Book Spotlight: A DEADLY INSIDE SCOOP by Abby Collette

A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)
by Abby Collette

About A Deadly Inside Scoop

A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Publisher: Berkley (May 12, 2020)
Paperback: 384 pages
ISBN-10: 0593099664
ISBN-13: 978-0593099667
Digital ASIN: B07WJF48NC

This book kicks off a charming cozy mystery series set in an ice cream shop—with a fabulous cast of quirky characters.

Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she’s going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors—many from her grandmother’s original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away.

To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It’s not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she’ll catch the ice-cold killer before she has a meltdown…

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Google – IndieBound

Extra — Recipe:

By Abby L. Vandiver

Ice cream is good any time of the year. And Win, the main character in my new book, A Deadly Inside Scoop, knows that’s true even though the day of her grand re-opening is the same day as a snowstorm. As a millennial, she believes her determination, her background working in an ad agency and her social media savvy will get the luscious, mouthwatering frozen concoctions she makes at Crewse Creamery into the mitten and gloved-clad hands of her customers. To do it, she knows she needs to make ice cream that’s so good, even the cold, unpredictable weather of northeast Ohio can’t stop customers from coming in. And that’s exactly what you’ll find in every book, good yummy ice cream—oh yeah, and of course murder! And in the back—recipes! Here’s one to try at home.

Enjoy!

CHAGRIN FALLS PUMPKIN ROLL PUMPKIN SPICE ICE CREAM

INGREDIENTS:

1¾ cups milk
¾ cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
⅔ cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
⅛ tsp. nutmeg
⅛ tsp. ground cloves
⅛ tsp. ground allspice
2 cups heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, mix the pumpkin puree with the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice.

Add the milk, heavy cream sugar and vanilla to the bowl, and then beat using an electric mixer until the mixture becomes smooth, about two minutes.

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn until the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Place in a covered freezer-safe container for at least two hours.

About Abby Collette

Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Abby Collette loves a good mystery. Born and raised in Cleveland, it’s even a mystery to her why she has yet to move to a warmer place. Author of the two Southern cozy mystery series Logan Dickerson Mysteries featuring a second-generation archaeologist and a nonagenarian who is always digging up trouble, and the Romaine Wilder Mysteries, set in East Texas, it pairs a medical examiner and her feisty auntie who owns a funeral home and is always ready to solve a whodunnit. Abby spends her time writing, facilitating writing workshops at local libraries and spending time with her grandchildren, each of which are her favorite.

Author Links

Facebook – www.facebook.com/authorabbyl.vandiver; Twitter – www.twitter.com/abbyvandiver; Instagram- www.instagram.com/abbylvandiver; Website – www.authorabby.com

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Book Spotlight & More: BREWED AWAKENING by Cleo Coyle

Cleo Coyle Gives her Characters a Brewed Awakening + Recipe and Giveaway

Brewed Awakening marks the 18th Coffeehouse Mystery that my husband and I have written. Like every entry in our long-running series, this story centers on Clare Cosi, a single mom in her forties with a complicated personal life and a talent for amateur sleuthing.

Clare manages a charming, century-old coffeehouse in New York’s historic Greenwich Village, and she’s often in a position to know more than the police about the quirky and creative community she serves. When crime happens and the professionals hit dead ends, Clare goes to work.

For her latest case, Marc and I began our story development with a conversation over (you guessed it) coffee. As a married couple, we’ve been through decades of ups and downs. But what if those years were wiped from our memories? Would we still be drawn to each other? If so, how exactly does “like” deepen into something more? When does love happen?

With Clare on a path to be married to her longtime boyfriend, NYPD Detective Mike Quinn, we decided to explore those questions in Brewed Awakening, and we agreed that Clare would suffer from a traumatic memory loss. Her damaged memory is tied to a crime she witnesses, one that lands her in a great deal of hot water. To get herself out, and reclaim the love of her life, Clare must find a way to recover what she’s lost. But will she? Or is her life, as she once knew it, gone forever?

