Soft Serve Sleighing (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries)
by Lena Gregory
About Soft Serve Sleighing
Soft Serve Sleighing (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
5th in Series
Setting – Long Island, NY
Publisher : Gemma Halliday Publishing (January 28, 2025)
Number of Pages – 226
Kindle ASIN : B0DLHPWDNT
From author Lena Gregory comes a delightfully delicious cozy mystery…
With most of Eastern Long Island closed down for a blizzard, Danika Delaney and her friends are holed up in her old fashioned malt shop, the Coffee & Cream Café, with ice cream and hot chocolate. However, their plans to wait out the storm in cozy company are interrupted when a popular YouTuber and her two companions show up at the door—they’ve been trapped by the storm, and Dani generously offers to serve them breakfast. But her generosity isn’t rewarded in kind, as the reviewer then tries to extort money from Dani in exchange for a good review! When the storm finally clears, Dani is happy to have seen the last of them.
Or so she thought.
Dani and her friends decide to go sleigh riding the morning after the storm clears, but instead of a winter wonderland, they find the extorting YouTuber…dead! To make matters worse, Dani suddenly finds herself accused of the woman’s murder. Intent on restoring her reputation, Dani sets out to prove she didn’t do it. This is one storm she’s not sure she can weather…
Dollycas’s Thoughts
The Coffee & Cream Café is closed due to a blizzard that has dumped a bunch of snow on Eastern Long Island. Dani and her friends Eli and Gwen have decided to wait out the storm together at the cafe. Eli really wants to go out to build a snowman but before he can get Gwen and Dani to agree they hear someone pounding on the door. When Dani opens the door a woman rudely pushes her way in followed by two friends. The woman turns out to be a TikTok influencer with a huge following that Dani nor her friends have ever heard of. They apparently expect Dani to serve them breakfast and she does her best with what she has on hand. While she is doing that Eli does a little online investigation and learns their “guest” is Brynleigh Star, a restaurant reviewer, and her reviews can be downright nasty. But then the woman makes them an offer to purchase a “membership” for a 5-star review. Not ready or able to purchase such a thing Brynleigh promises a 1-star review and she and her friends leave without even paying for their meal.
With the shop still closed Dani, Eli, Gwen, and Dani’s sister Meghan decide to go tubing on a nearby hill. After a bit of hilarity, they finally make it to the top of the hill ready to have a great time. Instead, Dani’s tube goes off the beaten path and right into a very dead Brynleigh Star. Worse yet, one of the dead woman’s friends accuses Dani of killing her.
Can Dani clear her name? or will the evidence pile up against her? If she thought the blizzard was bad, when her boyfriend Detective Jake Barlow finds out she is snooping around his case he may freeze her out completely!
The characters in this series are so much fun. Danika Delaney isn’t the most graceful person, in fact: she is kind of a clutz but she has a huge heart with friends who love her and will come to her rescue no matter what. She took over the ice cream shop from her Uncle Jimmie and added coffee and more to the menu to keep it open year-round. He comes into the cafe almost every day to do anything he can to help her succeed. They have a really sweet relationship. Her family is a hoot and a half especially when they get together for Sunday dinner. You never know what her Aunt Miriam is going to say or what Dani’s mother has on her mind. Dani tries to bring as many of her friends as she can for support.
I enjoyed how Dani and her friends banded together to try to find more information or evidence to send the police in a different direction. The victim had ticked off more than Dani on her short visit. After talking to a few people Eli comes up with a wild idea but Dani hesitates because she knows Jake wants her to be safe and out of his investigation. Of course, they go with Eli’s plan which leads to crazy chaos that almost sends Jake over the edge along with “every Delaney known to man”. But wait, there’s more . . . Dani finds more evidence hidden in the cafe . . . and finds herself in another pickle. I swear the pages were going so fast my Kindle should have had steam rolling out of it. From the moment the influencer’s body was found until the case was wrapped it was like I was reading at warp speed.
Watchogue, New York had a blizzard like we used to get here in Wisconsin. With global warming, we get less snow every year with maybe one or two snow events. While my body wouldn’t let me I know my grandchildren would love tubing down a big hill. Sadly, we would have to go somewhere and pay to do it on manmade snow. I do have some great memories when I was their age. Cemetery Hill was the place to sled and toboggan in the old days.
Soft Serve Sleighing takes readers on a fantastic ride with wonderful characters and sensational mystery. An entertaining must-read for cozy lovers! Read the entire series in order for maximum enjoyment.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to the author for providing me with an ARC.
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About Lena Gregory
Lena Gregory is the author of the Bay Island Psychic Mysteries, which take place on a small island between the north and south forks of Long Island, New York, the All-Day Breakfast Café Mysteries, which are set on the outskirts of Florida’s Ocala National Forest, the Mini-Meadows Mysteries, set in a community of tiny homes in Central Florida, and the Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries, which take place in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, New York.
Lena grew up in a small town on the south shore of eastern Long Island, but she recently traded in cold, damp, gray winters for the warmth and sunshine of central Florida, where she now lives with her husband, three kids, son-in-law, and four dogs. Her hobbies include spending time with family, reading, and walking. Her love for writing developed when her youngest son was born and didn’t sleep through the night. She works full-time as a writer and a freelance editor and is a member of Sisters in Crime.
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Find all of Lena Gregory’s books HERE.
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Great Escapes Praise for
Soft Serve Sleighing (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries)
by Lena Gregory
Soft Serve Sleighing by Lena Gregory dishes up another clever mystery with great characters and lots of fun! 4.5 stars / loved it!
~Reading Is My Super Power
Soft Serve Sleighing is a page-turning cozy mystery that will keep you guessing! It’s well-plotted with outstanding characters and lots of humor! I highly recommend it and give it 5 huge stars!
~Christy’s Cozy Corners
5 stars! I recommend SOFT SERVE SLEIGHING to cozy mystery readers, especially fans of the previous books in the series.
~Guatemala Paula Loves to Read
Love and laughter fill SOFT SERVE SLEIGHING with joy, creating a fun and memorable mystery. So grab a bowl of ice cream, no matter the weather, and settle in for a satisfying read!
~Cozy Up With Kathy
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” “As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.” I am also an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.”
Sounds great.
Lena,
This book sounds awesome!