Scoop Away: A Sweet Cozy Mystery

By S. Y. Robins

Amber Dearing is living her dream - she's finally the owner of her own brand new ice cream shop and she's got the chance to make it a huge success. Everything is riding on the Cow & Moon launch going as planned. With all of Amber's life savings poured into the business she has no plan B. When, on the day of the official launch, a women drops dead in the middle of store, Amber is not only in danger of losing her business - she is a prime suspect. Taking matters into her own hands, Amber decides to investigate the case herself. She needs to clear her own name, and she needs to save the business she has worked so hard to start. When she meets Ryan, the cute barista/manager of a competitor's store, Amber really has to put her instincts to the test. Could Ryan be the one to blame, or is Amber not seeing what is right in front of her nose?

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lovy Books Ltd
• Release date: Aug 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223754633

Book preview

1

Outside the weather was burning hot, but inside the display shelves spilled over with fluffy, deviously inviting mountains of cream and sugar mixed into that heavenly desert known as gelato. The scent of vanilla, hazelnut, and chocolate hit my nose as I surveyed my creations. The aroma hit my stomach - I'd be hungry if I wasn't so nervous.

Technically we’d been open for three days but today was the 'real' opening - the other days had been trials, a 'soft opening' which had done little to calm my nerves. In fact, with every scoop, cone, and sundae my blood pressure only seemed to increase. What would people think? Would they enjoy my creations? Would they tell their friends? Most importantly - would they return for more.

My livelihood depended on it. I put everything into this venture, and it had to pay off. There was no other option, no back up plan, no plan b in place. What else was I going to do? I poured all my life savings into The Cow & Moon Gelato shop. It had been an uphill battle getting the thing set up. From day one, I'd been up against a national ice cream franchise - Frozen Planet - who'd tried to out bid me for the shop space. In the end a petition by the community to have more locally owned businesses in the street was the only thing that had saved me. Now everything rested on the store being a success - aside from making ice cream, the only other thing I was good at was reading murder mysteries - and I was hardly going to make a living at that was I?

Amber? Hellllooo? June, my 19 year old employee, and the one and only staff member I could afford, waved a hand in front of my face. Are you in there? Earth to Amber...

I shook myself back to conscious thought and brought a bright smile to my face. Yes, I'm here! All good. Just hoping we've got enough to go round... it's a hot day out there. Not that my real concern was that we'd sell out of ice cream. In fact, just the opposite was true, but as the boss it was my responsibility to put on a brave face.

June seemed to see right through it. She rested her hand on her hip and cocked her head to look at me. Amber, relax. She grinned at me. It's going to be fine. I'm sure we'll be turning a profit by the end of the week!

That was easy for June to say, of course. She was only 19, still a student at my former university. She knew nothing of the kind of responsibility that starting a business took. The sleepless nights, the rapidly depleting bank account, the 80 hour work weeks. Still, June was a sweet girl, and there was only a 6-year age gap between us. Even though we were technically boss and employee, I liked to think we were friends. She been there since the start to support me - I'd really come to rely on her.

I smiled back and