IR- Can you tell us a bit about the story and its main characters?

AC- The main character is Bronwyn “Win” Crewse. She is the current manager of her family’s ice cream shop, Crewse Creamery that takes place in Chagrin Falls, Ohio (yes! Chagrin Falls is a real place.). In this book, Win takes her new food truck out on its “maiden voyage” serving up her creamy, delicious, frozen concoctions at the annual Harvest Time Festival. And of course, there is a murder, one Win herself is nearly implicated in. Reluctant as she is, she does go out to find the killer and is almost killed herself.

IR- What inspired the idea for your book?

AC- There is an actual festival in Chagrin Falls although it is centered around Memorial Day Weekend. And of course, with so many people at a fair, I thought it would be a great place to have a murder.

IR- What was the most surprising thing you learned in writing this book?

AC- That Win isn’t averse to dating, she just needed the right guy to come along

IR- Tell us about a favorite character from the book.

AC- I don’t think I have a favorite character. I like them all the same. I try to make each unique and have good qualities as well as flaws. If I had to pick one, it probably would be Maisie because I fashioned her after a real person, my friend, Molly.

IR- Where did you come up with the names in the story?

AC- Names are very important to me. I have to “feel” that the name is right for the character and I believe that helps me make them more authentic. I did a lot of research on the names before I chose them.

IR- How do you avoid or defeat writer’s block?

AC- I don’t believe in writer’s block. Writers are creative people, they always have story simmering or swirling around in their heads. Sometimes though, the story doesn’t “gel” for us and we get stuck, but not blocked. To help with that I often read a book, or talk about my WIP to other writers so they can help me see the path I need to take.

IR-What advice would you give to a writer working on their first book?

AC- Finish the book! I run into so many writers who have been working on a book for years. Finish it already!

IR- What are you working on in the near future?

AC- I’d like to branch out from cozies. I’ve written a women’s fiction and hope to write another. I also am working on a traditional mystery.

IR- What comes first for you — the plot or the characters?

AC- Since I write murder mysteries, the plot is always the same—someone gets killed, someone has to figure out whodunit. And because I write series, my characters are pretty much set as well. When I do venture off the beaten path, I think it’s my plot that comes first.

IR- What do you look for in a story as a reader?

AC- I like for books to keep me guessing. I don’t like when I can figure out what is going to happen or predict what the characters will say.

IR- What is the first book that you remember reading?

AC- A Wrinkle in Time.

IR- What are you reading now?

AC- Just finished Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson and am excited to start reading Yinka, Where is your Husband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn.

IR- Aside from writing or reading, what are your hobbies or interests?

AC- I love watching HGTV, the Food Network and movies on Hallmark Channel.

IR- Describe yourself in as few words as possible.

Analytical. Caring. Anxious. Smart.

IR- What would your dream library look like?

AC- It would be filled with history books and things I could use to do research.

IR- If you had a secret room that opened by pulling a book on a shelf, what book would you choose?

AC- Probably A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

IR- What is something you can do better than anyone else you know?

Figure stuff out.

IR- If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?

Flip houses.

About The Book

A Killer Sundae (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery)

Ice cream shop owner Bronwyn Crewse is in for two scoops of murder in this charming mystery from Abby Collette.

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.

Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Kobo – Google Play – IndieBound – Alibris – Penguin Random House

About the Author

Wall Street Journal bestselling author Abby Collette loves a good mystery. She was born and raised in Cleveland, and it’s a mystery even to her why she hasn’t yet moved to a warmer place. As Abby Collette, she is the author of the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series, about a millennial MBA-holding granddaughter running a family-owned ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and the Books & Biscuits mystery series, starring a set of fraternal twins who reunite and open a bookstore and soul food café. Writing as Abby L. Vandiver, she is the author of the Logan Dickerson Mysteries, featuring a second-generation archaeologist and a nonagenarian, as well as the Romaine Wilder Mysteries, pairing an East Texas medical examiner and her feisty, funeral-home-owning auntie as sleuths. Abby spends her time writing, facilitating writing workshops at local libraries and hanging out with her grandchildren, each of whom are her favorite.

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