If you’re a newcomer to our Coffeehouse world, don’t hesitate to pick up Brewed Awakening. Every Coffeehouse Mystery can be read as a stand-alone story. And, if you like one, you’ll have seventeen more to enjoy. But don’t miss our latest. We hope you’ll find this mystery about memory to be unforgettable.

FREE RECIPE GUIDE

https://www.coffeehousemystery.com/userfiles/file/Brewed-Awakening-Recipes-Cleo-Coyle.pdf

Cleo Coyle’s new culinary mystery, Brewed Awakening, includes an appendix of recipes that will show you how to prepare the delicious foods and drinks mentioned in the story. To see, print, or download the free, illustrated guide to the book’s recipe section, click here.

Watch the Coffeehouse Mysteries series trailer:

Cleo Coyle’s Winter
White Chocolate Mocha

This heavenly drink is a winter favorite at many American coffeehouses, which is why we put it on the menu of our beloved Village Blend. Perfect for a snowy night, it tastes like a rich, warm, coffee-infused milkshake. To learn more about our bestselling Coffeehouse Mystery series and download more of our recipes, visit our online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com.

May you drink (and read) with joy!
~ Cleo

To download this recipe in a free PDF that you can print, save, or share, click here.

Makes one serving

½ cup milk
¼ cup good quality white chocolate, chopped
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1–2 shots (¼ cup) hot espresso or double-strength coffee*
Whipped cream (optional)
White chocolate curls**

Step 1: Combine milk and white chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl over a saucepan that is about one-third full of boiling water. (The water level should be under the bowl and not touching it.) Stir constantly until chocolate is melted. Whip in the vanilla using a whisk, hand blender, or electric mixer. Continue to whip about a minute until the warm mixture is loosely frothy.

Step 2: Pour the espresso (or double-strength coffee) into a large mug. Add the steamed white chocolate milk and stir to blend the flavors. You can top with whipped cream, but it’s just as delicious without. Garnish with white chocolate curls and drink with joy!

*Note on coffee: For double-strength coffee, simply make a strong version of your regular cup. For instance, in a drip coffee maker, instead of using 1½ to 2 tablespoons of ground coffee for every six ounces of water, use 3 to 4.

**Note on curls: To create chocolate curls, start with a block of room temperature chocolate. Using a vegetable peeler, scrape the block and you’ll see curls of chocolate peel away.

Brewed Awakening (A Coffeehouse Mystery)

by Cleo Coyle

About Brewed Awakening

From Cleo Coyle, the New York Times bestselling author of Shot in the Dark and Dead Cold Brew, comes a delicious new entry in the “fun and gripping” (The Huffington Post) Coffeehouse Mysteries.

When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she’s been missing for the past week, or that her friends and family have been frantic with worry. Now that she’s back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn’s crushing distress, Clare doesn’t remember him, or much of anything about the last decade of her life.

Clare’s missing memory is tied to a crime she witnessed. An acquaintance of Clare’s elegant employer–and fellow member of an exclusive Gotham circle known as “The Ladies Who Brunch”–invited Clare to her posh hotel to sample gourmet wedding cakes. The pair took a stroll after their indulgent tasting and, according to security camera footage, a masked figure snatched the hotel heiress at gunpoint with Clare looking on. Did the kidnapper take Clare, too? The camera went dark, just like Clare’s memory. Soon authorities grow suspicious. Is Clare really a victim? Or merely acting like one? Evidence is mounting that she set the woman up.

To clear her name, Clare must find a way to reclaim her memories and rescue the heiress before this high-stakes crime ends in tragedy. Otherwise, instead of walking down the aisle, Clare may find herself perp-walking to prison as an accomplice to kidnapping and murder.

