Mystery on Ice: Exploring 'A Deadly Inside Scoop'| BLK Girl Reads Book Club Podcast Ep. 9

Get ready to satisfy your literary cravings in this delectable episode of BLK Girl Reads! Today, we're scooping up all the delicious details of "A Deadly Inside Scoop" by the delightful Abbie Collette.

In this mouthwatering mystery, join us as we follow Bronwyn on a tantalizing journey through the sweet and savory world of ice cream and crime. Set in the picturesque Chagrin Falls, the story unfolds with every page, revealing secrets, surprises, and a murder that'll keep you guessing until the final scoop.

Abbie Collette's writing is as smooth as a perfectly churned ice cream, with flavors of friendship, family, and a dash of humor sprinkled throughout. As we dive into the heart of the story, we'll savor the intricate character dynamics and marvel at the way the author skillfully crafts each twist.

Our book club's discussion promises to be as delightful as a sundae with all the toppings! We'll explore the themes that add richness to the narrative and explore the clues that lead us to the chilling truth.

So, grab your favorite ice cream flavor, kick back, and join our lively chat on "A Deadly Inside Scoop" available now. Whether you're a seasoned sleuth or a curious reader, this episode is a treat you won't want to miss!

Share the sweetness with your fellow book lovers and let's dig into this scrumptious mystery together! Happy reading and listening!

#ADeadlyInsideScoop #AbbieCollette #MysteryNovel #BookClubPodcast #NewEpisodeAlert #BookDiscussion 📖🎙️🍦

Transcript

Jann: 0:01

Recent M B A grad, Bronwyn Cruz has just taken over her family's ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. And she's going back to basics Wyn is renovating crew's 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 and early snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away. To make matters worse, that evening wind finds a body in the snow and it turns out the dead man was a grifter from an old feud With a cruise family, soon wind's father is implicated in his death. It's not easy to juggle a new to her business while solving a crime, but Wyn 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. Okay, welcome back to Black Girl Reeds. I'm your host, Jan,

Joi: 1:02

And I your co-host Joy?

Jann: 1:05

and this is episode 10, I believe. So this time we're reviewing a Deadly Inside scoop by Abby Collette, and we're gonna start off as usual with ratings. So Joy, what would you rate this one?

Joi: 1:19

I think I'll rate this one. Um, a three and a half, 3.5. It's like a cozy murder mystery. It's perfect for like, for um, a stormy day, kind of, you know, you're reading, got some hot cocoa and it's perfect because it's like winter themed, so it's like, oh, I am gonna actually a little cold, you know? So got a little blanket, so, yeah. What about you?

Jann: 1:44

Um, I'm going to, I was gonna say a three, but I feel like that's a bit of a cop out, but I'm still gonna say a three actually for the same reasons. Like, I like mystery books, but this one for some, I've never, when I read mystery is normally like a thriller mystery and I'm not used to like cozy mystery, which may be a good or a bad thing'cause I love cozy stuff, but I feel like this is something I would read when it is cold outside and I'm under a blanket and like doing something like that, like cozy activities. So there's a time and a place. I feel like this is a free for that reason.

Joi: 2:22

I think so too. Like is, I don't, I don't hate it. I don't love like love, love it. But it's a good story to read, you know? It was fun to read. Yeah.

Jann: 2:32

it was a fun read. Yeah.

Joi: 2:34

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 2:35

okay, well we're gonna get into the discussion here. I have some questions prepared. and for anyone who doesn't want spoilers, just a heads up that there will be spoilers ahead.

Joi: 2:45

And make sure you come back after you read it.

Jann: 2:48

Yeah, if you wanna log off and read, then make sure you come back. All right, joy, let's start with the discussion questions and we're gonna start pretty on generics. What was your favorite character and why?

Joi: 3:00

I think my favorite character is hard to say. So her Bronwyn's mom, I see. S me. I would love to just like, she was really sweet and she helped her out at her shop and everything, but she's also like, I did my time doing 40 hour work weeks. I'll come and help, but usually I'm doing yoga, I'm hanging out at home.

Jann: 3:27

Okay, so she was relatable to you.

Joi: 3:29

yeah. But I really like riff cut too. The grandmother, um, well what's her name? Re's grandmother? Is it R'S Grand Maisie's Grandmom who lived above the shop, I think it was, that had the cat. She was sweet. So I did the most relatable character is the mom. And then my favorite character was Ika.

Jann: 3:49

I like that she was always feeding them,

Joi: 3:52

Yeah.

Jann: 3:52

like they took it almost as a threat, like, here, eat this. At least before she comes over and demands that we eat a bunch.

Joi: 3:59

But I mean, that's grandma, you know, that's grandma. And she gave them gloves, I believe too. At one point she goes, your hands like, need some gloves. And then she turned up the heat in the ice cream shop. She's like, it's a ice cream shop. It doesn't need to be that hot. What about you? Who was your favorite?

Jann: 4:18

let's talk about your least favorite first.

Joi: 4:21

Okay. Um, shoot, who was my least favorite? Honestly, I say it was the cop. And it is not like political or anything. It was just like he didn't do his job at all. And then like when he's like questioning the first night when the bodies vow and he let Ren, um, question, uh, what was her name? Um, the kid's mom. Jasper's Mom, Glenys. She's like, well, he was down there. I saw him. What else were you doing? She was questioning, he was just looking like, yeah, what? What was he doing down there? You know? And I'm just like, no, this can't happen. This is a murder going on. You know, like you're supposed. She's like, yeah, I saw her and how mad would you be being Brinn? Like, yeah, I saw that kid. He's over there. And then they bring them to you. Like they said that you saw them there, you know, so

Jann: 5:15

Yeah, you really just out me as a snitch. That's a good point. Like if they are the murderer, now they know who to come to as like, who the witness was. Uh, I didn't like the cop either. He seemed very incompetent and arrogant at the same time,

Joi: 5:28

like, how could he be incompetent in areas like arrogant, like

Jann: 5:31

Yeah. I thought Maisie was dead on when she kept calling him the stupid cop or something. What did she keep calling him?

Joi: 5:40

Oh

Jann: 5:40

Macy was funny. I, she annoyed me a lot, but she was funny at times.

Joi: 5:44

yeah. I feel like we all have a Maisie in our lives. Andria, honestly.

Jann: 5:50

Ria was insane.

Joi: 5:52

Sometimes

Jann: 5:52

Like, it, it was so confusing to me. What.

Joi: 5:57

I said sometimes I'm afraid I'm the Maisie in my friends group.

Jann: 6:02

Why is that something to be afraid of?

Joi: 6:04

I dunno. She was kind of annoying, but like she was cool though too, like at times. And she gardened like her whole greenhouse situation and she like grew the

Jann: 6:14

I don't, yeah. I feel like she was annoying in that like the way she went about solving mysteries

Joi: 6:22

Yeah,

Jann: 6:23

annoying. But her as a character, I didn't find like too annoying.

Joi: 6:26

true. True. You're right. All right, now your turn. Stop. Um, putting it off. Who was your favorite

Jann: 6:35

Who was my favorite? I like the cat.

Joi: 6:42

girl? Stop it. Stop it.

