101.Cheddar off Dead

 

I am all for food related cosy mysteries lately.

It all started with Vivien Chien, one day I came across her Noodle Shop mysteries, couldn't stop laughing at the book titles and they easily became one of my favourite series' since. Through those books I found recommendations for other food based mysteries such as those by Fiona Grace, and let us not forget that time I binged Albert Smith's Culinary Capers by Steve Higgs.

So it is easy to say that I have quite the soft spot for foodie cosy mysteries, and I do love a normal cosy mystery anyway so it combines my two favourite things.

If you didn't know I loved food then you clearly don't pay a lot of attention. Not only am I slightly on the chubby side (I rock it, fight me), but Jamie and I now also have a food based Instagram where we post pictures of what we have consumed during our dates (thank god for the gym...).

Shameless blog plug over with, let's get onto this book shall we?

I was drawn to this book purely by my love of cheese. I've recently fallen into the world of cheeses and would love to know more about it, so when I discovered a book series centered around a cheesemaker assisting in solving murders, I couldn't say no. 

This book follows Willa Bauer, a cheesemonger who has not long moved to a new little town and is feeling a little bit like an outcast. We open as she is hosting an intimate mozzarella making class one evening with some other local business owners, and they talk about her pending review with food critic Guy Lippenger who is known for his fairly negative reviews.

After an uneasy drunken confrontation with none other than the food critic as he bursts into her shop interrupting the session, Willa is full of dread about the review as Guy openly admits he will do his best to ruin her in front of all her guests. It is no surprise when a few hours later Willa finds Guy Lippenger dead outside her shop with one of her own cheese knives sticking out of his neck.

It is down to Willa, her handyman and neighbour Baz, and her cheese shop assistants to try and clear her name as it isn't looking too good for our cheesemonger. 

It was a simple little murder mystery, and Willa & Co. didn't exactly insert themselves into the investigation to solve the murder than more stumble across helpful information in their timid ways until the killer practically confessed while trying to kill our favourite cheese lady.

Willa comes across as someone who is not good with confrontation, she manages to take quite the backseat in her own investigation I feel. However she is absolutely a lass I can get behind as when she is stressed she has to eat slices of cheese to calm down and if that isn't goals then I don't know what is. 

Now there is sort of a potential love triangle going on here. I may have gotten the vibes wrong, but there are two fairly dominant males introduced within this story who could be/are probable love interests for our main character. I'm not counting the Mead shop owner as he is a known womanizer and it's unlikely our Willa will get far with him considering she is painted as a 30 something plain jane with cheese coated hips... nothing wrong with that at all, but I want her to be settling into a romance and not becoming another notch on someone's bedpost. Perhaps Roman will change just for her? But that is overly cheesy (excuse the pun) and not something I want Korina Moss' story to run with.

Anyway, these domineering gentlemen are Baz, her neighbour and the town's handyman, and Detective Heath, the lead in the Lippenger murder investigation. While the relationship with Baz seems to be instantly thrown into the friendzone, the two of them comparing each other as the siblings they always wanted toward the end of the book, Willa seems to gravitate more towards the detective in terms of the heart. She danced with him, she's irrational around him, and he also sat unprompted and guarded her apartment following an argument in the event she was next on the killer's hitlist. I reckon they'll get together and it'll end up one of those mysteries where they are pitted against each other in order to solve the mystery first until they are forced to join forces leaving behind their professionalism in order to protect the other one from murder. It happens a lot, but it's a trope I enjoy.

In terms of the characters during this story, I'm on the fence. There were a lot of them and most of them weren't massively relevant to the story, but instead place fillers and I guess introductions in the event they crop up later in the series. The ones I actually remember and are relevant I will go on to mention below.

