A festive Balsam Dell mystery filled with Christmas cheer, old friends, found family, and enough cheesy puns to make any cozy mystery reader smile.

Goodreads | You Feta Watch Out

Release date: November 19, 2024

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Synopsis:

Humbug! leads to Homicide! in the new Grilled Cheese Mystery by Linda Reilly . . .

Christmas in the close-knit community of Balsam Dell promises to be especially festive for Carly Hale this year when a prominent theater company comes to town to stage A Christmas Carol. But it turns out that Scrooge is not the most ill-tempered character in the production, as blowhard actor Prescott Lennon proves when he begins berating everyone else in the cast for their poor theatrics. When his arrogant behavior threatens the production, someone decides to resolve matters with a fatal solution—and frames Carly’s friend Gina for the murder.

With such an unlikable victim, Carly finds herself faced with a long list of suspects, including a grieving widow who hasn’t shed a tear, an ambitious understudy looking for his big break, and all the cast members Lennon mistreated. But there’s a ghost of a clue in the air as rumors begin to surface that the dead man had a shady past that may have come back to haunt him. With her friend still on the hook, Carly will have to sort out past misdeeds from those of the present, even as her pursuit of the killer scares the dickens out of her . . .

Includes melt-in-your-mouth sandwich recipes!

Review:

Five books into the Grilled Cheese Eatery Mysteries and I am officially at the point where these characters feel like old friends. That’s one of my favorite things about binge reading a cozy series—you get to skip the introductions and just settle right back into the world. And this time, I was especially happy to have Grant back in Balsam Dell for the holidays because I had definitely missed him. I absolutely adore the friendship between Grant and Carly. Their bond is one of those relationships that makes the series feel warm beyond the mystery itself, and Grant’s return added an extra layer of fun to the holiday setting. Carly and Ari are also still ridiculously cute together, and I love watching their relationship continue to develop naturally alongside everything else happening in Balsam Dell.

The Christmas setting was another highlight. A production of A Christmas Carol, holiday festivities, and a murder involving an extremely unlikable theater actor made for a very festive cozy mystery. The stakes felt a little higher this time around with Carly working to clear her best friend Gina, which gave her investigation some extra urgency while still keeping all the familiar charm of the series.

And, of course, we need to talk about the food. I loved seeing Carly add a Christmas inspired recipe to the eatery’s menu, although I have to admit that a fruitcake grilled cheese is probably where I draw the line. 😂 I appreciate the creativity, but I’m going to admire that one from a safe distance. The recipes and food descriptions continue to be one of the most fun parts of the series, even when Carly’s culinary experiments aren’t necessarily making it onto my personal menu.

Overall, You Feta Watch Out is another solid installment and exactly the kind of cozy holiday mystery I wanted from this series. At this point, I’m completely invested in Carly, Ari, Grant, Gina, the eatery, and the entire Balsam Dell crew—and naturally I’m continuing straight on to book six.

Perfect for Readers Who Love

• Christmas cozy mysteries
• Culinary mysteries
• Small town settings
• Found family and longtime friendships
• Sweet romantic subplots
• Festive seasonal settings
• Extremely cheesy mystery titles 😂

Overall rating: 4/5

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