Ice Cream, You Scream

Cookie's Creamery #1

by Kathleen Suzette

Sometimes you just need to sit down and evaluate your life choices. Take for instance, that time a murderer tried to make me their next victim. Yeah. That’s a good time to do it.

Maddie Bradford has just moved home to Lilac Bay after losing her job and is feeling a little stuck in life. But it’s summer, and she lives at the beach and works at an ice cream shop, so things aren’t too gloomy. Until her best friend’s mother is accused of murder. Now it’s up to Maddie and Chloe to catch a killer before the killer catches them.

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Mystery, Friendship, Family, Amateur Sleuth

109 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2022

Reviews

[cj ♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

full RTC bcos i'm on mobile, but this is like 3.5. sorta wholesome for a murder mystery. v short - was fun to pass like an hr and half with but wouldn't read again yano?

[Betty · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are introduced to a new series about an ice cream shop and the close-knit family located in Lilac Bay. Maddie Bradford moved back to her hometown after losing her job. She decides to works at the ice cream shop owned by the mother of her best friend. To Maddie, Chloe and her mom, Cookie are “family” to her. What appears to be a pleasant shop unfortunately experiences some trouble when someone is murdered by the shop and Cookie becomes the prime suspect. Maddie decides she must investigate to identify the killer. By doing this, she puts herself in danger. Will Maddie uncover the killer or will she become the next victim?

What a wonderful beginning to a new series. The beach community sounds wonderful and their camaraderie draws you into wanting to be a part of the community. We are introduced to Detective Grayson and Oliver the cat. The mystery has so many twists and turns it keeps you guessing till the end. This is very well written murder mystery with engaging characters and a very interesting plot. I highly recommend it to all mystery readers.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[s.elle.books]

Ehh

I was expecting more from this Novella but it was pretty repetitive and had multiple statements that left me thinking, why is this part of the story? Just unimportant information.
I think maybe I just don't enjoy cozy mystery.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast-paced short mystery. I liked Maddie who is at a crossroads in her life so she moved back home and works at an ice cream shop for the summer. The mystery was interesting even though I was pretty sure who the killer was before the end. I would read more by this author.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun Mystery

This was a fun read. My friend and I are reading through the series, I am excited to read book 2!

[a Jasmine Blanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a good short little mystery read. Excited to read the next book

[Loretta TheMoodyRedhead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maddie Bradford was in LA for several years before the business she was working in advertising shut down. She has now returned to her hometown of Lilac Bay to work in her co-worker and childhood best friend’s (Chloe) mother’s (Cookie) ice cream shop “for summer only” while she figures out what she is going to do next with her life.

After only a week and a half of returning home and working in the creamery a body is found behind the creamery’s dumpster. The body has an ice cream cone sticking out of his mouth looking suspiciously like the murder weapon. And lo and behold, the ice cream cone has a wrapper with Cookie’s Creamery labeled on it.

Now Cookie is a person of interest in the murder. Maddie knows Cookie would never hurt anyone, so Maddie sets out to question people in town to see if she can get to the bottom of solving the crime before her “second mother” gets put behind bars.

My favorite part involves Oliver and also Maddie’s neighbor. Maddie’s neighbor is a badax!

Next is book 2 of 5: Murder with a Cherry on Top.
I just know that the seemingly obnoxious Detective will soon be someone very special to Maddie. What would a Cozy Mystery be without some romance, after all?! If the next four books are as short as this one, I’ll be done with this series in a few days!

[Emily Pennington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who Killed George Janson ? . . .

Maddie Bradford is back in Lilac Bay, at least for the summer. She works in the ice cream shop owned by her friend Chloe’s mother, Cookie. But when someone is murdered near the shop as someone held him down (bruises on his arm) and shoved a large ice cream cone down his throat, Cookie becomes the prime suspect and Maddie and Chloe have to find the real killer before something bad happens. Unfortunately for Cookie, the cone used in the murder was one of the colossal waffle cones, and it had a paper band around it that said “Cookie’s Creamery”. But Cookie was surprised because the victim, George Janson, had a waffle cone stuck down his throat – yet he only ever bought the regular size small cones!

This was a fast-paced story with excellent characters and an intriguing plot to pull the reader right into the story line. I enjoyed reading the book and trying to figure out who committed the crime, and I recommend it to all. (Ice cream is very hard for me to ever resist, so the author had me lured in with just the title! My resistance is weak…and I may have drooled over my Kindle.)

