Today is National Ice Cream Cone day. Mmmm!
I decided that matched up nicely with my latest book release, Dark Water Under the Bridge, which includes mentions of a favourite ice cream parlour in our area, Mackay’s:
Jones had told Margie that MacKay’s had dozens of flavors, but she had still not expected the densely-written chalkboard she saw when she got there. She and Christina stared at it with their mouths open, marveling at all of the options.
“Bubblegum,” Christina pointed out almost immediately.
Margie remembered blue stains on many of Christina’s collars when she was a little girl, when blue bubble-gum ice cream had been her favorite treat. So sticky and messy. At least now, as a teenager, Margie wouldn’t have to worry about Christina staining all of her clothes.
“What is ‘barn door’?” Margie asked no one in particular.
A helpful patron described the ice cream concoction that included marshmallows, chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, Reese’s peanut butter cups, fudge brownie bits, cookie dough, nuts, Oreo cookie crumbs, and coconut.
“Oh, my.”
It wasn’t going to be an easy choice. They had the cherry custard and cotton candy, two flavors she had enjoyed as a child when camping by the lake.
“Maple bacon,” Christina murmured reverently.
“I thought you were vegetarian now.”
Christina opened her mouth, considering. “I don’t think maple bacon ice cream counts,” she said finally, without bothering to give an argument as to why that was.
“I know what I am having,” Moushoom announced.
Margie looked at him. She was expecting to have to read the board to him. But either his eyes or his memory was better than she had expected.
“What are you having, Moushoom?”
“Nanaimo bar.”
“Oh…”
P.D. Workman, Dark Water under the Bridge
Dark Water under the Bridge
Parks Pat could be in deep water on this case!
Detective “Parks” Pat has made a name for herself in solving the Fish Creek and Glenbow Ranch murders, so she is the one they call when a body turns up in Ralph Klein Park. She would be happy for the confidence placed in her if it weren’t for the fact that the body is in the water.
Detective Pat hates the water. She’ll need to get over that if she is going to be able to investigate this case properly. Preferably before the rest of the department figures out her weakness. There is a killer out there to be caught. Somehow she’ll have to get past her block to find him.
If you enjoy good solid mysteries, well-developed wonderful characters, and beautiful scenic backdrops, this is the perfect series for you. I have never been to any of these parks (or to Canada, for that matter) but reading these stories paints such clear pictures in my mind, I feel like I could go there and know my way around.
—txdoc
Looking for a police procedural set in picturesque Canada? Let Award-winning and Bestselling Author P.D. Workman take you her favourite Calgary parks, as Métis detective Margie Patenaude investigates a murder in this fast-paced new series.
These short mysteries are just right for those days when you could use a break from your busy life. Take a walk in a Calgary park with Parks Pat.
Dive into in a new mystery today!
EBOOK PAPERBACK LARGE PRINT RETAILERS
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BOOKS 1-3
Want to get all three Parks Pat books in one package? You can do that too!
Recipes
- Missing out on those awesome ice cream flavours because you are dairy-free? Maybe something will inspire you here.
- Or if you just want to make ice cream at home, try this one.
- Need a gluten-free cone? Here is one recipe to try out. (And check out Recipes from Auntie Clem’s Bakery while you’re at it. No cone recipes, but there are some other basics that I use all the time.)
- And for those of you outside of Canada who don’t know what a Nanaimo Bar is, here is a recipe.
Books
Now all you need is some more books to read while you savour your frozen treats? What could be better than ice cream and a good story?
Cold as Ice Cream
How could a few bubbles have gone so wrong?
It’s a CO2 cook-off! Chef Kirschoff and Vic’s friends from the Alaskan cruise are back for a carbonation contest, with Erin and Vic acting as two of the judges. It’s fizzy, it’s fun, what could possibly go wrong?
Apparently, someone did not get the memo. At first, when Beryl Batcombe is found dead in the restaurant’s cold room, everyone assumes it was a terrible accident. But as Erin and Vic are drawn into the mystery, it becomes obvious that this was not an innocent mistake.
Like baking mysteries? Cats, dogs, and other pets? Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling Author P.D. Workman brings readers back to small town Bald Eagle Falls for another culinary cozy mystery to be solved by gluten-free baker Erin Price and her friends.
Have your gluten-free cake and eat it too. Sink your teeth into this sweet treat now!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I love this series! This time Erin and Vic are reunited with friends they made on a recent Alaskan cruise. When Chef Kirschoff asks them to judge a culinary contest, they have no idea it will turn deadly. Many secrets will be unearthed before the killer is found. The plot is as twisty as a country road and the characters are well-developed and believable.
—Sandy, Goodreads Reader
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Coup de Glace
A cold case for Erin!
