Ornament Review: Baker Mickey - All About Mickey #2 - 2023 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Mickey as a baker is cute

Cons: Doesn’t stand well on his own

The Bottom Line:

Mickey has some treats

In cute second ornament

Disney fan series

Mickey Has Baked Us Some Delicious Looking Cookies

As much as I love Mickey, I’m still on the fence about collecting the All About Mickey ornament series from Hallmark.  I have so many ornaments I don’t put on my trees every year, so it’s just a matter of not needing any more ornaments, not how much I love Mickey.  But when I saw the theme for the second, I knew I had to buy Baker Mickey.

As a reminder, this series is about Mickey as a regular person, and it shows him enjoying life and hobbies much like the rest of us would.  And one thing that Mickey enjoys is baking.  He’s got a chef’s hat on his head and a white apron on over a light green shirt and blue pants.  He’s also wearing red oven gloves and holding a tray of delicious looking cookies on them.  Chocolate chip cookies, so you know they must be good.

As much as I love culinary cozy mysteries, I’m not much of a baker in real life.  Too many books to read.  But with a last name of Baker, I had to get this ornament.

Even if I didn’t have that connection, this would have been a hard ornament to not purchase.  I do love my sweets after all, and it’s a cute ornament.  Mickey might not be wearing his signature colors, but he still looks great.  And the cookies, while small, look delicious.  Plus, baked goods at Christmas are a great match.

This is the second ornament in the series, so you’ll find the series marker on Mickey’s foot.

Mickey almost stands on his own.  His feet are at such an angle that he really only stands on his right foot.  And he needs his tail to fully balance.  That always worries me since his tail is thin plastic that could easily break if you aren’t super careful.  And any little bump will make him fall over.

But Christmas ornaments are supposed to be hung, right?  There’s no issue there since Mickey is perfectly straight when you slip a hook through the loop on his head.

The cuteness factor makes me happy that I added Baker Mickey to my collection.  Any Disney fan will also like having it in their collection.

Be sure to check out the rest of the All About Mickey ornaments.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For those of us in the US, today is Thanksgiving Day.  I'm busy celebrating it with my family, so no new review today.  If you are here in the states, I hope you have a great day with your family.

I am thankful for those of you who read my reviews on a regular basis.

Book Review: Dead Man's Hand by Penny Warner (Connor Westphal #7)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Connor and a good mystery

Cons: Missing a little charm of the earlier books

The Bottom Line:

The hanging body

Connor’s final mystery

Will leave fans happy

The Chip in the Dead Man’s Hand

The Connor Westphal Mysteries have been on my to be read like for decades while I read other books by the author. It feels good to finally be reaching the seventh and final in the series, Dead Man’s Hand. 

If you haven’t met Connor yet, she is the owner and reporter for the Eureka!, a weekly paper for the town of Flat Skunk, California in gold rush country. She also happens to be deaf. The books give an interesting look at life for a deaf woman living in a hearing world. 

This book finds the town in the middle of winter. The cold, snowy weather doesn’t hide a dead body, however, especially since it is found hanging in front of one of the stores in town. While it would be easy to rule it an obvious suicide, the sheriff finds evidence that leads him to believe it is murder. Naturally, Connor sees the chance to get a big news story for her paper, but she can’t get a handle on the story. What is the meaning of the chip from the nearby Indian casino found in the victim’s hand? Or does the victim’s drug dealing have anything to do with his death?

The book doesn’t waste much time before the body is discovered, and there is plenty to keep us guessing, including multiple motives. I didn’t guess who the killer was until the end, but things did make sense. 

I was a bit surprised that one of the series regulars wasn’t in this book, and a couple of the others weren’t around much. In fact, I felt like we were missing some of the sense of place we had in earlier books in the series.

But it was nice to spend time with Connor again. She’s a strong woman who handles her hearing loss well. It was interesting to see that her signal dog, Casper, was a stronger presence in this book. I liked seeing that dynamic, and it makes me wonder why she wasn’t as involved in the earlier books. 

The series started in the late 90’s, and I’d been thinking as I read those first books about how advances in technology would change Connor’s life for the better. We saw that with this book, which was originally published in 2007. It was nice to see early versions of cell phones coming into play here. Of course, through the magic of fiction, Connor and the others haven’t aged in real time while technology has advanced. 