Of course first of all we have Willa. Our main lady and the new to town cheesemonger. Owner of the cheese shop Curds & Whey, she feels a little out of place in a town that may not be open to the world of cheese. This of course isn't the case and she seems to be quite busy hosting cheese related events and handing out samples leading to a sale. She even has two assistants so can't be doing too badly. Willa is also an extremely passionate person and this comes across straight away through her love and knowledge of the cheese she sells. She is also a dab hand at cheese related recipes which peaks my interests and inspires me to add to my own cooking repertoire. The only thing which bugs me is that Willa is too easily distracted and thus throws herself straight into what is usually an incorrect conclusion. She manages to convince herself and her friends that the police are incompetent so that it is down to them to solve the murder and then due to her loudness about their investigation another man is later killed. Her way to look into things start out subtle and then seem to easily turn into accusations especially when she brings one of her throng along. I am not surprised that the identity of the murderer was revealed only as they tried to take Willa's life, as I honestly don't think that her and the gang would have gotten there on their own. They got close with Faith's mother's diary, but Willa is a little too trusting in her eagerness to be accepted in this town and seems to take what is told to her as gospel until someone proves it wrong and then she goes off on one at the person for lying to her, opening herself wide up for it to happen again. Yes I'm referring to her confrontation with Roman. She's had to make a lot of apologies in this book, had to give a way a lot of cheese as a goodwill gesture, and if she carries on she will certainly fall from grace. Willa hasn't yet realised how popular she is just being herself, she's got herself a tight little unit already, but she's still trying too hard due to her past to fit in, she needs to relax. The last thing I'll say on her main gal is that she saved her own life using a massive wheel of cheese. I believe it was cheddar, but blimey, what a weapon!

Next up we have Baz. Baz is Willa's nextdoor neighbour who she had no idea existed until he came to fix the toilet in the shop. They became fast friends following the Lippenger murder and have been partially inseparable since. Baz is one of the more fleshed out characters within this story. We know he doesn't really go for cheese unless it's cheddar as is a man of simple pleasures and is uneasy with the unknown, especially when that is either continental or 'fancy'. Willa makes it her mission to expand his pallet. We also know that he is well connected through his job, but equally this means that he is able to simply fade into the background as everyone forgets about him working on their ailments and discuss things in front of him. This wallflower is a helpful addition to the team, and to be fair to Baz, is the main reason they got as close to the killer during the climax of this story as they did. I like Baz, he is chill, kind and easy to get along with. He is inserted within Willa's circle very quickly and it is an easy friendship.

Mrs Schultz is one of Willa's trusted assistants and again is quite a fleshed out character for a supporting addition. We know she used to be a teacher, she is very no nonsense and comes across as quite a strict, upright lady, but in actual fact she has quite the adventurous side and is fairly accepting despite her outer appearance. There is a hard shell to crack but within Mrs Schultz is a softie and is one of the people who look out for and care for Willa most. Not that Willa realised this until the murder, she just assumed the people who worked for her just wanted a job, she didn't realise she meant something to these people. Mrs Schultz is a welcome addition as she provides the needed life experience to the team, she is the knowledge and the old lady scapegoat which we needed to keep the story plodding along.

Archie is Willa's second assistant and is again someone she overlooked as one who cared for her. As it transpires, Willa has actually inspired Archie to be a cheesemonger and I see him becoming her apprentice going forward. He isn't as fleshed out as the others and takes a bit of a backseat at times but I suppose this is due to his age. He seems to be most useful when it comes to his connection to Faith, the young bakery owner/assistant who dislikes working under her militant aunt considering it was she who inherited the bakery.

Talking of Faith, she is more referred to than seen and in my opinion this is a good thing as she is a bit too whiny for me. Typical rebellious teen, Faith has bright hair and long bright nails and seems to think the world is out to get her. Her mother died leaving her the bakery but her aunt swooped in to take over while the young girl found her footing. 

Vivienne, Faith's aunt, comes across as a friendly face initially but there is a lot more to her than fresh bread and smiles. She resents being forced to take over her sister's life following her death and is why she is so strict within the bakery, regardless of this she is still fiercely protective of her family even willing to go to drastic measures to ensure a secret doesn't get out...

While we have some decent characters that we revolve around, I'd like to know more about Detective Heath. We know he is a widow and that he potentially has the hots for Willa. Aside from this he comes across as standoffish and a little dull so no wonder Willa decided to take matters into her own hands. He seems to struggle to communicate with her and her rashness causes her to jump into the wrong direction and this is usually stemmed through something he did. They make quite the pair, but it is a little infuriating to witness especially when you've pitted a currently 2D character against our main lady.

Overall, Cheddar off Dead deserves a 6/10. I really liked this cosy mystery but there was plenty of room for improvement. I'm looking forward to the next instalment as I really gelled with these characters even though I felt like the book was short. No investigation really took place and I felt the characters stumbled onto things, but I guess they will get the knack as ameteur detectives going forward.

Finally, I have to shout out to Erin Moon who narrated this audiobook. Her voice fitted Willa perfectly and I really enjoyed her performance which surprised me.

Have you read/listened to this book? How about any others by Korina Moss? Leave a comment on my socials and tell me what you think!