I Scream, You Scream

I really enjoyed this book. It had been on my to read list for a while. Then in October 2010 a friend picked up an autographed copy for me, but I didn't want to run the risk of messing up my signed copy, so I waited to read it until I could get a copy from the library. I recently had surgery and chose this as my get me through the ordeal read. It was a good choice.

There were a couple of things about this book that were a good indicator that this would be a series I would enjoy: ice-cream and Texas. I'm a transplanted Texan living in Colorado (love both states by the way) and for me ice cream is second only to chocolate. These are the two reasons I picked up the book. Watson's creative and humorous storytelling are why I kept reading.

This is truly a cozy. Yes, there's a death, but there's not a lot of "danger." In several cozy mysteries I read, our intrepid sleuth manages to find themselves in danger of some sort or another at least once during the story. Tally is a straight forward, no-nonsense character, though she does seem to have a hard time picking the right man.

Watson has created well developed characters (along with Tally we meet her cousin Bree and Bree's daughter Alice and a love interest from Tally's past - Finn) that the reader will want to learn more about. Even though the murder plays a big part in this book, Watson does take the time to give us a clear picture of Tally and the other residents of Dalliance, Texas.

If you are looking for a well paced, light hearted read and love mysteries and ice cream, this is the series for you. Check back soon for my review of Book Two: A Scoop to Kill. Book Three: A Parfait Murder will be released in June.

Booklady's Rating: 5 of 5 ( )

If Tallulah Jones didn’t need the catering job, she wouldn’t be in the company of her ex-husband Wayne and his new young girlfriend, Brittanie Brinkman – much less making nice with them. But her north Texas ice-cream shop, Remember the A-La-Mode, is struggling; and providing the ice cream concession at Wayne’s company picnic provides some much needed cash. Shortly after the picnic, Brittanie is dead and clues point to Tally as one who might have done her in. It doesn’t help that the two women got into a shouting match at the picnic. Then Wayne asks Tally to lie to police to provide him with an alibi.

Meanwhile, the high-school beau Tally dumped way back when to marry Wayne is back in town … and looking hot. Our heroine’s like-a-sister cousin Bree would love to see straight-as-an-arrow Tally take a chance on love again with Finn Harper. Now a newly hired reporter with the newspaper in Dalliance, Finn isn’t covering the murder – that honor goes to a more senior member of the editorial staff. But he and Tally team up to pool their information to get Tally off the police chief’s radar.

I’m pretty picky about grammar – and Wendy Lyn Watson passed my grammatical litmus test: the ability to use who and whom correctly. Not many authors do. But good grammar doesn’t always equal good storytelling. I’m happy to say Ms. Watson aced that part of the test, too. I Scream, You Scream is just plain fun to read, with great characters and wonderful sensory detail … detail that makes people and places come alive. Here’s an example -- her description of a very minor character: “Ted Albrecht had a lean, rawhide-tough face, the spare build of a Depression-era field hand, and a head as round and bald as a cue ball.” It’s short, to the point – and gives readers a quick mental snapshot. Lovely.

The behind-the-scenes look at the ice-cream business is especially interesting to me – but then I worked at a soda fountain while I was in high-school and college. Needless to say, it’s easy for me to recommend I Scream, You Scream to even the pickiest of cozy readers. It has the added bonus of a cozy heroine who is not dating a cop. Hooray! (Ice cream recipes also included.)

By Diana. First published in the Cozy Library October 15, 2009.

Review based on publisher- or author-provided review copy.

Could not get into it. The characters were unappealing and the language coarse. Too much of the beginning of the book was taken up with describing the characters and location. ( )

Tallulah Jones is newly divorced and struggling to keep her fledging ice cream parlor, Remember the A-la-mode off the ground. Unfortunately, part of keeping her business solvent means agreeing to cater the dessert for her ex-husband Wayne's annual Weed & Seed party. This year the party is to have a luau theme, and Wayne wants bright neon green, his business theme color, to be featured in the ice cream desserts. Tally can manage to whip up a green topping for some tropical sundaes, carefully keeping Wayne's dessert cups specially marked, due to his pineapple allergy.

It grates that Wayne seems to have a new, much younger thin girlfriend, Brittanie who seems to be his new "sugar". As Tally dishes up dessert at the party, folks seem drunker than skunks and the night ends with a stressful confrontation with Brittanie.

The next morning, Brittanie is found dead in bed, and it doesn't seem to be of entirely natural causes. The police have their sights set on Wayne, but even though Tally knows Wayne Jones to be a two-timing snake, she just can't believe he is capable of murder. Wayne won't come clear about where he was the night Brittanie died, and asks Tally to alibi him. Tally won't lie for her ex, but she does agree to poke around a bit.

It seems plenty of folks have reason to want to kill Brittanie. She seems to have slept with half the men and several of the women of Dalliance and made enemies of her fellow Zeta sorority sisters. Even chipper Lady Shapers guide Ashley seems to have been snubbed by Brittanie. Later, evidence turns up that there was antifreeze in the dessert cups marked for Wayne--the same dessert cups Tally served at the luau, and suddenly, the police seem to be focusing undue attention on her.

With her cousin Bree and niece Alice at her side as well as Tally's newly arrived ex-boyfriend from high school, she seeks to clear her name before she ends up in jail for a crime she did not commit. Can Tally keep her good name and her ice cream business afloat?

This is the first book in the Myatery A La Mode series, and on the whole I enjoyed it. I found the action well-paced and did enjoy the culinary aspects related to ice cream. I'd give this book 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

Tallulah (Tally) Jones from Dalliance, Texas is the proprietor of Remember the À La Mode ice cream shop but when her ex-husband's young new girlfriend dies under suspicious circumstances, all eyes point to Tally as a prime suspect. To complicate matters further, Tally's old high school flame, now a polished reporter, is back in town and spending plenty of time at the ice scream shop looking for more than the latest scoop.

I Scream, You Scream is a murder mystery with all the charm of the southern town in which it is set. The book reads at a good pace and there were enough twists to keep the mystery fresh and interesting. Wendy Lyn Watson tells a succinct story while still setting up for more books in this delightfully sweet series. ( )