[Tari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was happy to find this new series by an author I'm already enjoying for her fun and quicker reads with yummy food/recipes and some super likable characters. This book wasn't a disappointment there. The main character Maddie is younger but not a kid, so it was kinda like a grown up Nancy Drew when she and sidekick Chloe did their sleuthing. Since the murder involved one of their shop's ice cream cones, the girls were determined to get the police off Cookie's back (Chloe's mom.)

The person I really wanted to see as the whodunit didn't, but I really hope this pest leaves the book or something lol. I loved the quick showdown and getaway-no worries, the right person got away! And to think a cute little cat hanging around came in super handy for this showdown too! I like that the series is in KU like the author's other series, so I'm definitely planning to borrow the next one. I just happened to spot this when I was browsing BookSprout the other day.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the author via BookSprout, and my opinions are my own.

[Debbie Orazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful start to a new series. I love reading books by this author she keeps me guessing on who done it. Highly recommend!

Maddie Bradford is back in her hometown of Lilac Bay after the advertising agency she worked at closed. She is staying at her parents house, though they are in Arizona with her grandmothers. She is working at Cookie's Creamery for the summer as she tries to figure out what she wants to do for a living. Her best friend Chloe is Cookie's daughter and works at the creamery too. One morning the girls are taking a break outside when they hear a scream. They see a regular customer, George Janson, dead in the alley. According to Detective Noah Grayson he died by being choked by a Cookie's waffle cone. In order to prove Cookie was innocent, Maddie starts questioning people who knew George. Her life is threatened when the killer thinks she knows who killed George.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great summer time cozy

4.5 stars

This had great summer vibes to it. It was very atmospheric that I felt like I was right there in that ice cream shop, town, and beach. Perfect for this time of year.

The mystery was really good too. It was engaging and interesting. The pacing was really good as it presented all the clues and suspects. It packed a lot of information for not a lot pages, which was great. I was just entertained by it.

I really enjoyed the characters as well. I really liked Maddie and all the side characters. I have a feeling there’s going to be a romance with the detective in the future just from the setup. I’m just interested it what’s going to happen to these characters in the future.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to love this book, and I'm willing to give the series a shot, but....This is the kind of amateur sleuth I hate to read. The characters are good and so is the story. But I can't stand when the sleuth is arrogant enough to believe they know more than or better than the police without having a clue what the police know or what they are doing. And thats exactly what happens in this book. She doesn't even figrue out who the killer is. She boasts to the wrong person that she is "investigating" the murder and then almost gets killed. I really hope the series gets a bit better.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written, and kept me guessing all the way to the end! The author did a good job of introducing well-developed characters. It was a who dunnit that wasn't easy to solve. I definitely will be looking forward to reading the next book by this author. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a first in the new series. I love all of the books by this author, honestly.

I loved the new characters. The way the person was murdered was a bit odd to me, and I didn't find the unveiling of the murderer as great as I normally do, but I still enjoyed the book.

I am looking forward to more in this series!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very quick read at 100 pages. I finished it in a day, because I couldn’t put it down. The town seemed quaint and there were a wide array of characters. It was the perfect summertime book and I plan to read more by this author. How cute is it that an ice cream place gives a free cookie with every ice cream purchase and the owner is named Cookie?!

[Barbara Tobey · Rating 5 out of 5]

It kept me guessing. Moved along quickly. Lots of yummy ice cream flavors, along with cookies, too. Great characters. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Miranda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick, cute, and just the thing to read to get in the mood for sunshine and ice cream.
Like many novella's, the details are on the shorter side, but the descriptions that are given, give this book a cozy summery beach vibe.

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just ok for me. The town was cute, all the action at the Ice Cream shop made me want wish I could have some with my own cookie on the side. The murder and how the killer was found was very bland. The ending seemed rushed.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

great start

Really good first book. Enjoyed reading it. Great characters and setting. I look forward to reading more in this series.

[Elsa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gillar korta böcker så mycket. Den här va vibe

[Chloé Camus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and fun read.

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy mystery novella. Quick read

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a very cute and very fun story. Summer themes, friends, assholes and murder. I finished this in a couple hours in a single sitting and it was an incredibly fun read.

[SpadesQueenTLF · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great summer read

Fun, little summer cozy murder mystery as always! Quick and to the point! Love these fast little books they are always a quick delight.

[Anita Burkett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice

A nice , clean, short story with no curse words, suggestive content, or drinking etc. A fun summer murder mystery.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another wonderful start to a series!

I am excited for the next!!!