I was also a bit surprised by one of the subplots. I had to go back and read the ending of the last book again. When I reread the ending, I could see it was a bit more open ended than I thought it was, but it wasn’t the impression I had when I read that book.

As always with this series, there is much more foul language than you’d expect in a cozy. Keep that in mind when you pick up the book.  

All told, this was a nice send off for Connor. Fans will be happy with where Dead Man’s Hand leaves her. 

Be sure to read the rest of the Connor Westphal Mysteries. 

TV Show Review: Loki - Season 2

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Satisfying resolution to a fun show

Cons: Still some pacing issues, but much less than season 1

The Bottom Line:

Continue story

A satisfying ending

Glad I watched season

“I Have No Memory of Having My Memory Wiped.”

I was less than impressed with the first season of Loki, mainly because of where the show left us.  Since this was the first (and so far only) of the MCU shows to earn a second season, I didn’t know to expect that they would be coming back to tell more of the story.  That’s why I decided to give the second season a try, and I’m glad I did, since I enjoyed it much more than the first.

This season picks up where the first season left off.  He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) has been killed.  While Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is happy with the results, it’s Loki (Tom Hiddleston) who faces the consequences as he keeps popping in and out of various timelines.  Once he is able to stabilize himself, thanks to help from Mobius (Owen Wilson), they both learn that their problems are just beginning.  By allowing other timelines to grow, the machine at the heart of the TVA is now unstable.  Somehow, Loki has to convince Sylvie to join him in a hunt of a variant of He Who Remains to stop what they’ve started.  Will they save the universe as we know it?

If half of what I just posted makes no sense to you, that means you aren’t ready for season 2.  As much as I struggled with season 1, there is no way to enjoy season 2 without that part of the story.  Very little of what happens here has been brought up in the MCU elsewhere (at least so far), so you can’t possibly understand what is going on.

The good news is that, once you struggle through season 1, you’ll be rewarded here.  Yes, the show still has the pacing issues it did in season 1, although it’s not nearly as bad as it was then.  I can really only think of one episode that needed some editing, in my mind.  The rest keep the story moving forward.

Now, this isn’t to say that I always saw how the story was moving forward.  I was scratching my head with some of what they were doing, especially early in the season.  But it does all build somewhere if you are patient.

And what does it build to?  I’m not going to spoil anything, but I will say that I was very satisfied with how this season ended.  If the show ends here (and I kind of feel like it will), this is a great end to things.

The acting is always on point.  I especially enjoyed the interactions between Owen Wilson and Tom Hiddleston, and they shared a lot more screen time this season than the first season, which was a bonus.  Ke Huy Quan joined the cast this season (he’s everywhere now, isn’t he?), and I enjoyed his character, too.

The show looked great visually as well.  The special effects worked, and the practical sets were great to look at.  The sets are not usually something that stands out to me, but it did here, in a good way.

If, like me, you struggled with the first season of Loki, you’ll be much happier with season 2.  If you enjoyed the first, you’ll be very happy to see what happens next in this season.

Book Review: Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge (An American in Paris Mystery #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery and great characters, including Julia Child

Cons: One aspect of plot a little unclear at the end

The Bottom Line:

Death after party

Julia is a suspect

In this fun debut

Chef’s Knife of Crime

I’ve collected several first in series from Colleen Cambridge since all her historical mysteries have sounded good to me.  I finally decided to dive in with Mastering the Art of French Murder, the first American in Paris Mystery.  I’m glad I picked it up.

This book is set in December 1949 and introduces us to Tabitha Knight.  She spent the war working in a factory, but now that the war is over, she’s found herself at loose ends.  So, she accepted an invitation to go live with her grandfather in Paris.  It just so happens that one of her neighbors is Julia Child, and the two have become close friends.

Julia’s younger sister, Dort, is also living with Julia and her husband.  Dort works at a local theater that puts on plays in English, and she often brings home members of the cast and crew for late night parties.  Tabitha is at one of them since Dort is trying to set her up with one of the crew.

But the next morning, Tabitha and Julia discover that one of the guests never made it home.  Instead, she’s been murdered in the building’s basement.  The murder weapon was Julia’s prized chef’s knife.  It quickly becomes obvious that one of the members of the party must be guilty, but the police think Julia might have had something to do with it.  Can Tabitha find the truth?

