Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly

Item: Up to No Gouda
Rating: 5
Author: karenbaron

Posted September 24, 2023 by karenbaron in #BookishRecipe, Mystery, Review / 0 Comments

Up to No Gouda

by Linda Reilly

Series: Grilled Cheese Mysteries #1
Series Rating:

Published by Poisoned Pen Press on January 25, 2022
Setting: Balsam Dell, Vermont
Genres: Cozy Culinary Mystery
Pages: 312
Format: Audible Audiobook, Audio CD, ebook, Kindle, Paperback
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Get Your Copy at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Nook

The first in a delicious new culinary cozy series featuring a grilled cheese eatery owner who must solve murders in her small town before she is put under lock and brie.

Back in Balsam Dell to heal after the death of her husband, Carly Hale is finally pursuing her lifelong dream—opening Carly's Grilled Cheese Eatery. After only five months, business is booming as Vermont vacationers and townspeople alike flock to lunch on her Party Havartis and other grilled cheese concoctions. All but Lyle Bagley, Carly's one-time high school boyfriend and now town bully who just bought the building that houses her eatery and wants Carly out. After a muenster of a fight, Carly's forced to put her nose to the rind and find a solution to keep her business afloat.

That is...until Lyle is discovered dead behind the dumpster of Carly's shop, and one of her employees becomes the prime suspect. In order to save her eatery and prove her friend's innocence, Carly must sleuth out the killer before she's the one who gets grilled.

With a delightful cast of characters, an inventive amateur sleuth, and a whole host of cheesy hijinks, Up to No Gouda is the perfect cozy murder mystery to melt into.

Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly sets up Carly Hale to solve a mystery to keep her business going and an employee out of jail.

Can Carly keep her employee from spending time in jail?

Carly Hale

Ms. Hale lost her husband almost a year ago. Then, she decided to move back to her hometown and open an eatery. Carly did that in December, opened up her eatery doors in January, and has been doing fine these past five months. Despite finding the dead body of her new landlord in her alleyway, Carly’s business has been doing well. She is also doing okay for herself. Carly has potentially found someone new and might have also found a dog. I have to say that Carly is a wonderful sleuth. She doesn’t want to see the wrong person go to jail. She also doesn’t happen to know where to look for clues, but she seems to find them without really looking.

The Mystery

The police have two mysteries to solve, while Carly only has one. Except it’s too much of a coincidence of these two things happening around the same time. The first mystery happens to be a string of robberies happening to the rich folk of the town. Now, the police also have to deal with finding a killer. Carly gets into solving the mystery because the police’s only suspect happens to be one of her employees. She knows that the employee couldn’t have killed Lyle Bagley. So, to prove the police wrong, Carly is off to investigate. I have to say that I didn’t think it was who it happened to be at all. Yes, I fell for a red herring. Well played, Ms. Reilly.

Five Stars

I am giving Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly five stars. I am also recommending it to anyone who wants to read this series. You so totally should. This book also has recipes, so check them out in the back. Ms. Reilly totally had me going with a red herring and not who the actual killer was. Here’s some good advice: if you are going to be reading this series, you should probably have some good snacks on hand as you will need them. Or maybe even a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.

The recipes are Party Harvarti, Smoky Steals the Bacon, Grant’s Vermont Jammin’, and, as a bonus, Carly’s Grilled Cheese Tips!

Grilled Cheese Mysteries

Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly.

Until the next time,

Happy Reading!

About Linda Reilly

As a child, Linda Reilly practically existed on grilled cheese sandwiches, and today they remain her comfort food of choice. Raised in a sleepy town in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, she retired from the world of real estate closings and title examinations to spend more time writing mysteries.

A member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Cat Writers’ Association, Linda lives in southern New Hampshire with her two feline assistants, both of whom enjoy prancing over her laptop to assist with editing. When she’s not pounding away at her keyboard, she can usually be found prowling the shelves of a local bookstore or library hunting for a new adventure-or at the stove whipping up a delectable grilled cheese.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges: