Isn’t it every woman’s dream to move from their small, sleepy hometown in a New England village to a beautiful tropical paradise, to put the past behind her and forge a new life in an exciting place?

I did exactly that when I left Moose Knuckle, New Hampshire for Devil’s Beach, Florida. I even drove my vintage VW bus down to the Sunshine State and opened my quirky ice cream van business just steps from the prettiest, sugar-sand beach on the Gulf Coast.

Now I’m not so sure whether my life has gone from a dream to a nightmare. . .

Everything on Devil’s Beach had been going well. Amazing, in fact. I’d set up my business and was selling my artisan ice cream from a special food truck lot by the beach. I’d even forgotten about my no-good jerk of an ex-boyfriend back in New Hampshire.

I was living the beach dream, working my butt off for six days and going to the beach on the seventh. I’d found a cute coffee shop called Perkatory, made friends with a couple who ran a Jamaican food truck, and was saving money to fix the stupid, blaring horn in my van.

When a guy named Zander bought a quart of ice cream from me one night, I thought he was cute and sweet and secretly hoped he’d return. Then when he came back a week later, he had bad news: his aunt had died. I couldn’t say no when he asked me to make a special ice cream cake for her wake. A little weird, sure, but Zander seemed so upset and I wanted to help.

But while I was delivering the cake to his dead aunt’s house, I overheard a conversation between two people, saying they’d poisoned my ice cream and killed Zander’s aunt!

As a fan of true crime podcasts, there’s only one thing I can do to clear my name and my new business: investigate. I just hope I don’t upset the wrong people. . .

Give Me Chills, A Devil’s Beach Mystery Novella
Genre: Cozy
Release: July 2022
Purchase Link

Ice cream and murder. Will this amateur sleuth melt under pressure?

After being humiliated in front of her entire hometown of Moose Knuckle, New Hampshire, Hadley Mortimer heads south to lick her wounds. All the way to the island of Devil’s Beach, Florida, where she’s opened her first business: Give Me Chills, an artisan ice cream truck. After a couple of weeks, she’s living the cream and has even met a gorgeous guy named Zander, who seems to appreciate more than her soft serve cones.

When Zander asks her to bring an ice cream cake to his great-aunt’s funeral, she overhears two people talking about murder. Hadley — a true crime junkie — lets curiosity get the best of her and she begins to sleuth.

It’s not easy juggling a new crush, a popular food truck and a murder investigation. Hadley has to do all three without having a meltdown. . .

About the author
Tara Lush is a Florida-based author and journalist. She’s an RWA Rita finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow and the winner of the George C. Polk award for environmental journalism.

She was a reporter with The Associated Press in Florida, covering crime, alligators, natural disasters and politics. She also writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations under the name Tamara Lush.

Tara is a fan of vintage pulp fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, 1980s fashion, tropical chill, kombucha, gin, tonic, seashells, iPhones, Art Deco, telenovelas, street art, coconut anything, strong coffee and newspapers. She lives on the Gulf coast with her husband and two dogs.

Her debut mystery novel, Grounds For Murder, was published by Crooked Lane Books in December 2020. Find her at taralush.com.

All comments are welcomed.