I will admit, I’m not extremely familiar with Julia Child except by reputation, meaning I’ve never watched her show or read any of her cookbooks.   Still, the Julia I met in this book felt like the Julia I was picturing in my mind from clips I have seen over the years.  Yes, she is a supporting character, but I really enjoyed it when she was on the page.

But she is just one of the cast of characters, and they are all great.  I really enjoyed Tabitha, and I feel like there is a lot to explore with her character in future books.  The other supporting players are fun, and the suspects kept me guessing.

In fact, I thought I had picked up on a subtle clue at one point.  I was so proud of myself only to discover at the end I’d fallen for a red herring.  Yes, this means the mystery was well done, with enough twists to keep me engaged until the ending.  I did feel like one aspect of the plot got lost in the climax, but it didn’t bother me too much.

There was some mild swearing in this book, which I wasn’t really expecting.  As long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.

As you’d expect in a book with Julia Child as a character there is lots of talk of food and scenes set in a kitchen going over the details of the case.  If you aren’t hungry when you pick up the book, you will be when you are done with it.  No, there aren’t any recipes at the end of the book, but it is definitely still a culinary mystery.

I will have to dig into the author’s other series soon.  But in the meantime, I’m looking forward to the next in this series, coming this spring.  Mastering the Art of French Murder is a fun debut that will keep you turning pages.

Be sure to check out the rest of the American in Paris Mysteries.

November 19th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post, where I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

What was I up to this week?  What wasn't I up to this week?

Monday started with a physical therapy appointment.  I saw a different person this time.  She was encouraging with my progress, and gave me some new exercises to make even more progress.  I was very happy about that.

Thursday night, my small group through church met for dinner, which was nice.  The normal hosts hosted us, and grilled some burgers, which were delicious.  We got lucky since at one point they were predicting rain on Thursdays.  We got some rain on Wednesday, and not much else.  Even the rain they were predicting for Saturday fell through.

Friday night, I went to see Pod Meets World Live in downtown LA.  This podcast is a rewatch podcast where three of the stars of the 90's sitcom Boy Meets World go through the show.  I've been enjoying it.  I'd skipped out on two earlier chances to go in the area, but I decided to go to this one.  The actor who played Mr. Feeney was there as well.  Plus, as special guests, were the two hosts of How Rude Tanneritos, a rewatch podcast for Full House that I've also been enjoying.  I had a blast.  I think I was laughing almost the entire two hours.

Blog Spam Comments on the Week:

Yes, you read that right.  Comments.  I woke up Wednesday morning to three spam comments from two different accounts on one blog post.  The two from the same account were identical, but these other two were nearly so.  They were so close, I had to laugh.  And then save them to share.

Here's the first:

Brilliantly presented! Your post is both insightful and thought-provoking. Appreciate you sharing your valuable perspective.

And the second:

Thank you for the interesting and thought-provoking perspectives presented in your blog posts.

I mean, two people found my blog post brilliant and thought-provoking.  I feel so honored.

Got to love spam comments.  They are so good for the ego.

This Last Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Final Cut by Marjorie McCown

Tuesday - TV Show Review: True Lies - Complete Series

Wednesday - Book Review: Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss

Thursday - Movie Review: True Lies

Friday - Book Review: The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge

Tuesday - TV Show Review: Loki - Season 2

Wednesday - Book Review: Dead Man's Hand by Penny Warner

Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!

Friday - Ornament Review: Baker Mickey

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Just three books to tell you about this week.

Up first is "Y" is for Yesterday, the final Kinsey Millhone Mystery from Sue Grafton.  I got this as an audio book from my local library.  This is a series I've been working on for a while, and it's hard to believe I'm going to finish it.

Then I snagged a couple of Kindle freebies.  As of my writing, it looks like they are both still free.

The first was Dead Letters by Sheila Lowe, the eighth in her Claudia Rose Forensic Handwriting Mysteries.  I've only read the first, and I don't have the second.  But I've got books six and eight now.  Guess I need to get book two and read it soon.

The final book is Jingle Bells, Rifle Shells by Bruce Hammack.  It was recommended in an author newsletter this week, and I decided to snag it.  We've got a blind PI main character, so it will definitely be something different.  We will see when I get to it.

