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Sunday, November 14, 2021

Up to No Gouda by Linda Reilly


Like author Linda Reilly, my go-to comfort food is a grilled cheese sandwich. As a result, she just made my day starting the Grilled Cheese Mysteries series. Even better, I loved it. Reilly has created likeable, realistic characters that most of us would be delighted to have in our own circle of friends. Now, true, given Grant's ability to conjure the perfect grilled cheese sandwich for the moment, I might put him high on my list but there's also more to him than his cooking skills. A talented young black man, he's being pressured by this parents to give up his dreams of becoming a chef and focus on his music. Turns out he's also a talented cello player named after William Grant Still, a composer and conductor who was the first African-American to conduct a major America symphony orchestra. Grant's parents are also talented musicians and are leaning heavily on him to choose music as a career. You'll have to read the book to see how that is sorted out. Grant obviously doesn't plan on making his career making grilled cheese sandwiches forever.

As for the murder mystery, the plot moves along as Carly and the local police force sift through a variety of suspects and clues to find Lyle's killer. Not only did Carly once briefly date him in high school but one of her workers becomes the main "person of interest" after Lyle exits Carly's restaurant after smugly delivering some bad news to Carly. Will this be the end of Carly's dream? Will her workers have to look for new jobs, too? What role will the fiercely independent homeless Becca play? Why is some ol' car so important to Lyle's younger brother? Would he kill for it? Can Carly trust Ari? How about with her heart? Are any of those about her too good to be true? Finally, will she ever get around to finally changing her mind and adopting the adorable little dog she discovered at about the same time she stumbled across Lyle's dead body? I'm not telling but I'm already looking forward to the next book in this series. Go add it to your "To Be Read" list while I go make myself a grilled cheese sandwich. It won't be as good as one of Grant or Carly's, alas, but it'll hit the spot this cold, snowy Alaska evening. I might even share a bite of it with my own dog who was rooting for Carly to adopt Havarti.

Thank you #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for the advance copy of this great new series and to author #LindaReilly for adding those great grilled cheese recipes at the end, too.

 

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