The trouble with solving murders in a little town like Bald Eagle Falls is that everybody knows about it, and then they expect you to solve their cases too. When Bella brings a new—or rather a cold—case to Erin, she protests that she is not a detective. But Bella really needs her; how could an old woman just have gone missing without anyone following up on it? How could they just accept Ezekiel’s assertion that his wife was fine and she was just off visiting. Eventually, that excuse must have worn out.
Meanwhile, a blast from Erin’s own past—a foster sister Erin would rather not see again—shows up, bringing with her another set of complications.
Like baking mysteries? Cats, dogs, and other pets? Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling Author P.D. Workman brings readers back to small town Bald Eagle Falls for another culinary cozy mystery to be solved by gluten-free baker Erin Price and her friends.
Have your gluten-free cake and eat it too. Sink your teeth into this sweet treat now!
READ SAMPLE BOOKBUB BINGEBOOKS GOODREADS
Make it a bundle:
BOOKS 4-6 BOOKS 1-15
Ice Cream and Guilty Pleasures
Meghan Truman is honored to be invited to serve her signature tarts at the Governor’s ball. A night of glitz and glamour, in the company of handsome Detective Jack Irvin, is ruined for her when she experiences firsthand, the ungracious attitude of a prominent figure that she once looked up to.
Things take a turn for the worse when this insolent guest is found dead after eating a dish of ice cream. Meghan is sure she had nothing to do with it as her desserts were rejected by the deceased.
Will Megan and Jack be able to navigate this unfamiliar world of wealth and privilege to discover the truth in time to save her business?
Not all sweet things are pleasurable.
The guilty can sometimes be sweet.
Discover how Meghan helps to solve the latest murder mystery in Sandy Bay.
The Rocky Road to Ruin
Riley Rhodes, travel food blogger and librarian at the CIA, makes a bittersweet return to her childhood home of Penniman, Connecticut – land of dairy farms and covered bridges – for a funeral. Despite the circumstances, Riley’s trip home is sprinkled with reunions with old friends, visits to her father’s cozy bookshop on the town green, and joyful hours behind the counter at the beloved Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. It feels like a time to help her friend Caroline rebuild after her mother’s death, and for Riley to do a bit of her own reflecting after a botched undercover mission in Italy. After all, it’s always good to be home.
But Caroline and her brother Mike have to decide what to do with the assets they’ve inherited – the ice cream shop as well as the farm they grew up on – and they’ve never seen eye to eye. Trouble begins to swirl as Riley is spooked by reports of a stranger camping behind the farm and by the odd behavior of the shop’s mascot, Caroline’s snooty Persian, Sprinkles. When Mike turns up dead in the barn the morning after the funeral, the peace and quiet of Penniman seems upended for good. Can Riley find the killer before another body gets scooped?
A Deadly Inside Scoop
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…
A Killer Sundae
Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is gorgeous in the fall, and Bronwyn Crewse, owner of Crewse Creamery, knows just how to welcome the new season. At the annual Harvest Time Festival, residents will get a chance to enjoy hot-air balloons and hayrides, crown a new Harvest Time Festival Queen, and eat delicious frozen treats sold at Win’s freshly purchased ice cream truck. But she gets into a sprinkle of trouble when a festivalgoer is poisoned and Win is implicated.
Although the victim was a former Harvest Time Festival Queen, her once-sunny disposition had dimmed into bitterness, leaving no shortage of suspects at the festival. To clear her name before the chill of winter sets in, Win will have to investigate and hope that her detective skills won’t “dessert” her.
A Game of Cones
Bronwyn Crewse is delighted that Crewse Creamery, the ice cream shop her family has owned for decades, is restored to its former glory and serving sweet frozen treats to happy customers in the picturesque small town of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. But when a big city developer comes to town intent on building a mall, a killer with a frozen heart takes him out.
After literally stumbling across the body, one of Win’s closest friends becomes the prime suspect, and to make things worse, Win’s aunt has come to town with the intention of taking command of Crewse Creamery. Even though Win has a rocky road ahead to help her friend and keep her ice cream shop, it’ll take more than a sprinkle of murder to stop her from solving the crime and saving the day.
Ice Cream and Incidents
A free holiday to a seaside B&B run by drag queens sounds like the perfect way to spend a relaxing week away from Peridale, or so Julia South thought. When she arrives at the quirky B&B with her family, she’s determined to have a fun break, but she quickly finds herself in the middle of another puzzling mystery when a lighting rig falls on the star drag performer, Simone Phoenix.
Was it an accident, or something more sinister? Julia quickly befriends the owner, Russell, and learns that the seemingly tight-knit drag family working at Sparkles are not without their problems. With secrets and lies revolving around love, money, and revenge, each of them appears to have a motive for wanting Simone out of the way. Can Julia resist the lure of cracking yet another case for the sake of having a peaceful family holiday by the sea, or will the urge to uncover the truth take over once again?