What I'm Currently Reading:

If you've been paying attention to my Book Haul the last couple of weeks, these are going to look very familiar.

Let's start with "Y" is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton.  I'm almost to the half way point in the book, which is great since I'm hoping to finish it when I drive up to visit my family for Thanksgiving.  It's a long audiobook, so I need to get a good jump on it.  I have some traditional things I listen to on the way home from Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season, so I don't want to have this book take up the entire drive home.

Meanwhile, I'm currently between books.  Earlier today, I finished up Over My Dead Blog by Sarah E. Burr.  This is the first book blogger mystery, and I enjoyed it.  I'll be reviewing it after Thanksgiving, so I've got a bit of time to get my review written.

I had hoped to start The Body in the Cornfield today, but I'm being very lazy.  (Had hoped to get a couple of reviews written, too, but I don't think that's going to happen.)  This is the second in Catherine Dilt's Rose Creek Mysteries.  I loved the first, and I'm really looking forward to reading this book.

I think that wraps things up here.  If you are in the US, have a happy Thanksgiving!  Hope everyone has a fantastic week.

November 18th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Dancing with the Stars – It’s past time for Harry to go.  He seems like a nice enough guy, and he really is trying.  But he’s clearly the weakest of the dancers left.  Barry probably wouldn’t have been there more than another few weeks, but I was sorry to see him go.  He’s been fun to watch.

Wipeout – Please tell me those sisters really weren’t arguing about who goes first while their timer was running.  That it was deceptive editing for humor since they didn’t finish anyway.  Either way, how embarrassing.  Was so happy the one couple got engaged even though they didn’t win and get the money for a ring.  Looks to me like no one lost in the Wipeout Zone this time.

Press Your Luck – Wow, that one guy in the opening rounds had no luck.  I wasn’t surprised he got eliminated, but he had to keep pressing at that point.  And for someone with only one spin left in the bonus round, the winner sure did get a nice prize after all.

The Santa Clauses – Not quite as funny as the two from last week, but there were some good lines.  It’s the middle of the story, so I get it, they need to show how big the problem is, but I didn’t feel like things moved forward as much as I was expecting.  Until the end.  Things definitely got interesting at the end.  I’m very anxious to see what happens next.

Quantum Leap – I was wondering when we’d see Hannah again.  I also thought we were building toward a romance between her and Ben, but it moved a little faster than I was expecting.  Still wondering where they are going with Tom and Addison, but I do like how they are developing things.  They are building it up, so if there is a twist later, we will feel it.

The Challenge – So much drama!  I really don’t need all of that.  An hour episode is more than enough.  Not sure I like the former champs coming back and taking money with them.  But it will create chaos for sure.

Survivor – I’m not sure if I am fully on board with rooting for Jake or not, but you’ve got to love his reactions to things.  Especially when he realized he wasn’t going home.  “They’re actually playing Survivor.”  And I liked the auction being back, twists for the new era and all.  Made it very interesting.  I’ve got to admit, I wasn’t that upset with when it ended.  Yes, they’ve turned me against Bruce, but his lack of trying to get money made me want to see him shafted like that.

The Amazing Race – I’m sorry the father/daughter team made it through to the next leg.  She is driving me crazy.  I’m not sorry to see the sisters leave, however, since they are bugging me, too.  Slovenia looked beautiful!  I want to go visit.  And I really want to do that zipline.  At least they let the father/daughter do that after they missed the signs for the Express Pass.

Lego Masters – I am impressed with what the teams managed to do with the limited number of bricks.  I also agree with the team that went home.  As always, I hated to lose the team, but their build wasn’t as good as the others.  I’m really torn on Christopher.  He’s can be a little fun, but there are times he goes too far.  He’s having fun but the other teams aren’t.  I felt that was with the way he was behaving in the racing.  Yet I was happy for him with how thrilled he was that their build was making it in the video game.  I really do feel like his team could go all the way.

Book Review: The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman (Leaphorn and Chee #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery with interesting characters introduced

Cons: Took a bit for me to get into the story

The Bottom Line:

Well loved series starts

Takes us to reservation

I’ll be back or more

Interesting Debut

I’ve long been interested in trying the Leaphorn and Chee Mysteries from Tony Hillerman.  The setting of the Navajo Reservation sounded interesting, and the covers appealed to me.  Yeah, so I do judge books by their covers sometimes.  Anyway, I’d heard lots of good things about them, but I just didn’t have time to dive in until I was looking for a shortish audio book recently, so I snagged The Blessing Way, the first in the series.  I’m glad I finally started the series.