Jann: 6:47

The cat that kept coming in the shop was pretty cool. No, I'm joking. Um, I dunno. I guess I would say Maisie is probably my favorite, even though she was annoying me a lot. Like What was the guy, Ari? Okay. So I don't think it was right that she accused Ari right away. I thought that was insane. And honestly, that's one of the reasons why this book isn't rated higher for me. Just because like their detective solving skills were awful. Like how did it take, um, the guy that was crushing on her to tell them that they can find information online?

Joi: 7:23

Right,

Jann: 7:23

Like, or you have to be at least a millennial, like what is happening that you don't understand that intrinsically, like that should be in your d n A to

Joi: 7:32

But that should be number one thing you do.

Jann: 7:34

Exactly. Like if you're gonna solve a crime, the internet is your friend. Duh. Like

Joi: 7:39

But

Jann: 7:40

I really anoint me that they had to, he had to tell them that.

Joi: 7:43

do you think it was kind of, because it's a cozy mystery, it's like, let's think back to like, I don't know, murder she wrote or something like that. Like let's try to think about it before just going straight to Google. You know, let's go look at the newspapers in the library, kind of

Jann: 8:00

I've never seen murder she wrote, so I have no idea what you're talking about, but just because you have some information on people on the internet doesn't mean you don't have to think about solving a murder. You know?

Joi: 8:10

true. Just some old fashioned sleuthing.

Jann: 8:14

that is old fashioned though. It's just cutting out the part about going to the library, right? You find a suspect, you research them, and then you try to figure out, you still have to go and talk to them to figure out where they were that day.

Joi: 8:25

But the coziness is the library setting. The coziness is like, oh, this is kind of scary. Like, oh, we found this kind of newspaper, and he's over there reading a book. Like, you know, it's like, it's not like really stakes if you're.

Jann: 8:38

the murder happened in front of their ice cream shop. That could have been, that could have been at the table with grandpa, which I don't understand why he didn't tell them that he was onto them earlier. They could have been at the table with grandpa, like doing research and look up and see the little boy with the scarf going by and say, oh, they're over there doing the same shit they were doing the night of the murder. Like,

Joi: 9:00

I mean, you Right. You're right. And also he's not grandpa, he's papa.

Jann: 9:05

oh yeah, you're right. Pop, pop. Yes, me, consider me Told. Um, so yeah, I, I guess I kind of, I, I digressed quite a bit, but Maisie was my favorite character despite this fact that she was an awful detective

Joi: 9:22

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 9:23

jumped to a lot of conclusions. That was my main gripe with her. It was just annoying that she was so bad at it, even though she's the one who wanted to do it. Um,

Joi: 9:34

favorite ma'am.

Jann: 9:37

My least favorite character. Why did I think about this?

Joi: 9:42

Like, come on, you did the questions, girl. Like, come on.

Jann: 9:47

Oh, my mind has been everywhere lately. My least favorite character

Joi: 9:52

Oh wait, I wanna chase

Jann: 9:53

probably Ari. No, wait. Ari is my least favorite character, first of all, because I feel like, I'm not sure if I should say this, but he gave off like light-skinned energy

Joi: 10:07

big time.

Jann: 10:08

where he was just like above everybody, like, you know, you messed up and like still like they're telling, coming to you and saying, you might be the culprit, whatever. Like, oh, well my dad's getting blamed. I don't care. And I'm like, this is you trying to make amends for the shit you've done in your past,

Joi: 10:25

Exactly.

Jann: 10:25

Get it together. Like he was just so condescending the entire time. Even though he said quote unquote, he was trying to be a better person. Like what part of anything that you're doing makes you a better person? Or maybe it's just because they were annoying because the stuff that they were doing was annoying too. I think it was kind of unbelievable the way she confronted him when they were doing the like walk about like, you've been quiet this whole time and trying to be cautious, and all of a sudden you're just gonna confront him. Like, oh, by the way Ari, I think you murdered this person. That was not at all slick,

Joi: 10:55

right. I don't know, you can't accuse people and then not have like a weapon on you, so it's just like, oh yeah, I did actually. Yeah. Yeah. And now you're next. But, um, I wanna change my, my answer to who I like, what, what I liked the least about it. And it was the snow, the Ohio snow. It brought me back to walking home in the slush because we, we. Grew up in Ohio. So actually wa was it in Cuyahoga or was it somewhere around that? Right.

Jann: 11:32

Oh my goodness. Yes. It was Cuyahoga County. Yes, we were in South Eut Glenhurst, which they mentioned in the book. And this takes place in Chagrin Falls, which was very close to where we were. I know you, we moved away when we were young, but I feel like you should still know that.

Joi: 11:48

no, I mean, I, we moved away when I was a freshman in high school, so I mean, it didn't really make too much, like, it didn't mean too much for me yet. But, um, when she said, oh yeah, we can't use this bad snow for the ice cream. I go to the good fluffy stuff. I knew exactly what she was picturing. I knew exactly like the slush, she was talking about the dirty stuff, you know, the ice that like, kind of like lays on top. Like, no, that's not the good stuff.

Jann: 12:11

Here's my thing though. I feel like regardless, like that recipe was just gross to me.'cause you never know what's gonna happen, like.

Joi: 12:20

Yeah.

Jann: 12:21

understand it just freshly like fall in the snow, but a bird could have came and pooped in that, like just wind blowing the dirt and

Joi: 12:31

that it, the water that made the snow. I mean, you're by like Erie, come on. It was on fire at one point.

Jann: 12:39

So in case you didn't read it, just so you know what we're talking about, she had a recipe book, for different kind of ice creams from her grandmother. and one of them, one of the ingredients was freshly fallen snow. So she found the body because she went out near the creek, down a hill to the creek to dig up fresh snow for this recipe, which I don't agree with at all. But just think about that, like somebody went down there and died. Like, you never know what's going on with like, It just seemed a little gross and I feel like I might be overreacting, but I also feel like I'm not, so,

Joi: 13:21

heard of ice cream from, I like, I know it's a book. I know it's just like, you know, it's fiction. But if anything I was thinking like shave ice is the closest thing I could think of making with snow, you know?

Jann: 13:30

yeah, and I guess she said the reason like her grandmother made this recipe is because she was from the south and she'd never seen snow before, so she made this recipe, but at the same time, you can still go and get a ice like machine or whatever, like shaver and like do that. Like you don't need actual snow, but maybe I'm being judgy. Let us know what you guys think. Would you eat ice cream that was made with freshly fallen snow?

Joi: 13:54

Maybe artificial snow. Nah.'cause I saw official, no, nah.'cause that's salt official, like you don't eat that. Like, but I also eat, do,

Jann: 14:00

What?

Joi: 14:07

I think my answer is,

Jann: 14:11

yeah, let's just keep it at a no joy.

Joi: 14:14

Let's cut that out. Cut that out. Um, but yeah, um, it was, it's funny that you mentioned too that her grandmother's from the south because I kind of saw like parallels with our family. Like,'cause our family on our dad's side is from the south that we know for sure that moved up to Ohio. So it was just like, oh yeah, that's kind of cool, you know? So,

Jann: 14:36

Yeah. Kind of. Cool.

Joi: 14:37

yeah,

Jann: 14:38

Okay. Um, so my next question was the setting of the book is in an ice cream shop. Do you think that the author used this unique setting to enhance the story? And, um, what did you think it did for the plot? Or do you feel like it was, um, not a factor at all?

Joi: 14:56

I feel like she could have been doing anything. I feel like she could have been just sledding on this fresh snow and found a body. I. You know, and just being sucked into it that way. Um, I don't think that it was necessary, but I do see how it kind of like added more dimension to her as a character and added more dimension to the story. But I do feel like sometimes like the ice cream making took too much of the book, you know?