About Cleo Coyle

CLEO COYLE is the pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. CLEO COYLE grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After earning scholarships to study writing at Carnegie Mellon and American Universities, she began her career as a cub reporter for The New York Times. Now an author of popular fiction and New York Times bestselling media tie-in writer, Cleo lives and works in New York City, where she collaborates with her husband (also a bestselling author) to pen the Coffeehouse Mysteries for Penguin. Together Cleo and her husband also write the Haunted Bookshop Mysteries under the name Alice Kimberly. When not haunting coffeehouses, hunting ghosts, or rescuing stray cats, Cleo and Marc are bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for NBC, Lucasfilm, Disney, Fox, Imagine, and MGM. In their spare time, they cook like crazy and drink a lot of java. You can learn more about Cleo, her husband, and the books they write by visiting www.CoffeehouseMystery.com.

Author Links

Visit Cleo online: www.coffeehousemystery.com

Friend Cleo on Facebook:www.Facebook.com/CleoCoyle

Follow Cleo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleocoyle/

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win one (1) Cleo Coyle Brewed Awakening prize package that includes a print copy of the book, a set of recipe cards, and a stylish Brewed Awakening tote bag courtesy of the author via Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours. Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Void where prohibited by law.

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Book Spotlight: BROKEN BONE CHINA by Laura Childs

Broken Bone China

(A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs

About the Book

Broken Bone China (A Tea Shop Mystery)

Cozy Mystery
20th in Series
Berkley (March 5, 2019)
Hardcover: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 0451489632
ISBN-13: 978-0451489630
Digital ASIN: B07DMZPLWY

Theodosia Browning serves tea and solves crimes in Charleston, a city steeped in tradition and treachery in the latest Tea Shop Mystery from New York Times bestselling author Laura Childs.

It is Sunday afternoon, and Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon rally. The view aloft is not only stunning, they are also surrounded by a dozen other colorful hot-air balloons. But as the sky turns gray and the clouds start to boil up, a strange object zooms out of nowhere. It is a drone, and it appears to be buzzing around the balloons, checking them out.

As Theodosia and Drayton watch, the drone, hovering like some angry, mechanized insect, deliberately crashes into the balloon next to them. An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and everyone watches in horror as the balloon plummets to the earth, killing all three of its passengers.

Sirens scream, first responders arrive, and Theodosia is interviewed by the police. During the interview, she learns that one of the downed occupants was Don Kingsley, the CEO of a local software company, SyncSoft. Not only do the police suspect Kingsley as the primary target, they learn that he possessed a rare Revolutionary War Union Jack flag that several people were rabidly bidding on.

Intrigued, Theodosia begins her own investigation. Was it the CEO’s soon-to-be ex-wife, who is restoring an enormous mansion at no expense? The CEO’s personal assistant, who also functioned as curator of his prized collection of Americana? Two rival antiques’ dealers known for dirty dealing? Or was the killer the fiancée of one of Theodosia’s dear friends, who turns out to be an employee—and whistle-blower—at SyncSoft?

INCLUDES DELICIOUS RECIPES AND TEA TIME TIPS!

Purchase Links

Amazon B&N Kobo Google Play

About the Author

Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries

, Scrapbook Mysteries

, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries

. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fundraising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.

Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:

The Tea Shop Mysteries

– set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.

The Scrapbooking Mysteries

– a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!

The Cackleberry Club Mysteries

– set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.

Laura’s Links:

Website – http://www.laurachilds.com/
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/laura.childs.31

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Book Giveaway: THE CHILD by Fiona Barton

Good morning my bookish peeps. There have been a lot of great books released so far this year and today we’re going to celebrate the paperback release on The Child by Fiona Barton. Some of you might recall, I reviewed this book last year upon its hardcover release and it was a recommended read. How are we going to celebrate the paperback release of this recommended read? With a book giveaway courtesy of the publisher, Berkley – Penguin Random House.

The Child by Fiona Barton

An NPR Best Book of the YearA Bustle Best Thriller Novel of the Year

“The Child is a perfect blend of beach read and book club selection. It’s a fascinating and fitting follow-up to [Barton’s] best-selling debut novel, The Widow. . . .[A] page-turning whodunit…A novel that is both fast-paced and thought-provoking, it keeps the reader guessing right to the end.”–USA Today

“Fiona Barton brings back reporter Kate Waters from the best-selling The Widow and delivers another winner with The Child….A truly engaging tale. Those who enjoyed The Widow will discover that Barton has only gotten better.”–The Associated Press

“An engrossing, irresistible story about the coming to light of a long-buried secret and an absolutely fabulous read–I loved it!”–Shari Lapena, New York Times bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

“Tense, tantalizing, and ultimately very satisfying…definitely one of the year’s must-reads.”–Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense, now in paperback.

