Between a Roquefort and a Hard Place

Restaurant owner Carly Hale Mitchell has to get her husband off the hook when he’s implicated in the suspicious death of a crooked coworker . . .

When the elderly owner of a historic mansion asks Carly to come visit and make one of her famous grilled cheese sandwiches, Carly can hardly say no. She loves spending time inside the fabled home, and she knows her husband will be at the grand old manse too, rewiring the electrical as part of larger renovations. But sparks fly when he gets into a shoving match with the contractor overseeing the project, and that puts him at the top of the suspect list when the contractor later falls to his death from the roof amid signs of foul play.

Desperate to clear her husband’s good name, Carly puts her restaurant work on the back burner while she tries to track down the real culprit. Thinking it must be someone on the renovation crew or an employee at the mansion, she begins grilling the suspects, only to learn that the victim had enemies throughout the community. Then another dead body is discovered at the mansion, and Carly has to approach the case from a whole new angle—just as the killer is angling to make her the next victim on their list . . .

Includes mouthwatering grilled-cheese sandwich recipes!

My Review:

Friendly Reader Suggestion: Have all the fixing for a grilled cheese sandwich on hand because this book will will stir up a craving and maybe some culinary creativity too! Love all the cozy vibes that come from Carly’s diner and loyal staff. Reilly has hit the perfect balance between cozy and mystery and I revelled in both.

An engaging mystery involving a recluse and some strange occurrences at her mansion. Spooky and fun and oh so puzzling. But, yay me, I figured parts of the mystery out before Carly and company. Not everything though, so I was still frantically trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together all the way to the end.

Love these characters, including a host of familiar faces that crop up in each book. There’s a real sense of found family, deepening relationships (friendship and otherwise) and I’m always eager to see what everyone is up to from one book to the next. As with most cozies, I think ‘The Grilled Cheese Mysteries’ are best read in order so that a reader can enjoy every delicious nuance of character and secondary plot development BUT, having said that, a newbie could jump in with this 7th book and still enjoy the read.

I listened to the audio edition narrated by Mia Gaskin who has been the voice of this series since the very beginning. She’s a perfect fit for these characters and I appreciate that continuity. We audio book listeners becomes as attached to our narrators as we do our authors!

My thanks to Dreamscape Media and Net Galley for providing me with an audio copy of this book.