Review: A Sprinkle in Time by Dana Menthink

Posted June 22, 2026 by Lola in Mystery, Review / 4 Comments

A Sprinkle in Time (Shake Shop #2)
written by Dana Mentink
narrated by Stephanie Németh-Parker

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Cozy Mystery
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f

Blurb:
It’s Alpenfest in Upper Sprocket! Yodelers are congregating in the square, tourists flocking to the town, and Trinidad Jones is scooping up some fall flavors at her Shimmy and Shake Shop.

The cherry on the sundae is her upcoming feature in The Scoop magazine. She’s determined to serve up the perfect interview, but it won’t be easy, thanks in part to her meddling Cuban grandfather, Papa Luis, who has decided to make Sprocket his home for the foreseeable future, setting himself up as a taxi driver in his classic 1951 Buick.

But things take a turn when Papa Luis tells her he’s found a corpse in his trunk. Upon closer investigation, they realize the body has disappeared. With the assistance of Juliette and Bonnie (her sisterhood of exes) and the way too handsome nut farmer Quinn Logan, Trinidad must solve the mystery of the disappearing corpse before her grandfather is up to his neck in a murderous mess.

My Review

I really enjoyed the first book in this series and it didn’t take me long to pick up the second book. I was excited to return to the small town of Upper Sprocket and read more about Trinidad Jones as she solves another mystery. And this book was just as good as the first one. In this book we get to meet Bonnie and her daughter Felice and the two become important side characters. I like how Trinidad, Juliette and Bonnie treat each other like sisters and the close bond between them is great to see.

The mystery in this one was so good. It takes a while to really get going and it feels more like two separate mysteries at first, but it all ties together and makes sense by the end. Forge who runs the railrider’s company gets murdered and there is a cold case about a young women who disappeared years ago. It’s clear the two mysteries are connected, but it takes a while before all the pieces to become clear. I liked seeing this one play out and the way Trinidad got involved. I also liked how Trinidad is the one to figure things out. The mystery kept me guessing and then a little bit before Trinidad figured it out I suddenly knew who the murderer was and I was correct. There was still an interesting twist at the end and the whole situation also feels sad.

I like reading about Trinidad again in this book, she’s a great character to read about and I like seeing how she runs her ice cream shop. There is a great group of side characters around as well and I enjoyed getting to know Bonnie and Felice in this book. I also liked seeing more of Trinidad’s grandfather, who is such a fun character. And I liked reading about Quinn and his brother. I was a bit sad there was a bit of romance conflict in this one, with Quinn keeping a secret from Trinidad and Trinidad’s trauma about trusting a man getting brought up due to what her ex-husband did to her. It takes a while to sort through, but when it all comes to light it does make sense and I liked how they resolved things, but I did miss the easy connection and banter they had in the first book and only the end of this book had some of that again.

This book has a fun autumn theme with the Alpenfest festival taking place in a nearby town and Upper Sprocket celebrating as well. There are some fun autumn themed celebrations and the autumn vibes were well done.

The narrator is a good fit for this book and I had a great time listening to this one. I am so glad the third book will release in audio later this year and can’t wait to continue the series.

To summarize: I had a great time listening to this book. I really enjoyed returning to this small town this time during autumn. The mystery was a good one and kept me guessing for a long time before I finally figured it out right before Trinidad did. I like that Trinidad was the one to figure out the mystery. The mystery was well done and I liked how there were two related mysteries, one recent one and one about a women who disappeared years ago, it takes a while to see how they are related and seeing all the clues slowly come to light. The reveal made sense and there was still a twist there as well, but it also was sad. I like reading about Trinidad and her ice cream shop as well as fun group of side characters. The romance has some conflict going on and I missed the easy connection and banter they had in the first book, but I liked how the conflict got resolved and it did make sense. I look forward to listening to the third book once it releases in audio!