Hi, my name is Bronwyn Crewse, but family and friends call me Win. I hope you will, too.

I’m from Crewse Creamery. You know, the ice cream shop that sits over that little waterfall? That’s me. Well, our family. You haven’t heard of it? Maybe not yet, but you will. Check your social media, because we’re all over it, plus our ice cream is delicious. You don’t want to miss out on this treat. Smooth. Creamy. Yummy.

We’re located in Chagrin Falls, a small village suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, but if you’re not close, don’t worry, I’m working on plans to ship our ice cream from our store to your freezer. And I have a bunch of other ideas up my sleeve, too. Like an ice cream food truck, or non-dairy gluten-free frozen concoctions that we can dip up for you that are just as creamy and good as our regular fare. So stop on by. Meet my grandfather, PopPop, who doesn’t help much, but he’s always there sitting in one of the booths and playing backgammon. And my mom, Ailbhe who’s retired from teaching third grade and buzzes in and out between her yoga and jitterbug classes and hair appointments. And I’d better not forget Felice. A Persian cat that belongs to Rivkah Solomon, our upstairs tenant. Felice loves sitting in the window of the store and keeps an eye on everything.

The parlor has a soda fountain, a shiny red juke box, and a big glass window overlooking the falls, but what you’ll love most is our ice cream. It’s all hand-crafted right in the back of the store and made with fresh, natural and mostly local ingredients and a whole lot of love. (Yes, local farmers here in Ohio supply us with everything from milk and cream to maple syrup to eggs to peaches, apples and strawberries!) And we’ve got flavors that will make your mouth water like cherry chocolate chunk amaretto, smooth and decadent chocolate and I can’t forget our about our ice cream cakes like our espresso, mocha-flavor raspberry java that’s topped with a thin satiny layer of chocolate ganache glaze. Luscious.

On days I have to make ice cream, I’m up by 5 a.m., something my grandmother instilled in me from the time I was a little girl. She also taught me everything I know about making ice cream. Every morning as I walk down the hill to our ice cream parlor, I stop by my grandfather’s place. He’s the one who put me in charge but I like to keep him updated and get his blessing on what I’m doing and all the changes. Did I mention that Crewse Creamery is a family-owned business? Well, it is. Started by my grandparents in 1965 when they migrated from the south looking for better jobs for blacks. Crewse Creamery has been up and running ever since. Oh, except the one time we closed temporarily for renovations. Ones I came up g I took management. Being a millennial, I wanted to give the ice cream parlor a more updated face—bring it into the 21st century. It took longer than I expected and pushed our re-opening to a snowy October day. No one showed up. Well, except for that dead body.

But I knew soon, we’d have a line of customers out the door wanting our ice cream, no matter how cold it was outside. Fingers and ice cream scoops crossed, our ice cream parlor’s door would be closed to murder.

A Deadly Inside Scoop is the first book in the NEW “Ice Cream Parlor” cozy mystery series, released May 12, 2020.

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. . .

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About the author
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.

Abby is a member of Crime Writers of Color, and Sisters in Crime, National, Regional and Guppies Chapters.

All comments are welcomed.