I got the recommendation for the first book in the Grilled Cheese mystery series from the Cozy Mystery Book Club, which always recommends the first book so you don't have to jump into the middle of a series and feel lost. I've read several recommendations from that book club, but this has been my favorite (so far)!
This is exactly the kind of low-stakes cozy mystery that I enjoy. The twist felt like it came out of nowhere since I didn’t catch many clues leading up to it, but I still had a great time reading it.
After the death of her husband, Carly moves back to Balsam Dell, Vermont, to finally open her dream business—a grilled cheese restaurant. Her gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches are a hit with locals and tourists... but not everyone’s a fan. Lyle Bagley, Carly’s high school ex, just bought the building her diner is in and wants her out.
Then Lyle is found dead behind Carly’s dumpster and one of her employees is the prime suspect. Carly has to step up and figure out who the real killer is before her business goes under.
The first book had me hooked, so I was super excited to dive into this one! It had all the clues I needed to solve the mystery alongside Carly, which made it even more fun than the first. Plus, I loved all the Halloween vibes and recipe ideas sprinkled throughout!
This book starts with a Halloween food competition that Carly really wants to win, because it's the perfect chance to impress the locals and show off her skills.
However, Ferris Menard, the owner of the nearby Sub-a-Dub-Sub, is mad at Carly because, just two days before the competition, one of his employees quit to work only at the grilled cheese restaurant. Ferris thinks Carly is to blame, accuses her of sabotage, and vows to ruin her.
The morning after the competition, Menard is found dead in his kitchen with a steak knife stuck in his heart. With plenty of people wanting to see him gone, Carly knows she has to figure out who did it.
I’m really loving this series, and this book felt a bit darker compared to the first two. It didn’t have the same feel-good vibe, but it was still a great read. I also loved the idea of a donut grilled cheese and tried it for myself - it was the perfect blend of salty and sweet!
Carly’s former classmate, Klarissa Taddeo, is throwing an extravagant bridal shower at the historic Balsam Dell Inn. But when a double-booking messes things up, Klarissa is in a bind. They move the venue to the maid of honor's family mansion, and Carly steps in as caterer to save the day.
A rowdy group of groomsmen crashes the party and Klarissa is fuming at her fiancé. Things heat up when a loud argument breaks out, and everyone is shocked when the groom is found dead at the bottom of the stairs. Carly has to jump into action to clear her friends' names.
This one felt a bit off to me, and it might be because the formatting was different from the previous books. Some chapters were only two pages long, which I didn’t remember from the earlier ones. The story was okay overall, but it didn’t grab me in the same way as the first two.
With the summer heat cranking up, Carly is excited to have teenager Ross Baxter delivering sandwiches to local seniors. He’s such a polite and hardworking young guy, so she brushes off when one of her more difficult customers complains about him. But Ross goes back to that same customer’s home for another delivery and discovers her dead body. Naturally, the police and half the town jump to the conclusion that he must have killed her, so Carly decides to step in and investigate to prove he’s innocent.
As Carly digs deeper, she finds out the victim had an estranged stepson and stepdaughter, both of whom were after her money to get their lives back on track. To make things worse, the dead woman had a reputation for causing trouble in other women’s marriages, which means Carly’s got a whole list of suspects to sift through.
