Synopsis

When cheese becomes deadly business, one woman must slice through lies to uncover the truth…

Laura Evans escaped her high-stress Boston restaurant management career for small-town Vermont charm. Instead of peace, she finds murder.

Just weeks into her new role as café manager at Silver Springs General Store, a renowned food critic turns up dead after a pre-festival cheese tasting. Worse still, her boss Maggie becomes the prime suspect.

The Summer Cheese Festival is days away and the store’s reputation is crumbling faster than aged parmesan. Laura must act.

With her sharp-eyed landlady, Evelyn Chan, she discovers beneath the town’s picture-perfect surface lie rivalries, family secrets, and long-buried scandals.

When there’s an entire festival’s worth of suspects, she must separate friend from foe before it’s too late…

Can she unmask the murderer before the festival’s finale, or will her investigation end in disaster?

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Review

The first in a new series set in a quaint little town in Vermont offered a picturesque setting with affable characters… and murder.

Laura is new to town, having taken over running a cafe. She is well-versed in the restaurant world, having left Boston and perhaps a not-so-ideal situation. However, she seems to have found her niche and after only a few days, has taken to the people and her position. Perhaps because her grandparents lived there, and she is familiar with the town. Things are going smoothly until she discovers the body of a food critic, and the police believe her boss is to blame. This sets her on the path to uncovering the truth, along with her landlady.

This mystery is well written, and I did not suspect the killer until the name was revealed. I honestly couldn’t figure out who it might be since there were many with a motive to want him dead. I like how Laura was methodical about deciphering the information provided to her, but she also didn’t hide anything from the police. Granted, they did not want her involved, but then what police force wants an amateur sleuth on the case?

There are a few mysteries sprinkled throughout the book besides the murder, all tied to the cheese festival. Seems like many people are hiding secrets. All is revealed in the end.

While I am not a cheese connoisseur, I enjoyed the descriptions and other cheese details. The book is a culinary feast for the imagination, from the menus to the varieties of cheese available.

There is even a philanthropic angle with the craft group that Laura is invited to join. You’ll have to read the book to find out what I mean.

This book is well written, and I can’t wait to see what else the author has in store for Laura and the gang. We give the book 4 paws up.

About the Author

Jodie is an author & knitting blogger. Her books welcome readers to the charming Silver Springs Mysteries in Vermont, filled with intriguing puzzles, memorable characters, and the satisfying solutions readers love.

When she’s not plotting her next book, you’ll find her reading, savoring a coffee (always with cream!) or doing her latest knitting or crochet project. She loves to travel as it sparks ideas for her stories. Her most satisfying creative moments come from quiet evenings at home with her family.

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Giveaway

Grab your own copy of this short story from the author

It is called Gifts of Goodwill, and the link above will take you to BookFunnel to download a copy for yourself.