The Rocky Road to Ruin

An Ice Cream Shop Mystery, Book 1

By: Meri Allen

Narrated by: Senn Annis

Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Justice will be swirled by amateur sleuth Riley Rhodes in the first in Meri Allen's brand-new mystery series, 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?

©2021 Meri Allen (P)2022 Vibrance Press

Great Book

The Rocky Road to Ruin is an entertaining cozy mystery. I look forward to the next book.

Enjoyable New Series

How does a travel blogger/CIA Librarian/sometimes covert operative find herself managing an ice cream shop in her hometown? Oh, and there is at least one murder to which she feels compelled to apply her skills. You will just need to read the book to find out what motivations and secrets brought Riley Rhoades to this point and what she does about it.

I enjoyed the book and will purchase book 2, assuming it comes available. The characters have potential, and I hope Ms. Allen develops them, including Riley's CIA background. There was a lot of ground to cover in this first book, and it seems a lot left to be discovered, but that is what makes a series.

The narrator is okay, not stellar, but not annoying. If the next book has a new narrator it shouldn't impact the series. This narrator did not "own" these characters - yet.

The Rocky Road to Ruin by Meri Allen

Narrated by Senn Annis is a delightfully written murder
mystery. A good read for a dull day. Well written in picturesque
speech. Could almost see the people & locations. Have a low fat snack handy. lol

This Is A Wonderful Mystery But...

The story, twists, turns, plots, and even the cleverly incorporated pets are great.
But this is a story that is better read than listened to. The story is one that depends very much on the unfolding of a surprising backstory to rectify the present situation.
A.backstory that for the most part seems a mere vague, sad, and unrelated sidenote.
For the better way part of the book.

The story though interesting, very well written, and highly engaging. Takes the reader on a very long and very arduous wild goose chase from suspect to suspect.
i.seriously think that if there was a way that they could have implicated the animals. They would have tried.

Barring the "everyone but God" form of "everything but the kitchen sink writing.
This is both a wonderful book and a great start to this series.

Reviewer's Notes
All opinions herein are my own. And are in no way influenced by the author or the publisher.
This review is of the Audible version of this work.

Very complicated cozy mystery

I love the idea of an ice cream shop mystery series, but struggled with this one. The amateur sleuth is practically perfect in every way which is ironic because she calls her stepmother too perfect. I found the plot to be a bit convoluted.

reader is annoying

title is self explanatory. if certain types of voices annoy you don't listen to this one