Spoon to be Dead

by Dana Mentink

Overview

"Mentink has designed a story that will keep the reader wondering, and then knowing, and then wondering again, as the suspects and victims keep changing places." — New York Journal of Books

A murder for the holidays is about to shake things up!

Trinidad Jones is starting the festive season with sugary confections and a heaping scoop of worry as her shake shop enters its first Oregon winter. With snow abound and tourists trickling through, she'll do anything to keep her milkshake dreams afloat, even if it means catering a holiday steamboat party for some new arrivals in town.

But when her good-for-nothing ex crashes through her shop's door claiming he's being charged with murder, things go sideways. With clues piling up like whipped cream on a sundae and motives abound, Trinidad and her fellow ex-wives must solve this murder before she's finally thrown for a scoop.

The third book in the Shake Shop Mysteries following Trinidad Jones who makes sweet confections and solves sticky situations in her small town!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728231617
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	10/31/2023
Series:	Shake Shop Mystery , #3
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	218,272
Product dimensions:	4.80(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dana Mentink is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author. She’s written over fifty titles in the suspense, lighthearted romance and mystery genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense and Poisoned Pen Press. Her new Shake Shop mystery series features Trinidad Jones and her funky freakshakes! You can connect with Dana via her website at danamentink.com, TikTok (danamentinkauthor) and Instagram (dana_mentink.)

Editorial Reviews

"Mentink has designed a story that will keep the reader wondering, and then knowing, and then wondering again, as the suspects and victims keep changing places." — New York Journal of Books

From the Publisher

2023-08-26
The owner of an ice cream shop faces down winter in Upper Sprocket, Oregon.

Unlike coastal parts of the state, Eastern Oregon has cold winters, and Trinidad Jones isn’t at all sure that residents will flock to her Shimmy and Shake Shop as December rolls around—so she decides to dip her toe in the hectic world of catering. Hoping to land a gig at the posh private party scheduled aboard Leonard Pinkerton’s Sprocket Steamboat, she and her grandad, Papa Luis, work frantically to develop a menu of frozen treats, including the dairy-free option demanded by the exacting party hosts. Trinidad’s mission is complicated by the reappearance of her ex-husband, Gabe Bigley, a convicted fraudster out on parole who hopes to settle back in Upper Sprocket. She’s made her peace with the split from Gabe, whose other two exes, Juliette and Bonnie, are her best friends. But she’s unsettled by the news that Bonnie, mother of Gabe’s only child, Felice, plans to remarry the dirtbag. Unease turns to panic when Gabe reels into Shimmy and Shake, says he may have just killed someone, and passes out. That someone turns out to be birdwatcher Oscar Fuentes; Gabe, hospitalized with a concussion, doesn't remember hitting him with a borrowed car. Not only does Trinidad find herself with temporary custody of Oscar’s parrot, Scooter, but since police chief Cynthia Bigley, Gabe’s sister, is sidelined from the case, the confection creator decides it’s her job to investigate. Whipping up a hundred hot chocolate bombs, it turns out, is nothing compared to uncovering the dark doings that led to the bird browser’s demise.

Standard small-town shopkeeper hijinks.

Kirkus Reviews