My Series-ous Reading waves hello to The Long Quiche Goodbye

 With this year's theme for Series-ous Reading being Cozy Culinary Feast, there is just no way such a literary menu would be complete without a cheese course.  To that end, last month's selection was the first entree in Avery Aames' Cheese Shop Mystery ,The Long Quiche Goodbye.

Set in small town Ohio, we met Charlotte Bessette, who along with her newly divorced cousin Matthew, has taken over the family cheese shop and updated the place,adding a wine section(which is Matthew's specialty).

The official name of the shop is Fromagerie Bessette, due to her French emigrant grandparents who are somewhat retired yet not totally inactive when it comes to the family business. Charlotte's Grandmere and Pepere wanted to bring to their new country some of their beloved France to share with their new friends and over time, it became part and parcel of the town:

During the shop's grand reopening, a number of small dramas occur as obnoxious Ed Woodhouse and his wife Christine stir up trouble in more ways than one.

Ed owns most of the property in town, including the Fromagerie, and is selling it off without even giving the Bessettes a chance to buy their building. Christine is running for mayor against Grandmere, who also puts on many of the local theatrical productions that help bring in the tourist crowd. 

During the opening, Christine gets catty as her husband is off flirting with other women and picks a fight with Grandmere over her latest productions(a ballet version of Hairspray), causing quite a scene. Once the dust settles, Charlotte goes outside to find Ed stabbed to death with one of her own cheese knives,plus her beloved grandmother nearby covered in blood!

While Grandmere is obviously innocent(she was trying to use CPR on Ed,which explains the actual blood on her hands), local police chief Urso puts her on house arrest until a better suspect can be found. This causes a major stir in town that urges Charlotte to take up an impromptu investigation into the case to clear her grandmother's name. Can she save the day and the family shop before all is lost?

 I do like the way that Avery Aames arranges the place setting of the town and it's residents, even including cousin Matthew's twin daughters into the mix(showing how even the kids are affected by the charge against their great-grandmother).

 As this is the first book, it takes awhile for Charlotte to get into the full swing of things when it comes to sleuthing, not to mention a possible budding relationship with local cheese maker Jordan, but by the end, she does get everything well at hand here.

Among my favorite characters are Rebecca, a formerly Amish young woman who works at the cheese shop and seriously into TV crime dramas(she jumps to conclusions a lot but in a delightful way) and Grandmere, who I would totally vote for as mayor. The election campaign is a solid part of the plot with new widow Christine not letting up on her intention to take over(even at her husband's funeral!) and Grandmere doing ballet rehearsals/political rallies in her own backyard. It does add to the storytelling fun:

 

Well, this series is off to a good start and I do plan to read the second book Lost and Fondue(the cheese pun titles are part of the charm, with others such as Clobbered by Camembert, To Brie or not to Brie and As Gouda as Dead!) later on here. I may be a simple cheddar cheese and crackers kind of gal but I do enjoy this tasty look at gourmet goodies with a savory side of mystery to taste:

At the moment, my current Series-ous Reading serving is Hail to the Chef, the second title in Julie Hyny's White House Chef Mystery books.

Newly appointed executive WH chef Olivia ,aka Ollie, Paras is dealing with her first major holiday meal preparations ,starting with a Thanksgiving dinner that may prove to be disruptive to the First Lady due to the business agenda of her guests.

While she can deal with a delay in dinner service or a last minute menu change, Ollie finds herself growing concerned about the recent demise of longtime electrician Gene, whose passing is ruled as an accident. However, Ollie is not so sure and when a relative of the First Family dies under mysterious circumstances as well, she is determined to get to the root cause and get the root vegetables roasted on time to boot.

I'm a good ways into the story and it's getting good as gravy so far. Also, some of the plot will extend into Christmas and the famed gingerbread version of the White House seems to be a key ingredient to this mystery, making this whole thing seasonally sinister sweet :