THE ROCKY ROAD TO RUIN is my first time reading Meri Allen, but I was so intrigued about a new Cozy Mystery series set in an ice cream shop that I had to try it! This book is set in Penniman, Connecticut and features Riley Rhodes. As a seasoned travel food blogger and librarian at the CIA, she’s got a lot of unique skills and connections. She returns home for a funeral and is swarmed with old friends and other more suspicious characters. This is where she decides to take over the ice cream shop that was passed down to her. When strange things begin to happen around her though, she takes it upon herself to try to hunt down a killer.

Since this was my first time reading this author, I had no idea what to expect. First off, I enjoyed the level of detail and description that this book had. There’s a good flow to the writing that makes it easy to follow and read. However, I did feel like some elements seemed out of the blue or out of place in this book. It could be that the author was trying to be different, but sometimes I didn’t feel like the storyline or characters fit in with everything else. I was also hoping that this book would be a little more sweet and charming than it was because of the ice cream shop theme. Instead, I felt like the focus was placed elsewhere.

Nevertheless, I think this is a nice start to the Ice Cream Shop mystery series and I look forward to reading the other books in this series. Allen’s writing is detailed and entertaining so I can’t wait to see what else she produces next.