As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers human remains, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but she’s at a loss for answers. As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier. A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn–house by house–into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. She soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women–and torn between what she can and cannot tell…

The author:

Fiona Barton, the New York Times bestselling author of The Widow and The Child, trains and works with journalists all over the world. Previously, she was a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at the Mail on Sunday, where she won Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards. Visit her online at fionabartonauthor.com and on Twitter @figbarton. Join the conversation using #TheChild.

Giveaway

To enter this giveaway, use the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway ends on Friday, March 16, 2018, at 11:59 PM ET and the winner will be announced on Saturday, March 17, 2018, by 10:00 AM ET. Please note that this giveaway is limited to US residents only, all non-US entrants will be disqualified. The book will be shipped to the winner by the publisher, Berkley.

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2017 Book 220: THE CHILD by Fiona Barton

The Child by Fiona Barton
ISBN: 9781101990483 (hardcover)
ISBN: 9781101990506 (ebook)
ASIN: B01LZXZET4 (Kindle edition)
Publication date: June 27, 2017
Publisher: Berkley

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense.

As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn house by house into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women and torn between what she can and cannot tell.

Forty plus years ago a newborn baby girl was stolen from a British hospital. Recently a newborn baby girl’s skeleton was found at a demolition site. Is it possible these two infants are linked? That is the premise presented in Fiona Barton’s latest psychological thriller The Child.

Kate Water is a journalist looking into the story behind the discovery of the skeletal remains of a newborn infant at a demolition site in metro London. The more she investigates into the remains found, the more she begins to think these remains just might be related to a missing newborn girl taken out of a hospital over forty years. While Kate delves into her investigation and the background of the missing girl’s family, we are introduced to several other women that are impacted by the discovery of the skeletal remains: first there’s Angela Irving, the mother of the missing infant; second is Emma Simmonds a former teen resident of the house where the body was found; and last, is Emma’s mother, Judith “Jude” Massingham. Angela is positive the body is that of her missing daughter Alice. Emma is fearful that the police will be knocking on her door at any moment. Jude is sure the discovery has no impact on her life until her daughter begins to have another emotional breakdown. The story of all four women intersect until finally the answer of exactly who the building site baby was and how she got there is uncovered along with a host of secrets kept hidden for years.

I read and reviewed The Widow in 2016 and loved it, so when I was afforded the opportunity to read The Child I did not hesitate to shout YES! and it did not disappoint. Talk about a wild ride. The Child was fast-paced, engrossing and, yes I have to say it, suspenseful read up to the very end. Kate is an accomplished journalist and it was fascinating to travel along as she uncovered the truth behind this dumped baby. Emma is initially depicted as emotionally fragile and unreliable, but we quickly learn that although she may have some emotional problems she is anything but unreliable. Angela Irving has spent 40+ years grieving the loss of her infant daughter and feeling guilty for leaving her in a hospital room unsupervised. Again, she initially comes across as needy and fragile, but she is just as strong as both Kate and Emma. Jude, Emma’s mother, is initially portrayed as this strong and independent single mother, but we learn that looks can be deceiving as she is the neediest and most fragile of the bunch. With the presentation of these four women, we learn that all is never quite how it appears. These women all have their strengths and weaknesses, as do all humans, but they persevere in the face of adversity and prejudice. The Child is much more than a story of a missing child and the discovery of skeletal remains, it’s a story about relationships, family, and what we’re willing to do for family. Sometimes the family is related by blood, sometimes the family may be our work family, and sometimes the family might be our friends, but when push comes to shove the strong stand by family. This is also a story about secrets. The secrets we keep from our friends, our parents, our spouses, and sometimes we tamp down so deep that we try to keep hidden from ourselves. I enjoyed the characters, the storylines, and the action. Ms. Barton crafts psychological suspense thrillers that truly live up to the name; just when I thought I knew where this story was headed, I was yanked off into a new direction and then back again. It wasn’t until I hit about the 80% mark that I caught a hint of where the story was going and even with the confirmation it was still a bit of a shock (no, I won’t tell you what happens, read the book!). If you read The Widow, then you know you’ll want to read The Child. If you enjoy reading taut psychological thrillers or suspenseful reads, then you’ll definitely want to read The Child. I highly recommend The Child and look forward to reading more from Ms. Barton in the future. (If you couldn’t tell, I thoroughly enjoyed The Child and look forward to rereading it in the near future.)

