by Sandra Murphy

Details on how to win a copy of Days of Wine and Roquefort at the end of this review. You can also enjoy a review of the latest book from Avery (aka Daryl Wood Gerber) other cooking mystery series, Inherit the Word, a fun food related guest post from Daryl/Avery, & enter to win a copy of that book in this issue as well.

This is book five of the multi-layered wine and cheese series. Charlotte runs the local cheese shop while her cousin Matthew takes care of the other side of the business, the wine that pairs so well with cheese.

Matthew knew Noelle a few years ago and now she’s looking to change the direction of her career as a wine expert. She’s come to town to work for the local winery, run by a well-regarded vintner. Since Matthew just married Charlotte’s best friend and with his twin daughters, moved out of Charlotte’s house, he asked if Noelle can stay with her. Lonely after Matt, the kids and their cat are gone, Charlotte, of course, says yes.

She and Noelle get along well and in fact, are refinishing a piece of furniture in Charlotte’s garage. There’s free time to do that since Charlotte’s boyfriend, Jordan, is out of town, testifying at a mobster’s trial. She’s pretty worried about him and misses him like crazy as the phone calls are few and far between and short to boot.

Grand’ Mere has another theater project going–she always does as being Mayor isn’t enough to keep her busy. When Charlotte comes home after helping out at rehearsal, she can tell someone’s been in the house and searched it. Things really go wrong when she enters the garage and finds Noelle, injured and dying.

Suspects are plenty; the guy Noelle argued with, the winery people who were jealous she was hired, the vintner’s daughter, and the smarmy reporter, someone from Noelle’s past. Since Noelle was killed at Charlotte’s house, Charlotte feels it’s her responsibility to figure out the how, why and most importantly, who of the murder.

As if the murder is not enough to keep Charlotte’s attention, her assistant Rebecca’s love life is falling apart. She’s broken up with her longtime boyfriend–or did he break up with her? On the other hand, the Deputy working the murder case seems awfully interested, so all is not lost on that front.

Delilah, Grand’ Mere’s cohort in theater productions has a problem too. Her mother, the semi-psychic has shown up. Alexis believes in her gift; Delilah, not so much. Charlotte remains undecided.

Prudence, the local pain in the neck, is back and fighting worse than usual with Sylvie, Matt’s ex. She’s losing it big time and no one knows just what is going on.

When writing a mystery, it’s easy to get so caught up in the details of the crime, the false clues, real clues, motive and more. It’s much harder to have characters who continue to grow and evolve with each book in a series. New characters have to be introduced and get along with the established characters as writers can’t kill off a favorite. Noelle missed by a hair and only because readers don’t have time to know her well.

Avery Aames manages to keep the series fresh, introduce readers to both wine and cheese without dumping information like she’d dropped a wheel of cheese on your foot, focus a lot of the action in the shop, and have one or two annoying characters to balance the best liked. Although Charlotte takes a few risks that the Chief of Police thinks are unnecessary, she doesn’t put herself into harm’s way without thinking.

Avery Aames is the pen name for author Daryl Wood Gerber. Enjoy her new series, the Cookbook Nook mysteries. The setting is near San Francisco as Jenna Hart, a successful advertising exec, leaves her job to help her aunt with the cookbook shop. The first in the series is Inherit the Word, due out in March. It will be reviewed for KRL. See an excerpt for it at the back of this book.

Previous books in the cheese shop mysteries include: The Long Quiche Goodbye, Lost and Fondue, Clobbered by Camembert, To Brie or Not to Brie. All have been reviewed by KRL. Use the search box to see the reviews and interviews with Avery/Daryl.

Recipes are in the back of the book and include: chopped salad with basil dressing, grilled cheese with bacon and fig jam, turkey chevre pizza, chocolate cherry mascarpone bars, chocko-socko cheesecake, and Roquefort Bosc pear quiche.

To enter to win a copy of Days of Wine and Roquefort, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Days,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen March 15, 2014. U.S. residents only.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the arch, in the land of blues, booze and shoes—St Louis, Missouri. While writing magazine articles to support her mystery book habit, she secretly polishes two mystery books of her own, hoping, someday, they will see the light of Barnes and Noble. You can also find several of Sandra’s short stories on UnTreed Reads including her new one Bananas Foster.