Reviews

• Start with one very dead body belonging to the most unpopular man in Providence, Ohio. Add half a dozen suspects from among the town-folk. Four non-suspect citizens helping to solve the murder (Yes, murder!). Three children. One rescue cat. Fold in cheese and cheese-making facts(too many to count), and four recipes (Just the right amount, I think). Sprinkle with humor and compassion. Top with a happily-ever-after ending. Voila! You have before you the 2011 Agatha winner for Best First novel. After reading it, I looked to see if there was another in the works in this series. The answer is "yes." The title is: Lost and Fondue (CHEESE SHOP MYSTERY) . Flesh and bone character sketches are one of Aames many strengths. Here are examples: (1)Bernadette Bessette: chief suspect, mayor and manager of the Providence Playhouse, is described by Charlotte Bessette, narrator and proprietor of The Cheese Shop where the body was found: "{My} grandmother . . . trundled into the annex like a locomotive with no off switch, arms pumping, chest huffing, patchwork skirt swirling around her calves. She was always in a hurry and filled with boundless energy. I only hoped I could have that much energy at seventy-two. 'I think Ican. I think I can.' She finger-combed her short gray hair and tossed her red macrame purse on the drop-cloth-covered bar." (2)Vivian Williams: antique shop owner is seen in Charlotte's eyes as: "a clipper ship, aloof and elegant, sails unfurled, her chin-length hair in a flip, the flaps of her Ann Taylor suit jacket flying wide." (3)Umberto Uso: chief of police is described, complete with family background: "Urso was the kind of guy I would want on my team for kickball or flag football. Strong, forthright, ever alert. He could probably break me in half with his sizeable hands. . . . I always thought Urso would go into the family business. His tidbit of a mother, no bigger than a preteen, owned Two Plug Nickels Farm. She and her husband had emigrated from Sicily. They made the best Ricota salata I had ever tasted, and their goat cheese was incredibly smooth. She claimed playing opera over a set of loud speakers while the cheese was processing made the difference. Their son, Urso, had taken a different path." Humor always helps and in this small scene between Charlotte and the Chief you see it: "'Don't be a smart aleck.' Urso gazed at me with hard eyes. . . . 'Why are you here?' I demanded, angry that I'd given him Pelegrino water when I could have given him tap water for all the good he was doing to free Grandmere." As we all know, every good cozy includes a dog or a cat. Meet Rags, the rescue cat who loves the theater and is walked on a blue leash: "a fluffy Ragdoll, with the easiest demeanor in the world, his silver, rabbit-like fur marred by one brown spot near the tail." The murder took place outside The Cheese Shop. The series is labeled "A Cheese shop Mystery." And cheese, glorious cheese is everywhere, detailed deliciously in texture descriptions, recipes, and facts about the art of cheese making. For example: (1)Gouda- "earthy and creamy with a fudgy texture." (2)Kindred Brebis - "yogurty cheese with hints of caramel, pasture and clover." (3)Humboldt Fog - "a gorgeous young goat cheese with a vein of vegetable ash, a white bloomy rind and a clean lemony taste." We come away educated. We learn about various cheese rooms, the Turning Mechinism which has the ability to turn ten wheels at one time, and the "affinage center" which is used in the aging process. Charlotte has been raised by her grandparents, following the death of her parents in a car accident. She talks lovingly about them: "I kept my parents' precious memories in my mother's maple hope chest. Once a year, I took them out to appreciate them." Avery Aames writes as follows at the end of her Acknowledments: "Last, but certainly not least, thank you to my mother and father, who smile down on me from Heaven. You always encouraged me to pursue my creativity. I am blessed." We are blessed as well. Thank you, Avery Aames.

• I enjoyed this book all the way through and never imagined a Cheese shop could tell such a story and bring lots of investigation...

• A cute title, a cuter story, and wonderfuly informative cheese and wine pairings. I can't wait to try them out at my next party. The mystery was a typical cozy, i.e., little violence and many likable characters. I wished that it had had a few more recipes, since many dishes were featured in the story.

• I so badly wanted to love this book but I just couldn't. To me, there were major flaws in the story. First, like a lot of others, I do NOT buy the "romance" between Charlotte and Jordan. There was zero chemistry other than forced school-girl slavering by Charlotte, based only on his looks and physique. We get it. He's a hunk. So what? I think they also say that he makes cheese, has a farm and likes food. REAL character markers! (eye roll). Now Chief Urso, on the other hand, is a more rounded character and worthy of some "hankering" IMO. Sparks are definitely there between Charlotte and him, so why is she after cardboard-cut-out-Marlboro-Man? Second, the area she places her town and Cheese Shop is very familiar to me, having grown up in that area. Believe me, there are a lot of WONDERFUL cheese shops selling the most delicious cheeses--most of them, farm and Amish made. There are also wonderful wineries too. I'm afraid Charlotte and Matthew's shop would not last long in the area. Most people there don't want to, or even have the ability to, buy chi-chi frou-frou fancy imported cheeses and wines. Sure, you many get the occasional " big city" tourist but even they come for the basics: Amish cooking and Grandma-style farm fresh foods. Third, (and this is another reason Charlotte should be with Urso and not Jordan) running to the Chief with silly dribs and drabs of useless information and being completely blinkered about one character (just because you don't like them and they treat you badly doesn't automatically make them a killer) became BEYOND irritating. The Chief must have the patience of a saint to have put up with it and with her. This wasn't even up to a Nancy Drew type "investigation". All that being said, I don't want to end on a negative note. I do LOVE cheese and all the information about various cheeses in the book was appealing. Some of the characters are enjoyable and attractive and I could see them growing in later books in the series. I may give this another shot. The writing is very good.

• In this book we meet local Cheese Shop owner Charlotte Bessette, her cousin Matthew, his twin daughters and her grandparents. Early in the book Charlotte hosts a wine and cheese sampling and confrontations run high between Charlotte's grandmother and Kristine who wants to over take and become Mayor of the town claiming to fix all that is wrong. When Kristine's husband winds up dead all leads point to Grandmère Charlotte's grandmother who gets placed under house arrest. Unlike most cozy books this one seemed to have no shortage of suspects but not much on motive or means. Could it be Ed's wife Kristine finding out that Ed was doing shaddy deals? Or was it Meredith Charlotte's best friend who seems to have something to hide? Was it the museum curator Felicia who had a falling out with Ed? And who is the mysterious person having an affair with Ed? What I liked: I liked the relationship between Charlotte and Rebecca it was such a great rapport between the two. They work well together in the shop. I also enjoyed how Rebecca convinced Charlotte to look into what was really going on! I also loved the references to various tv shows and mystery movies. I loved the relationship between Charlotte, Matthew and the grandparents it meshed well together. I also enjoyed the discussions on various cheeses and watching the romance between Charlotte and Jordan along with Matthew and his love interest. What I didn't like: The big thing I wasn't a fan of and if it was me as Charlotte I'd want to really scream at Kristine about being so blind as to how her daughter was behaving towards other kids. Taking things her mother said and running at the mouth to Matthew's daughters and instigating situations where the twins looked bad and like trouble makers, but in the end it seemed to work out to a better situation by the end of the story. Also I think Kristine got a little extreme with the whole election coming up and making a fool over herself trying to sell out Grandmère as a murderer. Being under house arrest really made it impossible for her to fix her image and work on things as the mayor, but I enjoyed how it played out in the end!

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