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes via NetGalley. I was not paid, required, or otherwise obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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2015 Book 203: IT’S YOU by Jane Porter

It’s You by Jane Porter
ISBN: 9780425277157 (paperback)
ISBN: 9780698178861 (ebook)
ASIN: B00OQSF63I (Kindle edition)
Publication date: June 2, 2015
Publisher: Berkley

In the wake of a tragedy that tore her life down to the foundations, Dr. Alison McAdams has lost her way. So when she’s summoned to Napa to care for her ailing father, she’s not sure she has anything to offer him—or anyone else.

What Ali finds in Northern California wine country is a gift—an opportunity to rest, and distance from her painful memories. Most unexpectedly, she finds people who aren’t afraid of her grief or desperate for her to hurry up and move on.

As Ali becomes part of her father’s community, makes new friends of her own, and hears the stories of a generation who survived the Second World War, she begins to find hope again. In a quest to discover the truth about another woman’s lost love, she sets off on a journey across oceans and deep into history. And in making sense of that long-ago tragedy, Ali is able to put together the broken pieces of her heart and make new choices that are right for her.

Alison “Ali” McAdams’ world has been turned upside down. Her fiancé and co-worker committed suicide six weeks before their wedding, in their home. A few months later, her mother suffered an aneurysm and died. Ali has been struggling to be normal and continue working with her deceased fiancé’s father in their dental practice in Arizona. Just when she’s floundering with what she wants and needs, she receives a phone call from her father. Her dad is living in a retirement community in Napa, California and has recently suffered a fall, breaking his wrist. Ali quickly makes the decision to take time off from the dental practice and head to California.

Ali isn’t quite sure what she’ll find in California, but she’s desperate to connect with her sole surviving family member. Ali’s Dad isn’t exactly “warm” and one for public displays of affection, but over the course of three weeks they do find some common ground. Amazingly, the one person Ali seems to connect with the most is a ninety-five-year-old woman, Edie. Initially, Ali thinks that Edie is prickly and rude, but the more she talks with Edie the more she realizes that they have a lot in common.

It’s You takes place over the course of just a few weeks, but Ms. Porter has packed a lot into those weeks. The story is told in alternating voices of Edie and Ali, with a portion of Edie’s story taking place in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The reader learns that the love of Edie’s life was a Nazi in public while secretly working with the German Resistance Movement. He was found guilty and died as a result of his involvement in the failed attempt on Hitler’s life. Both Edie and Ali are grieving their losses, but Edie has found a way to move on with her life and enjoy what she can when she can. It’s You is a story of deep loss, grief, self-realization, and ultimately survival. It’s a story filled with sadness as well as hope. If you enjoy reading stories that combine historical elements with a contemporary storyline or just enjoy reading about strong women, then It’s You is one story you’ll want to read.

Read an excerpt from It’s You here.

Disclaimer: I received a print copy of this book for review purposes via BookSparks. I was not paid, required, or otherwise obligated to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)by Abby Collette

About A Deadly Inside Scoop

About Abby Collette

Brewed Awakening (A Coffeehouse Mystery)

About Brewed Awakening

About Cleo Coyle

Broken Bone China

About the Book

About the Author

A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)
by Abby Collette