to her meddling Cuban grandfather Papa Luis who has decided to make Sprocket his home for the foreseeable future. Papa Luis has set himself up as a taxi driver in his classic 1951 Buick.

But things take a turn when Papa Luis tells her he's found a corpse in his trunk. Upon closer investigation, they realize the body has disappeared. With the assistance of Juliette and Bonnie (her sisterhood of exes) and the way too handsome nut farmer Quinn Logan, Trinidad must solve the mystery of the disappearing corpse, before her father is up to his neck in a murderous mess.

Praise for Pint of No Return, Book 1 of the Shake Shop Mysteries:

"Murder offers the heroine a surprisingly fresh start in this charming series kickoff" -Kirkus Reviews

"A delicious charmer featuring a triple scoop of murder" -Library Journal

• ISBN10: 1728231582
• ISBN13: 9781728231587
• Publish Date: 30 June 2022
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Poisoned Pen Press
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 360
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

A Sprinkle in Time is the second Shake Shop storefront cozy mystery by Dana Mentink. Released 24th May 2022 by Poisoned Pen Press, it's 360 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

I love cozy mysteries, whatever form they take, library, bookmobile, shopfront small town amateur sleuths, professors turned investigators, I'm not picky. Animals are a plus. This one ticks a lot of boxes. The setup is small tourist town shopfront ice cream shop with a once-burned-twice-shy female protagonist in the early stages of a slow-moving romantic relationship with a local man. A much hated local businessman (shades of Snidely Whiplash) turns up dead and Trinidad Jones is determined to see justice done.

Despite being the second book in the series, the plot works perfectly well as a standalone and introduction to the ensemble cast of fun and eccentric characters. There are a number of appealing facets. The author is adept at plotting and the dialogue never felt overly clunky or precious. The story moved along at a good pace and despite the longer-than-average page count for a shopfront cozy, it never dragged or felt overwritten. I like that the main character is intelligent, driven, honest, and kind. She's also a small business owner and apparently a woman of color (but the author doesn't overemphasize the fact).

The language is squeaky clean, nary a damn to be seen. There is no NSFW content and the denouement and resolution are well crafted and satisfying. The author has even included a couple of recipes in the back of the book which look intriguing.

Four stars. Definitely one for the fans of small-town shopfront cozies.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.