Review and Giveaway: For Cheddar or Worse

For Cheddar or Worse (Cheese Shop Mystery - Book 7) by Avery Aames

Publication Date: 02/02/2016
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 320
ISBN-10: 0425273326
ISBN-13: 978-0425273326

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Prime Crime)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, itunes

Avery Aames (aka. Daryl Wood Gerber) on the WEB: Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Books in the series:

Cheese Shop Mystery

1. The Long Quiche Goodbye
2. Lost and Fondue
3. Clobbered by Camembert
4. To Brie or Not To Brie
5. Days of Wine and Roquefort
6. As Gouda as Dead
7. For Cheddar or Worse

Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from For Cheddar or Worse, courtesy of the author's website.

Synopsis:

In the new Cheese Shop Mystery from the Agatha Award-winning author of As Gouda as Dead, an extra-sharp tongued cheese critic is cut down during a summer cheese festival.

It’s time for the annual Cheese Festival in Providence, Ohio, and Charlotte Bessette’s cheese shop is packed with homemade specialties. Meanwhile, her friend Erin is prepping her dairy farm and inn for cheese makers, marketers, journalists, and one surprise guest—Lara Berry, pretentious cheese whiz, pompous bestselling author, and pungent critic whose extra sharp tongue can crumble a reputation. 
 
Even though any love for Lara by her friends curdled long ago, Charlotte is surprised when the foodie is smothered to death in her room at Erin’s inn. Accusations start flying, but the one laying blame on Erin strikes Charlotte as a crock. Now, to clear her friend’s name, Charlotte has to sift through Lara’s ex-lovers, former business partners, and unforgiving enemies to find a killer before Lara’s past casts a tainted pall on the festival’s future.

Thoughts:

Author Avery Aames concludes her Cheese Shop Mystery series with the seventh book, For Cheddar or Worse. Readers who have followed the series throughout it's publication will be sad to see it end. Charlotte Bessette's cheese shop is the pride of Providence, Ohio, but her antics as an amateur sleuth is what has readers coming back for more. Aames wraps this one up nicely with a well crafted mystery that is full of surprises and plenty of yummy cheese!

What I Liked:

So sad to see this one end. The Cheese Shop series has been one of my favorites. Though I have not reviewed every book in the series, I have read them all and loved how the series progressed. Avery Aames gives readers a captivating setting, wonderfully drawn characters and plenty of mystery in each of the books in this series. Returning to each book is like visiting an old friend. It's warm and cozy and just a bit intense with each mystery. Loved them all!

For Cheddar or Worse is the last book in the series and those are always hard for an author in my opinion. There are so many loose ends that need to be tied up and each character's growth and development has to come to close. Aames does a wonderful job with this final book. Charlotte is finally married to the love her life, Jordan. Erin's bed, breakfast and dairy farm is a success and the cheese lovers of Providence are going to see some murder free days. 

This book had everything a reader could want in a final installment. The annual cheese festival has come to Providence and with it, a lot of cheese lovers, marketers and journalists. There are a few unexpected guests. Lara Berry is not very well liked in the cheese community because of her condescending attitude and harsh dictates. And then there is the murderer who kills her. Neither were wanted at the cheese fest, but it makes for an interesting mystery. Lots of well thought out clues, motives galore and the suspect pool is large. Aames excels at red herrings and keeping the reader guessing.

One of my favorite parts of this series is the people and characters that inhabit Providence. Aames always creates characters that readers want to know more about whether they are re-occurring or just around for one book, they are all well drawn and have the kind of depth readers need in a good mystery. I was happy to see that Charlotte and her friends have their own happy endings, as well as, a great final mystery.

What I didn't like:

I have always felt that this series focused more on the people than on the mystery in each book and that's not a bad thing. But for mystery purists and readers who are all about the sleuthing it might seem like something is missing. Don't get me wrong I loved learning about Charlotte and Jordan and her other friends, family and townspeople, but sometimes I wanted to know more about who was dead and why. Make sense?

Bottom Line:

This has been an awesome series and I hate to see it end, but Avery Aames will likely give us more great mysteries in the future. Aames ends this series on a good note. The story was engaging and finding the killer was not easy. I didn't get it figured out until the big reveal and that's always nice. Another great book by a well liked author in the genre.

For Cheddar or Worse is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Avery Aames is the nationally bestselling author of A CHEESE SHOP MYSTERY series for Berkley Prime Crime. The first, The Long Quiche Goodbye, won the Agatha Award for "Best First Novel." Avery is the pseudonym for Daryl Wood Gerber. Daryl writes the nationally bestselling COOKBOOK NOOK MYSTERIES. Daryl also created the format for the popular sit-com, "Out of this World" and has won awards for her screenplays. Both Avery and Daryl like to read, cook, and garden. 

Avery & Daryl blog at Mystery Lovers Kitchen, http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com - 
a blog for foodies who love mysteries. 

And some of their characters show up at the Killer Characters blog, http://killercharacters.com 

Visit Avery at her website: http://www.averyaames.com to see a sneak preview, her book trailer, find recipes, and more.
Visit Daryl at her website: http://www.darylwoodgerber.com for the same.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of For Cheddar or Worse by Avery Aames.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US Addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, March 4th.

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