Saturday, May 21, 2022

Death of an Ice Cream Scooper (Hayley Powell Mystery Book 15)

Author:    Lee Hollis
Genre:     Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:    9781496736494
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$8.99; $6.99 Amazon
July 26, 2022

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Food and cocktails columnist Hayley Powell doesn't know what to believe when Lydia Partridge, the put together owner of gourmet Bar Harbor Ice Cream, suddenly reveals that her husband may be having an affair.  There's no other way to explain why Jamie, a respected professor, was spotted in a remote part of town with a much younger woman.  But instead of learning the truth about the secret meeting, Lydia opens her freezer truck to find another surprise -- the dead body of a summer employee...

The shock continues as photographic evidence proves Jamie was spending time off campus with the victim, one of his students.  Now, Lydia desperately needs Hayley to discover if Jamie really is a cheater -- and, worse, a ruthless killer.  With her own complicated family issues to address, can Hayley make sense of a popular college girl's love life and out the true culprit before the case, or another person, goes cold?

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Hayley Powell, a columnist for the Island Times, and owner of popular restaurant Hayley's Kitchen, is faced with a problem: she's just discovered another dead body.  This time, in the back of the freezer truck of Lydia Partridge, owner of Bar Harbor Ice Cream.  The dead woman is a summer employee of Lydia's, and she asks Hayley to help her find out who killed her, since this could definitely hurt her business.  But when Hayley begins her investigation, she finds that the young woman had secrets.  Lots of them.  And one of those secrets led to her death.  Unfortunately, she also finds that it might lead to someone she cares about, and just can't believe is a killer...

To complicate matters, her son Dustin arrives with a major surprise.  A surprise that will change Hayley's life -- and Dustin's -- forever.  Then, just as Hayley thinks things can't get any worse, both Mona and Lydia, Hayley's best friends, have secrets of their own that are uncovered.  Now Hayley's in the middle of not only a murder investigation, but her own life is about to be upended.  How is she going to survive all this?...

This is the fifteenth book in the series, and I have read them all.  While I will admit freely that I didn't care for the first in the series, I am glad that I continued to stick with it.  Because, and I am sure others will agree (and maybe a few disagree), that this series has only improved with time.  Each book seems to be getting better than the last.  And that's few authors that can claim that distinction of series.

In this book, we have Hayley once again trying to figure out where a killer lurks among her friends and acquaintances.  She does it without probing too deep, but she's not afraid to confront people to get answers to her questions.  That's where part of her strength lies.  I don't feel that she's pushing too hard, because I never get uncomfortable with her line of questioning.

As the story progresses, it becomes apparent that Hayley is upset the way things are going, and knows she has to try and find the murderer, and help her friend Lydia discover if Lydia's husband Jamie was having an affair as well.  Hayley has her hands full this time, and time itself might not be on her side.

But when the ending comes, it's not only full of activity, I also had ideas of who the murderer must be.  I found myself surprised by the author's twist, and it was a doozy, to say the least.  This time out, Hayley plays her cards well, and her wits help her win in the end.  I loved this story and am eager to read the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.



More on Lee Hollis's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/lee-hollis/

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