Jann: 15:24

at the beginning. Yes. I feel like it was like, I don't really care about these ice cream recipes, but at the same time it did put me in that like, cozy vibe, you know, when she was just making ice cream and talking about her grandmother and how they used to do it together. Um,

Joi: 15:37

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 15:38

yeah, it did a lot to like build death in her character and to add to like the kind of conflict in the story since she opened. She opened, not in winter. It wasn't winter yet, but you know how Ohio is like they had a early snowfall. Yeah,

Joi: 15:53

She said Halloween time.

Jann: 15:55

of the year,

Joi: 15:56

Yeah.

Jann: 15:57

the first snowfall of the year they got, is when they opened. So that was crazy.

Joi: 16:02

Yeah.

Jann: 16:02

not only that, she said that morning when she was getting ready, she wasn't expecting a bunch of snow and it ended up being like a snow storm and snow forever. So that was pretty crazy.

Joi: 16:13

Yeah. But I don't know. Like I like it and I don't like it. I just feel like I like it because of, like you said, it's cozy, but I don't like it just because I think it was just used a little too much, you know? And it almost gives me like the vibe of like, oh, I stumbled across a murder. Let's figure it out. But instead of figuring out, we kept going back to the ice cream, you know, a little too much for me.

Jann: 16:36

Yes, but I don't feel like they talked about ice cream every time they went back. It kind of just became their central hub of where they would meet up, which I felt like was a good like device. Um, instead of everybody like meeting up at her house and you're just like, why does everyone keep showing up here? Like that was a, it gave them a purpose to all meet up and like unravel the story bit by bit, you know?

Joi: 16:57

I mean, you can't meet up just being friends, like girl was solving a

Jann: 17:00

No, that's not what I mean. I mean, like all the new characters, like the guy who was crushing on her and the grandpa and the mom that they were like trying to hide everything from the dad would pop up like without the warning, you know? Like it just added a little bit more conflict to the story and

Joi: 17:17

Yeah.

Jann: 17:18

yeah, I feel like it, it was a good plot device for that, you know, driving the story

Joi: 17:23

yeah. It could also have been a car wash. It could have been a library. It could have been, you

Jann: 17:28

could have, but I feel like ice cream shop is unique and it's cozy. So for that reasons, I feel like it was good. Like it could have been something else, but I don't think it needed to be, you know,

Joi: 17:39

Do you think that it being in Ohio mattered during winter time?

Jann: 17:45

I mean, I feel like it could have been any like northern state where it snows.

Joi: 17:50

No.

Jann: 17:50

So no. I mean, I don't think if they're gonna have, like that's the plot point is it is a plot point. The fact that they opened on the first snowfall of the year, it didn't necessarily need to be Ohio, but it needs to be somewhere where it gets cold and it's like kind of unexpected weather. You know, they say weather in Ohio, if you don't like it, just wait five minutes. So

Joi: 18:12

It.

Jann: 18:13

I feel like it gave that like kind of unexpected weather, like, um, conflict.

Joi: 18:19

Do you think it's very specific in the area too? Do you think she's from there? Because I don't hear a lot of people talk about Cuyahoga and South Euclid and Lyndhurst, like much less be able to pronounce it. Yeah.

Jann: 18:33

Um, I'm not sure. We can definitely look that up though. Look it up

Joi: 18:38

Oh, it's my turn to do some sleuthing. Oh yeah. Remind me that we have Google before I go to the library.

Jann: 18:46

enough.

Joi: 18:51

Oh, okay. Oh yeah. She was born and raised in Cleveland, so that make

Jann: 18:57

There you go. Okay, so next question. We kind of talked about this already, but I have it written down so we're gonna go over it again. Um, did you find like when she was trying to uncover this like mysterious death, did you find her investigation to be believable? and do you feel like she took risk? That seemed unrealistic? and I'm just gonna recover really quick or revamp really quick. What I said about, you know, the time she confronted Ari, even though she was terrified of him when they went to his office, I feel like was a little unrealistic. and we've already talked about it. So other than that, do you feel like there are any risks they took that was unrealistic or what do you think was believable? Any thoughts on that?

Joi: 19:41

I think that almost most of it was unrealistic and unbelievable, especially as a black woman. Like, it's already scary enough to find a body, especially so close to your shop, because I'm like, I'm scared to call the cops. Like they gonna think I did it, so,

Jann: 19:56

That, okay. So what was crazy to me is that she went back to the shop and made ice cream like I would be at my mom's house for the rest of the week. Like that level of freaked out, especially since she was so close to them. I would not have gone back to work by myself when there's a murderer on the loose,

Joi: 20:12

Mm-hmm. Yeah, and it's like, it's like give you the heebie-jeebies that she was just talking to him and everything, like it's weird. And then like the whole, like sneaking into Ari's office, like you said, like I just, I don't see many people period doing that. But to be looking for something on someone that's a murderer, not like, oh, let's go change a grade or something, something stupid. You know, like this is a lot of risk you're taking. I'm just like, here's my statement. I found this body. Uh, I saw that kid over there. Don't call them over here. And that's it.

Jann: 20:47

What I thought, what I thought was unbelievable too, is that she would go to the police station after she saw the cop at her dad's house questioning him just to say, my dad didn't do it. And if you knew my dad, you would know that he didn't do it. I don't, he doesn't know every murder suspect he has to investigate. Like, why are you going to the police station just to say, Hey, I don't think my dad did it. Of course you don't. Every murderer's dad or kid doesn't think that their dad is gonna be a murderer like that. How did you think that was going to affect his investigation is not like,

Joi: 21:25

I,

Jann: 21:26

that was just so annoying to me.

Joi: 21:28

I call it main character energy. Like it doesn't really matter. Like it's

Jann: 21:32

no one else on this planet exists,

Joi: 21:35

Yeah.

Jann: 21:35

but your dad didn't do it. That's important.

Joi: 21:38

like you even said yourself, like it was suspicious. Like the way it read to me at the beginning, especially when she first found it and he showed up late and everything, it's like, oh, he wasn't wearing, he doesn't wear that kind of stuff to work or whatever. It's just like, it sounds like you suspect him, so why wouldn't this detective who don't know him wouldn't suspect him? You know, it's just like you're looking real suspicious.

Jann: 21:58

And when she gave the evidence to her brother, even her brother was like, oh, wow. Yeah. Definitely look into this because dad's looking kind of guilty.

Joi: 22:08

Yeah, I don't, she just didn't make, she didn't make a lot of sense to me, but it's a fiction, it is fun. So I try not, I'm trying not to look too deep into it, you know? It was still fun to read

Jann: 22:21

It was t fun read. Yeah. you know, not all characters are perfect though. And I feel like that was a, that was a, um,

Joi: 22:29

Shining

Jann: 22:30

bimbo moment. Maybe

Joi: 22:33

Oh.

Jann: 22:36

it just wasn't smart. And I understand her emotions are like, were ruling her at that point.'cause she was worried for her dad, but man.

Joi: 22:44

But there's ways to go about that. Even if you're like, think you're close to the detective, like, well, first of all, don't trust cops, don't talk to cops. It's just like, I just, if anything, she made it worse, I feel like

Jann: 22:57

Mm. Yeah.

