Cheddar Late Than Dead
Ratings2
Average rating3.5
⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Cute cover!
Cheddar Late Than Dead by Linda Reilly is a mouth-watering culinary cozy mystery that will leave readers both satisfied and intrigued. The story revolves around Carly, the owner of a grilled cheese eatery in Balsam Dell, who finds herself helping to solve yet another murder in her small town.
In this installment, we find Carly helping her former classmate Klarissa Taddeo by catering her bridal shower. When tragedy strikes and Klarissa's fiance is found dead at the bottom of the stairs, Carly puts on her detective hat to help solve the case before an innocent party becomes suspect number one.
One of the best things about Cheddar Late Than Dead is its well-paced plot which keeps readers guessing until the end. The writing is strong and detailed, painting clear pictures of both the setting and characters. In addition to solving crimes, Carly's passion for food shines through as she creates new tasty treats for her customers.
After being disappointed by the previous book in this series, I was glad to find that this one was much better. While Grant still annoyed me, his appearance was kept to a minimum and Carly was back to being less irritating. The added recipes are always appreciated as they bring a touch of real-world flavor into the fiction.
Overall, Cheddar Late Than Dead by Linda Reilly offers readers an engaging mystery full of savory twists and turns that will have them reaching for their favorite grilled cheese sandwich. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next in this delicious culinary cozy series!
ARC Via NetGalley
The wedding trope in cozy mysteries is not my favorite thing, but this is done really well. It isn't a simple bridezilla with a jerk for a groom. There is more to all the characters than just that. As Carly is Investigating, she is being nosy and compassionate at the same time. That is a fine line that Carly is better at than most other people. The addition of Valerie with several cozy tropes was very clever and fun for a long time cozy reader.
As to the mystery, the clues were there and I completely missed them. So I was totally surprised by the revelation of the murderer. The way that Carly gets saved helped to develop the characters. And I appreciated the wrap up chapter as well. After getting to know these characters and beginning to care about them, I appreciated seeing what was going to happen to them next.
Carly was not in her restaurant as much as I would have liked, but that is bound to happen in some books in the series.