Book Review: Brie Careful What You Wish For by Linda Reilly (Grilled Cheese Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love in a strong mystery

Cons: One aspect felt repetitive

The Bottom Line:

Mean customer dies

Carly must grill the suspects

Fans will eat it up

Murder of a Bad Customer

I’ve really enjoyed Linda Reilly’s first three Grilled Cheese Mysteries, so when she announced she found a new publisher to continue the series, I was among the many happy fans.  Brie Careful What You Wish For is the first book with the new publisher, and it’s another great book.

This series features Carly Hale, who has taken her love of grilled cheese and opened a restaurant in her hometown of Balsam Dell, Vermont, that specializes in this comfort food.  It’s proved to be popular with the locals, and as this book opens, business has never been better.  Part of that is thanks to Ross Baxter, an enterprising young man who has opened a cash-based delivery service for several of the restaurants in town to give him money for college when he starts this fall.

However, one of the regulars he delivers to is Octavia Gray, a retiree who never seems to be happy with his service.  Things take a turn when Ross arrives with her lunch one day to find her dead on the kitchen floor, obviously murdered.  With the police thinking Ross might have done something to Octavia, Carly jumps in trying to figure out what really happened.  Can she uncover the truth?

I always love it when the victim is a nasty person because the suspects are endless.  That’s the case here, although we quickly zero in on a smaller number who seem to have the best motive.  I’ve got to say, I found all of them compelling at some point.  I was starting to hone in on the truth, but there were still major pieces I was missing that didn’t get filled in until Carly figured things out.  This definitely means the suspects were developed well and were doing their job as red herrings.

Authors of cozy mysteries walk many fine lines.  One of them is the main character continually putting themselves in danger to solve cases and the reactions of family and friends.  This book has Carly’s loved ones constantly warning her about the danger.  While I appreciated this touch, especially since I found it realistic, I did feel it was a little one note.  But that’s my only real complaint with the book.

It was great to get to spend more time with the characters.  We are getting quite a large cast of regulars, and they are all back and given plenty of page time.  I really do love them and the relationships they have with each other.  There are some fun sub-plots involving them, and I loved the updates.

And if you love cheese, be prepared to be hungry as you read.  There are plenty of scenes in the diner, so there is constant talk of grilled cheese.  We get two new interesting sounding recipes for gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches at the end.

It really was delightful to be back with Carly in Brie Careful What You Wish For.  Fans will find themselves wishing for another visit as soon as they put this book down.

Because you can’t enjoy just one, here are the rest of the Grilled Cheese Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.