From Publishers Weekly
Brisk and continuously engaging, this mystery is the hardcover debut of amateur sleuth Simona Griffo, seen before in The Trouble with a Small Raise , etc . An Italian transplant living in Greenwich Village, the 37-year-old Simona and her lover, Greenhouse, travel to the picturesque but financially shaky Sleepy Hollow Inn in upscale Fieldston, Conn., to attend the New Year's Eve wedding of their friends Kesho and Richard. Also along is Willy, Greenhouse's precocious, hostile 14-year-old son. Simona discovers the body of elderly Elisabeth Dobson in the icy waters of the inn's pond, with one of Kesho's earrings nearby. Kesho is arrested for the murder. Shrewd Simona plunges into the action, uncovering plenty of hostility among the aristocratic, often unsavory Dobsons. Was Elisabeth killed because she had planned to sell her Frank Lloyd Wright estate to Kesho, an African American whose parents were the Dobson's servants? Whatever happened to Elisabeth's husband Walter, who vanished without a trace eight years earlier? When Greenhouse, an NYPD homicide investigator, is called away, Simona and Willy form an uneasy alliance to produce a number of surprises. Rich in atmosphere and buoyed by wry wit, Crespi's briskly paced narrative calls for an encore. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Sleepy Hollow Inn of Fieldston, Connecticut, is hardly sleepy in this fourth Simona Griffo mystery (the first three were paperback originals from Zebra). Adperson Griffo treks to the inn at Christmas with her love, divorced NYPD homicide detective Stan Greenhouse, and his 14-year-old son, Willy, for the wedding of the Greenhouses' friend, successful children's book author Kesho Larson, to restaurateur Richard Mentani. Tensions rise at Christmas Eve dinner, when local widow Elizabeth Dobson announces that she's selling RockPerch, her Frank Lloyd Wright house, to an interracial couple. Next morning, Griffo stumbles upon Dobson's corpse. The victim's self-important brother-in-law and his prim wife and intense son are obvious suspects, as are the almost-newlyweds (both have surprising past ties to RockPerch), the inn's owner, and others from among the local citizenry and constabulary. When his mother's illness drags Greenhouse off to Florida, Simona and Willy must face their suspicions about each other and various suspects while dodging a desperate killer. Griffo's Roman birth and globe-circling past as a diplomat's daughter set her apart from other female amateur sleuths; her "troubles" are well-plotted, entertaining puzzles. Mary Carroll

Book Description
Simona and her detective boyfriend are spending Christmas in a cozy Connecticut inn to attend an interracial wedding. It’s Simona’s first vacation with Greenhouse and her nervousness isn’t helped by the presence of Greenhouse’s wary teenage son, Willy. Out for some needed cold air, Simona discovers a body under the thin ice of the nearby lake. The dead woman, whose husband had disappeared years earlier, turns out to have had mysterious ties to Kesho, the African American bride-to-be. Greenhouse is in Florida with his ailing mother, leaving Simona in charge of Willy, when Kesho is arrested for the murder. Convinced of her new friend’s innocence and with Willy as her Watson, Simona delves into the town’s secrets and lies to uncover the truth. Another murder gives Simona a much-needed clue, but her zeal for the truth puts Willy and her in danger. Thanks to Simona’s gutsiness and Willy’s fast thinking, the murderer gets his due, Kesho walks down the aisle and Greenhouse asks a question.

A recipe for Comfort Pasta is included.

"Simona exercises her adorable ways with a vengeance…but it is her keen intelligence, not her bubbly personality, that wins.”
—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

“Rich in atmosphere and buoyed by wry wit, Crespi’s briskly paced narrative calls for an encore.”
—Publishers Weekly starred review

“Crespi turns out a nicely complicated story that includes both unexpected twists and credible interpersonal tensions... Simona’s voice is personable. She deals deftly with racism and, more generally, with stereotyping, whether it is used to pigeonhole blacks, Italians, or New Yorkers.”
—Wilson Library Journal

“The Trouble With Thin Ice is the best Simona Griffo yet, a fast-paced puzzle with the trademark recipe included."
—M.E. Burness, Reading For Pleasure