Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss Series: Cheese Shop Mystery #4
Published by St Martin's Paperbacks on September 26, 2023
Source: Purchased
Genres: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 308
Format: eBook
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What in the bleu blazes is happening in Yarrow Glen now?
Cheesemongers from across the Northwest have come to the Sonoma Valley for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. As owner of the local cheese shop, Curds & Whey, Willa Bauer loves it. The event showcases custom cheese creations, and it’s the perfect time to gather with old colleagues to honor her former boss, the late and grate cheese legend, Max Dumas. He was famous for journeying into the wild bleu yonder to where he aged his award-winning custom Church Bleu. Only Max knew the recipe and location to his beloved cheese, and many are eager to have these revealed at his will reading.
But instead of naming someone to inherit his cheese and its secrets, Max stuns everyone with one cryptic clue. When a fellow cheesemonger dies under mysterious circumstances––the woman they all thought would get the secrets to Max's prized possession––everyone falls under suspicion. Willa adores Church Bleu as much as the next cheese connoisseur, but it’s not to die for. Is a killer trying to get away with murder...and the cheese?
Case of the Bleus might have been my favorite in the series so far. This time around some of Willa’s former co-workers are in town for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. They will also be attending the reading of Max Dumas’ will along with his formerly estranged daughter. The daughter is supposed to inherit Max’ cheese shop. The big question is who will inherit the secret to Church Bleu Cheese – how it’s made and where it’s aged. Instead, all they get is a clue they have to figure out. Then one of the cheesemongers is killed, and Willa and her friends decide they need to “help” find the killer. So we have two mysteries – who is the killer, and what is the secret to the cheese.
The plot itself had several twists. The visitors to town each have their own angle and were definitely potential suspects. How the woman died was clear right away, but the who was more difficult to determine. Almost everyone had the opportunity. Team Cheese gathers to sort through clues and seek answers. As always, I enjoyed spending time with Willa and her friends. I love how well they work together. They’re funny and warm and caring. But of course, Willa doesn’t take the advice of her current love interest, Detective Heath, and ends up in a bit of danger.
It was also fun following the clues in the cheese hunt, too.. Max was quiet a character. The ending to the chase was perfect.
Overall, I’m really enjoying this series. And craving cheese.
About Korina Moss
KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop cozy mystery series set in Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner of the Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead. Her books have been featured in USA Today, PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World Magazine, AARP Magazine, and Fresh Fiction. She loves creating quirky characters who live in idyllic small towns. She grew up on a healthy dose of Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie novels, which developed her passion for solving mysteries and eventually writing her own. She lives in a small New England town with its own share of quirky characters.
Korina is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She blogs on Writers Who Kill.
For the past several years, Korina has been on her own Eat, Pray, Love journey, which seems to have stalled at the Eat phase. When not writing or sampling new cheeses (a perk of the job), she can be found with a new favorite cozy, doing jigsaw puzzles, or discovering new travel destinations. She has an affinity (some might say ‘addiction’) to coffee mugs, loves cats, and can’t pass up a new notebook or journal with all those fresh, empty pages.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
This series is on my wishlist. It looks really good.
I’m enjoying them. I’m reading the most recent now.