Joi: 22:58

realistically.

Jann: 23:01

I just, I feel like if I were the cop, I would be annoyed. I wouldn't give her the time of day. Like you gave me no evidence to say that he wasn't the murderer. You just came to tell me you were unhappy that I'm investigating him, which in, in a murder, I'm not going to base my investigation off of your feelings,

Joi: 23:16

All right. Like ethics, right?

Jann: 23:20

Right. So in the book, there are a lot of elements of like mystery, but cozy, which I already said like isn't a vibe that I normally get from mysteries. Like it's always a thriller and I'm terrified. Um, I wasn't really scared at all during this book. So how do you feel about that, like those two genres together

Joi: 23:41

What

Jann: 23:41

rather than thriller mystery? It was cozy mystery, which is the first I can say if I've ever read like this.

Joi: 23:48

so like I said, like if you think about, so Murder she Wrote is basically like a. C C S I or something, whatever, like Bones or whatever. It's like a detective show, but it's like a little old lady. She's like a sleuth, pretty much, you know? And

Jann: 24:06

so cute.

Joi: 24:07

it's like a cute way to fi to do a detective. Like she's a writer, but all of a sudden she's like finding murders and she's figuring it out and it's fun, you know? And she goes to different locations. Like it's a fun, kind of mystery show. and so it's kind of like bones in that like that, but it's cozy, you know? And this is, it gives me that vibe with a book, you know what I mean? I keep saying Murder she wrote,'cause I can't really think of anymore right now, but

Jann: 24:32

I have one,

Joi: 24:33

what?

Jann: 24:35

and I say this because I said this is the first time I've read something like this, but it kind of put me in the mood of like Scooby Doo, where it's more like fun than

Joi: 24:44

Yeah.

Jann: 24:45

you know? Like, which I don't mind at all.

Joi: 24:48

Literally, it's like if you give like a, a premier, like an hour show, you know, on Scooby, it's like, oh, okay, cool. You know, we're in this, you know, so that's, that's what I'm thinking. But like for adults, not that Scooby do, I'll watch Scooby do all day long, but you know what I mean? You, you see what I'm saying? But yeah, it's like codes like that. Yeah. I like it though. Like everything doesn't have to be scary. Everything doesn't have to be a thriller. I liked it.

Jann: 25:12

Agree, completely agree. Because, you know, I don't like horror thriller that much anyway because I'm a scaredy cat. So if I ever want a mystery, I would definitely like pick up another one of these books, which actually was one of my discussion topics. Okay, so a Daily Inside Scoop is the first book in a series. Did you know that there are other books?

Joi: 25:31

Yes, I did.

Jann: 25:32

Okay. Yeah. I didn't realize it until halfway through when I looked it up, but it makes sense seeing as how I feel like the ending was a little bit unresolved. Would you go to another one of these books?

Joi: 25:44

I would go to another one of these books if I was like, at your house or something. It's like, it's storming. You know, the lights went out and I'm just like, oh, there's nothing to do. Let's look with, see what Jan has on her bookshelf. I don't think I would necessarily go out and buy another one, but like, oh, what is this? A de a deli inside scoop, you know, part two, you know? Um, I might do that, but I'm not sure, like cozy mystery. It was nice, but I'm the complete opposite of you. I love horror things. I love things about ghosts and demons, so it's not really my vibe, but I still liked it though. It was a nice change of pace.

Jann: 26:23

You know what's funny is like around Halloween time, because I used to like horror a lot.

Joi: 26:29

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 26:30

I wouldn't say a lot, but I used to watch it. At least

Joi: 26:33

Yeah. You.

Jann: 26:34

I had to think about that. and during Halloween, I kinda want that kind of thrill, but I'm too scared so I don't do it. So Halloween, I will definitely be reading Abby Co. And the rest of the series.

Joi: 26:48

Yeah, absolutely. I think, I think it's really cute. I don't think it's scary enough for me for Halloween, though. I think it's like the end of winter turning into spring thunderstorm vibe for me personally.

Jann: 27:05

Yeah, I'll take it during Halloween.

Joi: 27:08

Or even

Jann: 27:09

This is the level of scary that I need.

Joi: 27:13

Yeah. Yep, yep.

Jann: 27:14

know what we talked about, white smoke where I was like, it is not that scary. It is not. But like during it I was like, oh, I'm so terrified. Like that's like a level up from this. That was maybe a little bit too scary. So yeah, this is something I would go to, even if I'm alone, white smoke, I would read if I were in the house with someone or if it was

Joi: 27:37

different room. Yeah.

Jann: 27:38

Yeah,

Joi: 27:43

Girl, I gotta get you some like real scary stories going or

Jann: 27:45

no you don't. I don't need it.

Joi: 27:50

All right. Alright. All right.

Jann: 27:52

I know you said that you didn't care for all the ice cream talk, but did you have a favorite ice cream flavor?'cause they had a lot of them.

Joi: 28:01

Um, so here's the thing. I'm not one for like a lot of artesian kind of flavors. I'm not one to like, kind of like mix things up. I'm a chocolate kind of girl. I'm like on a good, like on a day when I'm feeling spicy, I get a twist of vanilla chocolate. Can you say that my ice cream choices are quite vanilla.

Jann: 28:24

But you like chocolate. So it's the opposite.

Joi: 28:27

It, it is funny, but like, I like cookies and cream chocolate and a twist baby. I didn't care for any of the flavors and that's probably why I was so like, all right. Caramel ice cream. Okay. Like, you know, caramel popcorn, ice cream. I'm just like, it sounds like too much, you know, it feels like I'm going to a gentrify part of DZ for$18 ice cream,

Jann: 28:49

I

Joi: 28:49

you know.

Jann: 28:51

I've been in Austin the last decade of my life, so the popcorn ice cream actually sound really good to me.

Joi: 28:59

No ma'am.

Jann: 29:00

Um,

Joi: 29:01

No ma'am.

Jann: 29:02

so you would like the decadent chocolate then, though? That's the only flavor other than the snow one that I was like, I won't eat because I don't like chocolate ice cream. but the decade it, it sound like if I like chocolate, I would like that one.

Joi: 29:14

It can't be too much chocolate. It can also be too much though. I.

Jann: 29:18

That's how I feel about all chocolate, to be honest. I would have like cookies and cream. I'll have ice cream with chocolate in it, but chocolate ice cream is just a little bit too much.

Joi: 29:27

No, like once you start getting to decadent, like, I need the chocolate ice cream and the chocolate syrup and the brownie and this and that, I'm like, that's too much. Like, you know, I fucking gonna be sick.

Jann: 29:38

You know what we didn't like discuss him at all as like favorite and least favorite characters, but do you remember the guy's name who was crushing on her? I don't either. What did you think about his character? I felt like he was a little weird

Joi: 29:52

yeah.

Jann: 29:52

in a good way, but still a little weird.

Joi: 29:55

I don't know, it just, there were so many characters to keep up with. He kind of faded to the background for me.

Jann: 30:03

I feel like him at the end was kind of thrown in randomly, even though he did get them that gig. Like him to say, okay, tell me who it is and I'll call the police. And then she went and got like captured, I feel like he didn't need to be in that scene at all. She could have just told Maisie, like there was no reason for them to tell him to call the police, they could have just called the police.

Joi: 30:26

I feel like that makes more sense when you think about it as a series as well. Like he's gonna be a character in another story. I'm just like, if he's gonna be a character in another story, just bring him in the next story. I just felt like there was already a lot of characters. But that's another thing, the cozy thing,

Jann: 30:39

many characters,

Joi: 30:40

you have like, oh, they know this and this, they know this and that, know this. Like I understand you have to have a list of characters to choose from, like who's the bad guy? But I just feel like once we hit like 12, it was a little too much for me

Jann: 30:54

especially since my memory is not great anyway.

Joi: 30:56

girl. Right. I have like notes. I wrote down every character and when she brought them up, I tried to write like something about them, but it was a lot.

Jann: 31:07

I will say that it makes sense since it's a murder mystery, you have to have a lot of options to figure out who it was.

Joi: 31:13

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 31:14

It killed me that they kept saying first and last name. I felt like I knew these people in Ohio. Like, oh yeah, the The Bronwyn or the Cruise Family, or Bronwyn. That's her first name. First first name. Oh, it also makes sense that there were so many characters, since this is a series, like it put me back into reading Harry Potter for the first time where there were so many characters and I cared about none of them. But then throughout the series, they came up and I was like, oh yeah, I know exactly who that was. That was the person who wore the funny hat in book one. You know,

Joi: 31:45

mean, I could see

Jann: 31:46

they don't even have to come up a ton, but you remember them from that one time, you know?

Joi: 31:51

I just think if the more that you think about it as a series, like just like Murder She Wrote or Scooby-Doo, these, these people are recurring characters, I guess. So. I guess

Jann: 32:01

She's setting the stage up for a whole series rather than just one book. There are so many names thrown out that I feel like were unnecessary, but they may come up in a significant way later on.

Joi: 32:11

Speaking of names, um, did you like her name? Bwin.

Jann: 32:16

Bronwyn is such a weird one. I don't necessarily, I would never name my child Bronwyn,

Joi: 32:23

Yeah.

Jann: 32:23

but maybe it's a family name. I don't know. I liked her nickname. I liked that they called her Win.

Joi: 32:28

What are you thinking of it? Like w i n or w r e n.

Jann: 32:35

She spelled it w y n,

Joi: 32:38

Oh,

Jann: 32:39

but it, when they say the nickname, it was w i n.

Joi: 32:43

yeah. I was thinking Ren So to clarify, I listened to the book on Audible, so whenever they said it, I just thinking Ren, w r e n.

Jann: 32:53

I, I thought you were saying ran earlier and I was like, maybe she's just slurring it. But no, it was win. Like lose or win. Win or lose

Joi: 33:00

Like Wendy's.

Jann: 33:01

bra win. Yeah,

Joi: 33:03

Got you. Okay. Okay. Okay. That makes a little bit more sense, but I mean, it's a cute name. I think it grows on you. I know someone named Stone, so

Jann: 33:14

like a rock.

Joi: 33:16

mm-hmm. Like Aboa.

Jann: 33:18

that.

Joi: 33:19

I like unique names and maybe it's because we're black, but the more unique I think is like, it's nice, you know, everyone doesn't have to be named Ashley. And then to mix it up. It doesn't have to be, you know, spelled differently, just get a different name.

Jann: 33:36

I think my mouth just stumbles over it a little bit, but if I got used to it, I think it would be fine.

Joi: 33:42

I think I mix up my W's and R's ever since I was a kid, so it was hard for me, but I think it's a cute name. I wouldn't name my kid because I can't pronounce it.

Jann: 33:54

Here's a question for you. When they introduced, is it Steven, was that the victim's name? They changed his name a lot,

Joi: 34:04

Yeah,

Jann: 34:04

Steven. We're gonna go with Steven. when they introduced him, did you think he was gonna be the victim? I thought it was so weird how he just started talking to her and she didn't get scared when there was no one around.

Joi: 34:16

he had a puppy. I mean, he would've kidnapped me like, you know, I would've been a victim. I would've did the same thing. I'm like, no, I don't know whose dog this is. This is a really cute dog though. good luck and you're going the wrong way. That's suspicious. Maybe I just, uh, almost got kidnapped. Let hurry get, buy ice cream shop.

Jann: 34:39

he didn't really ask her to go anywhere,

Joi: 34:42

Right, and it wasn't a car nearby,

Jann: 34:44

of a kidnap. Yeah, I can see how that would be the beginning of a kidnapping scheme.

Joi: 34:51

but like, he's not like, oh, can you, you know, walk with me to the police station around this corner or something, or you know, just hop in the car and show me directions or something. It wasn't anything that he's like, Hey, is this dark yours? No. Okay. You know, so,

Jann: 35:06

Yeah. I don't really get what his motivation was for talking to her, to be honest. Um, and that may be something that I'm missing. Because he came back it seemed like to blackmail Ari, so I'm not sure why he pretended he had a lost dog when reality it was his dog, and why he would tell her that he was close to her parents or grandparents, or unless maybe he was just trying to get more information because he said he was stopped by to see the grandpa. But I don't think that was true that he was gonna really stop

Joi: 35:39

No, of course

Jann: 35:40

because he never did. So I don't understand the motivation for any of that, or even like tying himself to the shop next door. I'm not sure why he would do that.

Joi: 35:48

I think he was kind of fishing to see how much she knew, if she recognized the dog, like, or if she recognized him or she knew how much her, if her parents or her grandparents talked about what happened at the bicycle shop and how it was kind of shady things going over there. Like if she knew anything about it but she didn't. So I think it's one of those things just like if you're on the up and up, seeing if you're on the up and up, you know, like if you know anything about what

Jann: 36:13

though?

Joi: 36:14

I mean, I dunno, like you don't know what his motivation was'cause he died, you know, he was only there for a hot minute, you know?

Jann: 36:23

Yeah,

Joi: 36:25

So,

Jann: 36:25

yeah, yeah. I just thought it was weird. I swear it, and the only reason I'm sticking on is because I feel like I am missing something. You know?

Joi: 36:35

Yeah.

Jann: 36:36

It kind of makes me wanna go back and reread it. You guys let us know in the comments if you feel like we're missing something or if we're just like being oblivious. Because for the life of me, I can't figure out why he would like all the things he said. Like if he really didn't want to tie himself to all the shady stuff going in the shop next door, why say I own the shop next door?

Joi: 36:59

In

Jann: 37:00

Why say I knew your grandparents? Why give her clues and give so many specifics about your favorite ice cream flavor when. You know,

Joi: 37:10

Yeah.

Jann: 37:10

it was a lie. And even with that, it seemed like they were friends for a long time before he scammed the grandmother to sign over their ice cream shop to him. So why not give a real flavor? Why did you give a fake flavor?

Joi: 37:26

Maybe I like, like I said, I think he was just fishing to see how much she knew. Like once she started talking about, oh, this is my shop. Like, oh, you're part of the cruises, so let's dig into what you know, you know, and when she didn't know anything, he's like, oh, okay. Whatever.

Jann: 37:40

Okay. Well, I still don't think it makes a ton of sense. I feel like yes, if he's digging for information, it makes sense that he prolonged the conversation, especially to see if their grandparents still lived there, if he was planning on dropping in before he was. But

Joi: 37:56

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 37:57

as far as giving her like wrong ice cream flavors, like I feel like he should have known what ice cream flavors they had.

Joi: 38:03

I mean, it was drop in a bucket. Like you saw how quickly they made one up. Like, what if they just didn't make that? You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. They made it on a one off, one summer day. So who knows?