Bergen McKee is a professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico.  He’s been working on a book on the superstitions of the Navajo, specifically the legends of witches in the tribes.  He’s using the summer to conduct more interviews on the reservation, which also means connecting up with his college friend, Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant.

McKee arrives as Leaphorn is trying to track down a young man, Luis Horseman, who has gone into hiding somewhere in the desert for fear he has killed a man.  While McKee starts his initial investigations, Leaphorn goes with him to spread the word that the other man in the attack was only injured.  But then, Luis Horseman turns up dead miles from where Leaphorn thought he would be.  Meanwhile, McKee gets a lead on a suspected witch on the reservation that summer.  Are these things connected?

For a series debut, this is very interesting.  After I finished the book, I saw that McKee was originally the main character and Leaphorn’s role was expanded later.  That actually makes sense to me since McKee is on the page without Leaphorn for much of the book.  Meanwhile, the other lead character of the series is still a few books away from showing up.  Mainly, I find this interesting trivia and a glimpse at how characters and a series can evolve over time.

However, this background is needed to understand one reason why it took me a little while to get into the book.  There’s some set up to get McKee to the reservation that I’m not completely sure we needed.  Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out who all the characters were and how they fit into the series.

It also means that Leaphorn doesn’t feel like a fully realized character yet.  He was interesting enough that I will be back for the next in the series, but McKee and some of the other characters McKee spends most of his time interacting with felt the most real.

One thing I was expecting was an interesting look at Navajo culture, and I got that.  This was one aspect that I really enjoyed.  While Leaphorn and McKee both have different takes on the beliefs that impact the case, they still treat the beliefs with respect.

And no, there isn’t anything supernatural going on here, even with the talk about witches.  So if, like me, you generally avoid books with heavy supernatural elements, you can rest easy when you pick up this book.

Once the plot did get going, I was engrossed.  And yes, I also saw how some of the characters who appeared on the periphery fit into the story.  Leaphorn has some interesting questions to puzzle out as he works on his case.  Meanwhile, McKee finds himself in some unexpected danger, which completely hooked me.

The book originally came out in 1970, which means some elements are dated.  It also means that the characters are missing some technology we take for granted now.  I think that might have changed the story some.  Then again, depending on how remote they are, it might not.  Either way, this is good background to have when you start to read the book.

Since this isn’t one of my usual cozies, I went in expecting a little more content than I would normally get.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that we didn’t really get any of that.  Yes, this is more of a police procedural thriller combo than a cozy, but it does it without adding in the content we usually find in those genres.  We’ll see if that continues as the series goes along.

I mentioned at the start that I read this via audiobook.  George Guidall is the narrator who read it to me, and I was quite excited when I saw his name.  I’m familiar with his work on another series, and I like him as a narrator.  I wasn’t disappointed with his performance here.

I’m glad I’ve finally started this series and look forward to seeing what all lies ahead of me as I read more about Joe Leaphorn.  If you haven’t started the series yet, you’ll be glad you made time to read The Blessing Way.

Check out the rest of the Leaphorn and Chee Mysteries.

Movie Review: True Lies (1994)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Lots of laughs and over the top action

Cons: One scene goes on too long

The Bottom Line:

A secret spy life

Family complications

Filled with action, laughs

“If You Need to Talk, Speak into the Purse.”

I’ve had True Lies on my to watch list for years.  It always looked like fun.  I bumped it up thanks to the awful TV series attempt at the franchise.  At least one good thing came out of that series – I finally watched the movie and really enjoyed it.

The movie introduces us to Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger).  While his wife, Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) thinks he works for a computer sales company, he really works for Omega Sector, a top-secret government spy agency.

While in the middle of trying to track down a terrorist threat, Harry begins to think that his wife is having an affair.  Naturally, he uses Omega Sector resources to track her every movement.  What will happen now that his two worlds have collided?

