It’s time for the Northwest Cheese Invitational in the Sonoma Valley and owner of the local cheese shop, Curds and Whey, Willa Bauer is pleased to have it in her local community. Cheesemongers from all over the northwest are in town and Willa is in her element and is looking forward to connecting with old friends and former colleagues! 

During the Invitational, her late boss Max Dumas is to be honored for his custom cheese creation Church Bleu. Max kept his recipe and the location he aged the cheese a secret and everyone expects the secret to be passed to someone named at the reading of his will. But Max’s will only provides a clue! And then the cheesemonger expected to be the recipient of the Church Bleu recipe dies under suspicious circumstances. There is no shortage of suspects who’d be willing to kill for Max’s secrets. 

There’s a large cast of characters with plenty of idiosyncrasies, and Willa is a very likeable main character. As the mystery unfolds, it does seem to take its time. But I did enjoy the solving of Max’s puzzle and the team effort to solve the mysteries.

Maybe because I’m jumping in mid-series, it took me several chapters to feel a part of the cheese group, but being a cheese lover, I’ll probably be back for more! 

3 stars