Jann: 38:17

Was her love interest name Erin?

Joi: 38:21

And girl, I don't, lemme see if I wrote his, um, info down. He just came and went so quickly and I feel bad saying it, but he just kind of like faded into the background. Oh yeah. His name was Steve, the guy with the dog.

Jann: 38:37

I already knew that. Obviously I'm a genius.

Joi: 38:40

Yeah, my character list. Um, see my long character list, it just goes on. So, yeah. Um, no, he's not on here at all. So I don't know if I just gave up writing down characters or what.

Jann: 38:55

significant enough to make it to the character list. Okay. Well,

Joi: 39:01

significant. I think I just gave up after like so long, so many people could keep up with.

Jann: 39:06

He was at the beginning though,'cause he, she met him in the soup shop. So I feel like it was a weird dynamic between her and the love interest, even though we can't remember his name because she never seemed interested in him from the beginning. Like even at the soup shop, she was like, okay, I am gonna talk to you, but then I'm gonna angle my body away so that you won't continue the conversation. And then he showed up at the ice cream shop and she went to the back and he talked to her grandfather. And then when he came back, the mother and the friend is like, Hey, go talk to him. And she's like, again, not interested. Like she never showed any interest in him. He is like getting her jobs and coming around and saying like, oh, do you have any new flavors? No. Maybe you should come a different day. No, no, I'll still come

Joi: 39:51

right. Um,

Jann: 39:54

It was just so awkward, the dynamic for me. But maybe it was like cute for you. Like

Joi: 40:00

I mean,

Jann: 40:01

how did you feel about it?

Joi: 40:02

maybe just too awkward introverted people, you know? I mean, I'm very extroverted, so if I would like you, I just tell you, if I don't, I just don't carry on the conversation, you know? But, I don't know. Like it was, it was a little awkward.

Jann: 40:20

I feel like it was kind of unnecessary, their dynamic or maybe she was just awkward. I would have enjoyed it more if she were attracted to him,

Joi: 40:30

Yeah,

Jann: 40:32

like his behavior would have been considered cute. Has she reciprocated in any way? Like it kind of felt like stalking.

Joi: 40:40

a little bit. Yeah. It was like weird, the weird guy that you just let do nice things for you.'cause it's convenient, you know?

Jann: 40:46

It made me uncomfortable.

Joi: 40:48

Yeah. I, I didn't care for it. It just kind of like, seemed like. A little shoehorned in there. I think that's what you call it. I don't think it was necessary. I don't think every book or every mis mystery is a romance aspect of it.

Jann: 41:00

Normally I appreciate a good like little relationship on the side, but it didn't seem like that to me. It just seemed weird.

Joi: 41:06

Yeah.

Jann: 41:07

So I felt bad for him a lot.

Joi: 41:11

I

Jann: 41:12

Not feel bad because she wasn't reciprocating, but because he wasn't picking up on the clue like, are you this oblivious? Yeah.

Joi: 41:18

I feel bad that I didn't remember him. Now that we talk

Jann: 41:23

Just like she never remembered him. Yeah.

Joi: 41:25

Yeah. Sorry. Next question. I'm not a bad person.

Jann: 41:34

So this book took place since your Grand Falls where there are not a lot of black people, which we can relate to. Like being in Lynn Herdz where there weren't a lot of black people and you're kind of like the only, um, Not the only, but one of the few black fam families around. Like, how,

Joi: 41:51

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 41:52

how do you feel like she handled that dynamic? Do you feel like it was realistic? Do you feel like, she talked about it a little too much, not enough? Do you feel like it was a good mixture?

Joi: 42:03

I never say that it was, it's ever too much to talk about the people of color in your neighborhood or the black people in your neighborhood. honestly, I would love if you talk about it more, you know, I appreciate that she put it into the writing. Just like, oh, it's not too many of us. And it's kind of like we have our dynamic and then the wider dynamic, how we talk to each other and how we, um, act around each other and then how we act around the rest of the neighborhood. You know what I mean? So I think that's

Jann: 42:28

feel like she did, she did it in a really nice way. It was a great balance. Um, it wasn't something that she harped on, but it was definitely a part of the book. I think it's impressive that she had a story with cops in it, that wasn't filled with trauma, even though she did touch on the fact that black people and police have a kind of like strained relationship. Like she touched on all those things without making it a traumatic book, which I feel like is hard to do, especially being realistic. But yeah, I think she did it really well.

Joi: 43:06

I think it's, it, it is very, um, what is it? Um, very, uh, I don't know what the word exactly that I'm looking for. Maybe you'll, you'll see what I'm talking about. But I think it's very, oh, telling of when I was like, I'm afraid I haven't found the body. You know, that's not, shouldn't be the reaction of you finding a dead body, you know? So, um, I. That that was like part of it being a, the mystery too, and being a black woman that found a body behind your shop. So, I mean, I think it has to be said it's a black woman and a murder mystery. It doesn't, it is, you know, you don't get the benefit of the doubt all the time, which is why I was surprised that she was surprised that her dad was a suspect. You know, you're lucky they didn't get dragged up off in cuffs that night as well as the little kid.

Jann: 43:57

it gives me very much like Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel Air Vibes, like you are a black person, but being Instagram falls, it's not like, it's a super ritzy area, but it's also like not a low income area. So you do have some privilege, not as much as your like white counterparts. But

Joi: 44:17

I think you have

Jann: 44:18

she was definitely sheltered a little bit.

Joi: 44:22

That's the thing. Like I feel like she had enough privilege to be a little confused or a little lost. Like, oh, well it's the cops though. You know what I mean? They're here to do good stuff and so, you know, they have their own experience or whatever. Um, but yeah, I agree. It's definitely the Carlton when they get pulled over by the cop, the racist cop episode. Um, but yeah, that was the only thing that kind of bothered me a little bit. But she was also still pretty young too, so, you know, you get more

Jann: 44:55

30.

Joi: 44:56

Was she 30?

Jann: 44:59

What do you mean, pretty young? She had a whole career and came back and like started a second career.

Joi: 45:06

Girl? I'm 30. I, I swear. I thought she was like 25, 26. I mean, it's not too far off. Yeah.

Jann: 45:17

maybe I'm confused. But yeah, that's same age

Joi: 45:20

Yeah.

Jann: 45:20

Um,

Joi: 45:22

And 30 is young. Thank you.

Jann: 45:25

well I think you were saying it like she was young and that makes her naive, but I don't feel like you're like a young naive at 30. Um, I feel like you should know like how the world works a little bit. At least you know, like it is different than, I'm not saying she's like some old broad, I'm saying like, I don't think painting her as naive is fair. You know,

Joi: 45:46

I dunno, because then she was in New York too, so she should have had experiences there. But then too, oh shoot, where was I going with that? I'll remember, and I'll bring it back up. I'm sorry. I'll bring it back up.

Jann: 46:00

Okay. So just to sum that up, I do feel like she did a, a good job keeping a balance of being realistic as one of the only black families in Chagrin falls, while also not being traumatic, which is something that I know you've talked about before and something that I look forward to when I'm looking into books by black authors. It's just every once in a while, not having a traumatic experience while doing that, which again, is hard because the conversation with race right now is a tough one, but it's just nice to just live life sometimes and not be scared or traumatized

Joi: 46:36

yeah. It's, it's really nice. Yeah. It. I mean, I mean, you know, I used to read books and have to picture them as being a black person because I was afraid of being traumatized in a book. Um, but now I'm glad that we're starting to get cozy mysteries. I'm glad we're starting to just get like fun nonfiction and they're black and I don't have to print, pretend that this blue eyed blonde hair girl is actually black. Like, oh yeah, she got a weave, she got contact, you know, so, you know, it's, um, whatever. It's nice.

