Spoon to be Dead is the third book in Dana Mentink’s Shake Shop mystery series, featuring Trinidad Jones, shake shop owner and frozen treat crafter.
Title: Spoon to be Dead
Author: Dana Mentink
Series: Shake Shop #3
First Published: October 31, 2023
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press, for providing me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Trinidad Jones is starting the festive season with sugary confections and a heaping scoop of worry as her shake shop enters its first Oregon winter. With snow abound and tourists trickling through, she’ll do anything to keep her milkshake dreams afloat, even if it means catering a holiday steamboat party for some new arrivals in town.
But when her good-for-nothing ex crashes through her shop’s door claiming he’s being charged with murder, things go sideways. With clues piling up like whipped cream on a sundae and motives abound, Trinidad and her fellow ex-wives must solve this murder before she’s finally thrown for a scoop.
Twisty and turny and fill of surprises
If you’re new to the series, it does take a while to get used to the unique relationships that our main character, Trinidad, and her friends have. Three ex-wives – Trinidad, Juliette, and Bonnie – who have formed a “sisterhood” and are as close as family, not to mention their real families and friends. For that reason, it makes it a lot easier to read this series in order, rather as standalones.
There have been quite a few changes since the last book in the series, A Sprinkle in Time (you can read my review of that book here), and I felt that this book zoomed along at a fairly quick pace. The death happens quite quickly and almost immediately EVERYONE is pulled into the mystery because there is a lot at stake. There are a lot of people to keep track of, both old and new characters, so you do have to pay attention to the details when reading this one.
I felt that the mystery angle was really well done because, while at first it seemed a fairly straightforward case, there were a lot of red herrings and suspects to keep the mystery going without being too confusing. Honestly, this one really didn’t turn out the way that I thought it would!
The characters have really come into their own
Gabe (Trinidad, Juliette, and Bonnie’s ex-husband) is back in town and his return stirs up A LOT of feelings – both good and bad (mostly bad). He has obviously hurt a lot of people and there is a lot of mistrust from all sides. Trinidad is really feeling torn because while the evidence points to Gabe being a killer, and even though she knows she can’t trust him, deep down she doesn’t really believe that he could be a murderer. It makes for an interesting balance of doing what’s right for Trinidad.
I felt that there was A LOT of character development in this story – so many of the characters found new relationships, both platonic and romantic. I did feel that it was a bit odd that so much happened over the course of this book, but then a reader’s note from the author at the end of the book sounded like this was the final book in the series, so that may be why so many loose ends were tied up neatly. If this is the end, I’m sad to see the series go, but it has been a real sweet ride while it lasted.
Quote from Spoon to be Dead
It does make sense if this is the final book in the series that a whole bunch of things would happen. Great review, Stephanie!