Lickety Splits Ice Cream Shoppe Mystery Books in Order

The Lickety Splits books are cozy mysteries with a very clear promise: small-town trouble, strong dessert energy, and a smart amateur sleuth at the center of the mess. The series follows Kate McKay, who leaves behind her high-powered Manhattan life and returns to the Hudson Valley village where she grew up. She comes back to help her grandmother and, before long, opens an ice cream shop of her own.

That shop is not just a cute backdrop. It is the heart of the series.

Wolfert's Roost, the village setting, gives these books their rhythm. People know each other, remember old grudges, and notice every new development, which means a murder never stays private for long. Kate is trying to build a new life and keep a small business running, but she is doing it in a place where childhood history still matters. Rivalries, family ties, gossip, and old romances all have a way of landing right on her counter.

Kate works well as a cozy lead because she is practical before she is glamorous. She can make a business plan, handle a difficult customer, and still get drawn into questions she probably should leave alone. When someone close to the shop, or close to the town, winds up dead, she has a hard time walking away. That gives the books their central tension: Kate wants stability, but trouble keeps finding her just as she starts to settle.

The first book, Murder with a Cherry on Top, sets up the main ingredients. Kate returns home, tries to make Lickety Splits a success, and gets pulled into a murder case when a local rival dies. From there the series widens its circle. Hot Fudge Murder takes Kate into a glossier world of wealth and fashion. Last Licks brings a film shoot to town. Game of Cones strands Kate in a historic hotel with a corpse, a blackout, and a short list of suspects.

The tone stays light without becoming weightless. These are murders, but the books care just as much about daily life, family obligations, money worries, and the awkwardness of seeing people from your past when you are not quite sure who you are in the present. Kate's relationships matter too, especially the romantic push and pull around her, but they never completely take over the mystery.

If you like cozies that lean into setting, this series is easy to settle into. There is plenty of food detail, plenty of town atmosphere, and enough emotional grounding to make the sleuthing feel personal. The crimes may be serious, but the books are built to be inviting. You come for the murder, but you stay because Wolfert's Roost feels like a place you would recognize after only a few chapters.