Jann: 47:06

so I'm really interested to see how they're gonna continue this series. Like is she gonna find a dead body every time or is it gonna be different mysteries? I would love to see more of Ria too in the future because the fact that she seemed like the voice of reason most of the time. And then at the end it was like she's ready to fight somebody because they stood her up and like use her code to get medicine. I'm like, that is like such a hot and cold personality that I'm intrigued. I wanna see more of her, but I also wanna see like, are they gonna bring this three to her or she's gonna find them? I would read it for that alone. Like, how are you gonna keep this going?

Joi: 47:41

I wonder if they would do it from different perspectives. Not necessarily with friends, but like the perspective from the father or the mother

Jann: 47:48

I read the synopsis of quite a few of them, and it seems like it's win every time. Who's the

Joi: 47:55

Oh,

Jann: 47:55

character?

Joi: 47:57

okay. Well, okay. So that is questionable how, how she will go about it. I think it would probably get more and more unrealistic, but kind of just like, how does this ice cream shop keep having these mysteries? But then it's just like, does she turn it into a detective shop? I don't know.

Jann: 48:12

the textbook shop.

Joi: 48:14

But um,

Jann: 48:15

it seems like it's still focused around the ice cream shop though, because the next book is called A Game of Cones, like ice cream cones.

Joi: 48:23

And Game of Thrones. That's cute. I love puns, so I knew I was gonna love this book as soon as I saw it like that. Probably make me pick it up off a shelf by itself. Phone, you know, I could look at the, the name of it every once in a while when I pass and go, ah. And then keep moving, you know?

Jann: 48:43

Nice. All right, so let's talk about the ending of the book. I was a little confused, so I'm gonna recap it and you tell me if I'm missing something. So they got to the event that they were preparing for the college event that they're catering dessert for, and some kid sent them to the second floor, which the event was not at, and it was actually the third floor. Um, I thought the kid was shady. Because when they told the lady who was hosting it, she said, no, that couldn't have happened. Why would he do that? No, I'm sure you guys are mistaken. Which was weird, right? And they're sitting there talking and they see Ari and the other and employee who ended up being the villain

Joi: 49:30

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 49:30

and they put two and two together that she is the villain. Somehow randomly, I think they figured out that they used to be married.

Joi: 49:39

That was the dating,

Jann: 49:40

her, his employee and Steven, who was found dead, used to be married and now she's dating Ari. Supposedly that's what she says. Um, somehow they figure out that her alibi, whether she was with RA, is false and just looking at her from across the room, this woman was supposed to have found out that they knew and followed when downstairs and attacked her.

Joi: 50:06

Right. It was abrupt.

Jann: 50:12

It was abrupt. And I just don't understand, like, what did I miss? Like how did she know that they knew

Joi: 50:19

I, I feel like you were right about the kid being shady. One, I think he was in on it. I think, they probably paid him some way to get her a loan. Maybe because they, they, I don't know, like if you're going around snooping in 20 mm-hmm.

Jann: 50:37

about the kid? Because I, I feel like I didn't finish explaining that. Like, I guess that was just a coincidence. No, that's okay. I forgot to finish explaining it. I feel like that was a coincidence because I guess the significance of it is that he sent the grandfather, the grandfather to the second floor too, and that's how he was able to help her. So that's why she like harped on it, because that's how, you know, the interruption, like the save the day moment happened. So I believe that that was just as like,

Joi: 51:08

A way to

Jann: 51:08

Silly kid. Yeah.

Joi: 51:12

I don't know. I just, sometimes I feel like, I wish I, the ending gets written first and then you get to the ending from the ending. I guess I just feel like it was just wrapped up and so I brought, like, I listened to it. I had to rewind it quite, quite a few times, and even down to the end, I just, I barely understood that the girlfriend was the killer. You know, because she stole her puppy or something like that. You know, that's the last like sentence. So I, it makes me feel kind of, um, dumb for not saying exactly those last scenes and like the last, like the conclusion, you know? And it didn't make me feel good at the end'cause I didn't understand,

Jann: 51:55

Yeah.

Joi: 51:56

like, it wasn't

Jann: 51:57

like, it is supposed to be very like succinct, like satisfying moments. and I don't know the, so I guess. Yeah, the kid with a scarf was Steven and the girlfriend's son,

Joi: 52:10

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 52:10

somehow the other girl ended up with him and that's why he was following them and why he was at the murder scene because she's, he saw his mom and down and the other woman was trying to get'em back, so she was just being protective. Um, I don't understand how they ended up with the dog. I don't understand if they were like friends or not. There was a lot I didn't get. But I feel like it deserves a reread.

Joi: 52:36

Yeah.

Jann: 52:36

I probably should have reread it again.

Joi: 52:38

I think I wanna read it, physically and not listen to it. I feel like I could read, I could take better notes. I feel like I could like get it back into my mind and get into the scenes a little bit better. It's just, it's a lot of information to take in. It's a lot of scenery to take in. It's a lot of like, things that's like slightly off of realistic, but still remember it's fiction, you know what I mean? It's a good time. Um,

Jann: 53:00

Mm-hmm.

Joi: 53:02

I feel like this is like an episode, like a 30 minute episode put into a book that was like, okay, you need another scene. You know what I mean? You just like, kind of cushion it out, but then they just, oh, we ran outta time. Do the ending real quick. You know, like I just, I want more, but I also want less, if that makes sense. I want more mystery, less ice cream.

Jann: 53:26

I don't think they're gonna talk about ice cream so much in every book, or I hope not. but I, I think it was setting the scene, I, I didn't mind the amount of ice cream talk because after they jumped into the murder mystery, it was no more like, talk of recipes or anything like that, you know?

Joi: 53:41

a little bit. I even if she doubled up the book, you know, have it be half ice cream, half mystery. I want a little bit more and go a little bit more into the characters, but maybe that's what she does in her series, you know?

Jann: 53:53

Yeah.

Joi: 53:54

But I did think it was interesting that she had, um, actually, um, what was it? Uh, she had her thyroid gland removed. I think it was. I think that was like a very interesting thing. It's like, oh, I was feeling sick for so long and I came home, you know, because I think like your thyroid's in your throat, right? And I thought it was kind of funny with ice cream. I was like, it could have been tonsils. That would've been really cool.'cause you know, kids with their tonsils get removed. They eat ice cream. So I,

Jann: 54:22

You always find the most interesting things. Interesting that I like never think twice about.

Joi: 54:28

Just kind of zoom in on something weird.

Jann: 54:31

yeah.

Joi: 54:32

Yeah.

Jann: 54:32

Yes.

Joi: 54:33

That's why you have a book club so that you can think, you can, you know, see what other people are thinking about. Like, oh, that chick's weird. Why is she thinking about tonsils? Like, this is a murder mystery.

Jann: 54:45

Yeah.

Joi: 54:46

Good times.

Jann: 54:48

All right, well, I don't have any other questions. Do you have any other, like any questions you want us to answer or final thoughts about the book?