I knew the basic premise going into the movie (even before watching the TV series).  I also knew it was billed as an action comedy.  I wasn’t prepared for just how much I would enjoy it.  Oh, it is obvious early on that this movie isn’t going to be realistic.  The opening scene ends with an over-the-top chase scene.  And you know what?  I didn’t care.  I was smiling at how ridiculous it was.  It was just plain fun.

And that continued over the course of the movie.  There are lots of great scenes that had me laughing.  Not to mention the one liners.  And yet, the action still had me on the edge of my seat since they did plenty with heights, one of my fears.  Were these actions scenes remotely realistic?  No.  Did I care?  Not in the slightest.  I was so caught up in the story I was able to enjoy the ride and not really worry about it.

I will say I was bothered by the hotel room scene.  If you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about.  It features Helen dancing around in her underwear.  It went on a little too long for my tastes.  We just didn’t need that much of it.  (Okay, seems like they could have done something else period, but that’s a different discussion.)

I watched the movie on TV, and I suspect it was highly edited based on run times alone.  There might have been more content that would bother me that was edited out, and I’m a little nervous to find out.  Keep in mind that this is an R rated movie before you decide to watch it.

One reason this movie works is the cast.  They all played their part of the hilt.  This was especially true for me of Jamie Lee Curtis.  I’ve seen plenty of her movies, but I really felt she nailed this role.  It’s easy to see why she won an award for it.  But again, the entire cast was great.  Their chemistry made everything work, and the way they reacted to what was happening or delivered their lines really made the humor work.

This movie did come out in 1994.  That means that we have some rather obvious green screen at times.  But most of the time I was so caught up in the action I wasn’t noticing.

True Lies is an over-the-top action movie in all the best ways.  If you are looking to sit back and just enjoy a film, this is one to consider.

Book Review: Case of the Bleus by Korina Moss (Cheese Shop Mysteries #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love in a page turning mystery

Cons: Climax could be a little stronger

The Bottom Line:

Clues to a rare cheese

Compete with clues to murder

In can’t put down book

You’ll Get the Bleus if You Skip This Book

I’ve been working at getting caught up on several different series this year, and one of those is Korina Moss’s Cheese Shop Mysteries.  The fourth came out a few weeks ago, and I made it a priority to get it read before the end of the year.  I’m glad I did because I enjoyed Case of the Bleus.

These books center on Willa Bauer, owner of Curds & Whey in Yarrow Glen in Sonoma County, California.  It’s now been about a year since Willa opened the shop, and she is enjoying her new life and the friends she’s making in the community.

She’s also thrilled that the Northwest Cheese Invitational is being held at the new convention center just outside of town.  That means she gets to show off her shop to her former co-workers, who are in town for the event.  Sadly, their boss, Max, has recently passed away, leaving behind the secret of his award-winning Church Bleu cheese.  Everyone is hoping when the will is read that they will be the one to inherit the secrets behind the valuable cheese.  Well, everyone but Willa.

Unfortunately, one of Willa’s former co-workers is killed within hours of the will being read.  Did the secret of the cheese lead to her death?  Can Willa figure out what the cryptic clue that Max left behind means?

Really, this book has dueling storylines, the murder and the hunt for the cheese.  Both are equally compelling, and they weave in and out of each other since one provides a possible motive for the other.  The result was a book I never wanted to put down because I had to know what was going to happen next.  And the suspects that kept me guessing.  The climax was a tad weaker than I would have liked, but it did answer all my questions.

But what I really found as I read this book was how much I love the characters and the community that they’ve formed.  Yes, I knew I liked them, but I was smiling so much at getting to spend more time with them here.  There are some sub-plots involving their personal lives that make me anxious for the next book to come out so I can find out what will happen to them next.

Which does bring up that fact that this is book four in a series.  You can jump in here since anything you need to know about the characters and their relationships is explained.  Yes, that does mean there are some minor spoilers for the previous books, but they are minor.  Naturally, I’d advise you to read the series in order, but if you want to jump in here, you won’t be too lost.

As always, I have to give a shout out to the fact that these are set in Sonoma County, where I grew up.  It’s always a delight to read about the area even if Yarrow Glen is fictitious.

If this book leaves you hungry for cheese (and it will), you’ll be happy with the three recipes we get at the end.

Case of the Bleus left me anything but blue.  Fans of the series will be delighted to catch up on Willa and the gang’s latest exploits.

Be sure to grab the rest of the Cheese Shop Mysteries.