Joi: 54:55

Uh, I did have a question for you, and I'm surprised you didn't ask, uh, this question. Uh, what kind of ice cream would you make?

Jann: 55:03

Something blueberry. I love blueberry ice cream and cheesecake, and honestly like blueberry, cheesecake, ice cream. Why not?

Joi: 55:10

Blueberry cheesecake, ice cream. Hmm.

Jann: 55:14

What about you?

Joi: 55:17

I would make an ice cream, but it would be more just like a fun way of having the classics, like the setup. So you would have like, like dirt ice cream and it would just be gummy bears and like have brownies as like crumbled, you know? So like for like the little kids, it was like, oh yeah, this is dirt. You're eating dirt.

Jann: 55:36

I've never been a fan. Even as a kid, I was never a fan of like these dirt cakes or dirt ice creams like.

Joi: 55:41

I think it's a cute idea.

Jann: 55:43

too much sugar, like gummy worms and Oreos and everything together. I'm being a negative Nancy though, because I don't like chocolate that much, and it's like mostly chocolate.

Joi: 55:53

I mean even you can go like, oh, Sandy Beach. It could be like vanilla with, um, vanilla cake as the sand, and then like maybe a cotton candy, ice cream for the ocean or whatever. It's like a little umbrella, like a drink, you know, you know, just fun stuff like that. I feel like I'm very like, um, Like, I have a, I feel like I have a young soul, so it's just like, I would be, I would do more fun stuff like that. I feel like hers was more like artesian, like you said, Austin kind of gentrified,

Jann: 56:20

I feel like whatever. I think it's interesting that you're asking this question after you said you wanted less ice cream in the book anyway.

Joi: 56:29

Did you also, oh, I thought you were gonna say you want, you were, you said you like vanilla, you know, vanilla flavors. I was like, you see I said vanilla ice cream or chocolate and ice cream. So you got me. But no. Yeah, that was

Jann: 56:44

Would you change your rating? Would you, okay. So final thoughts, and would you change your rating of the book after our discussion?

Joi: 56:52

Hmm. So I like the idea of the book. I like how she set it up as a series. Um, I think I'm gonna keep the three and a half stars. I think that's fair. Um, also being a newcomer to Cozy Mysteries. But the three and a half star will keep. And my final thoughts, I love the book, but I think I'm just like, I need a little bit more. I need a little bit more. I would be interested to read another book just to see where she went with the rest of the characters.

Jann: 57:23

Agreed. Okay. Well, as far as my rating, I think I will up it from a three, maybe to a four, just thinking about gen, like grading for the genre.

Joi: 57:32

Mm-hmm.

Jann: 57:34

yeah, I would definitely read another one Again, I just have to be in a certain mood to wanna read it, but thinking about it as like an adult, Scooby Gee is pretty fun. So yeah, if I ever want a cozy murder mystery, I would definitely come back to Abby Collette. She did a good job.

Joi: 57:50

Yeah. I think she did so too. I, I liked it and I think it was, I think it, I identified more with it. I enjoyed it more because it was in a setting that I recognized as well. If it was a setting, like in Nebraska somewhere, I've never been. I was like, I'm a, you know, so I wonder if other people who's not from Cuyahoga thinks a bit, a little bit more like, eh, I read it like a two, you know?

Jann: 58:14

Well, I feel like the area made sense too, just for the extra drama of like if you had an ice cream place in Texas. It doesn't matter what the season is, you're eating ice cream'cause it's hot. You know, like if you have an ice cream shop in Ohio, which there are ice cream shops in Ohio, but a lot of'em closed down in the winter. Some of them stay open. But you know, it's an interesting like place to have an ice cream shop,

Joi: 58:37

I mean,

Jann: 58:38

is unpredictable.

Joi: 58:39

I'm, I'm just saying like, because I know Cuyahoga instead of being Chicago, you know,

Jann: 58:44

Yeah.

Joi: 58:45

it's just like, I just identify a little bit more, even though I forgot that we lived there, like kind of like I knew it, but I didn't, so let's.

Jann: 58:53

I honestly feel like the fact that you didn't even know it was Cuyahoga means that it could have been in Chicago and you would've been fine. So

Joi: 59:03

I mean, girl, listen, you gotta stop like tripping me up over my own stuff like this is the second time in 10 minutes?

Jann: 59:11

I don't remember.

Joi: 59:13

No, because you said you like, oh, I thought you wanted less ice cream. You asking about the ice cream flavors?

Jann: 59:19

Well, Think about what you're saying next time.

Joi: 59:25

I mean, girl, you got me? Okay. So

Jann: 59:30

So since that's the end of the discussion, we can announce our next book, which is, I'm Not Yelling by Elizabeth Liba, and it will be a nonfiction. So I'm gonna go ahead and read the synopsis for us. Okay. Navigate Corporate America Fearlessly, explore the data and hear the accounts of black women in business who face, work through and rise above workplace discrimination. This book offers a blueprint. For black women in business to tackle a toxic work environment and assert their rightful place facing obstacles such as imposter syndrome and structural racism. I'm not yelling, armed you with the knowledge and strategy needed to succeed in the face of adversity, become a strong black leader, and instill positive change in the workplace culture. I'm not yelling is your guide to understanding and implementing change in human resource management that promote diversity and inclusion. So that's gonna be our book next week. So any black woman who's facing any kind of like, struggle, microaggressions, anything like that in the workplace, this is definitely gonna be the book for you. and if you're not a black woman and you just are interested in helping out with diversity and inclusion, in your workplace, definitely listen in and see like the different perspectives, as someone who, is going through that experience.

Joi: 1:00:50

Yeah, I'm excited for it. I haven't heard of this book, um, but it, when you said if you're not a black woman and, or you're not black, whatever, like, you know, um, a thing that I've read a lot lately is about being actively anti-racist as a white person, and you have to read from different perspectives. Um, so this, I feel like would be a good book for anybody to read, especially people who could be doing the microaggressions, you know,

Jann: 1:01:16

That's true.

Joi: 1:01:17

yeah.

Jann: 1:01:18

Um, when I was working, I was in a couple of groups that were, like diversity and inclusion groups with all different perspectives like white, black, whatever, race. and in that, like we had like a safe space where some people would talk about how they performed microaggressions in the past without knowing and how they adjusted their behavior. And like, I, yeah, I think it's beneficial, to learn up so that you're not caught out doing things like that or making people uncomfortable or, you know,

Joi: 1:01:48

And the idea is to not make you feel guilty if you have done it, is to, when you say anti-racist, you're working to not do it. So the person who's experiencing it doesn't have to find a way to deal with it. It don't have to deal with it anymore. No longer have that experience. So it's a good read for everyone. It's not to feel guilty or anything like that, it's to learn so we don't make the same mistakes later. So

Jann: 1:02:13

Agreed.

Joi: 1:02:14

yeah,

Jann: 1:02:15

Okay, so that's gonna be the end of this episode, guys. Can't wait to see you next week. Joy, do you wanna, um, let them know where they can find us?

Joi: 1:02:22

absolutely. Um, on TikTok and Twitter, we are black girl res pod with, um, black is spelled b l k girl res pod. And on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook is Black Girl Reads podcast, B l k Girl Reads podcast. So make sure you check us out, follow us, comment, share. and I can't wait to see you guys next time.

Jann: 1:02:50

All right. Thanks guys. Bye.

Joi: 1:02:52

See ya.