Dear Fellow Reader,

Fall is creeping its way into this area of the Midwest. It is getting cooler, and the leaves are starting to turn. I love it. I do enjoy the warmth of summer after winter and spring but come fall, I’m ready to get out the sweaters and curl up. It seems to me that it is warmer than usual for the end of September but it does cool off fast once the sun starts setting. Not yet time for a warming fire in the fireplace though.

I happened to look at the notebook where I keep a list of titles I want to read. That list is long. My first inclination is to try and organize the list so that I can go through the list methodically. But then the other side of my brain says that is not the way to read books. Read what you want to read. My list is diverse – I have a desire to read all different kinds of books. Somehow arranging the books in some sort of order seems like useless work. I tend to want to read something but if the spirit passes, I am hard-pressed to bring it back.

I was going to spend the summer reading Alice Hoffman’s books. I had only read a couple of her books and thought I should read more. As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. My reading does not always follow my aspirational goals. We have had some stressful times over the last few months and I find I take cover in cozy mysteries. Somehow, I started reading Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver series. There are 32 of them. The first book came out in 1928 and the last one in 1961. I seem to just keep clicking through them. I think I have 9 left. They are older mysteries and I like to see the difference in the style between then and now.

But today we are looking at Case of the Blues: A Cheese Shop Mystery. This is book 4 in the series. I had no idea when I said that I would review this book that it was the 4^th in the series. You know I hate reading series out of order, but I will say that I don’t think there was anything that I missed by starting at the 4^th book. I understood what was going on. So, don’t let that deter you from reading this book.

As you might guess from the title, this book takes place in a cheese shop. Willa Bauer’s store, Curds and Whey, is fairly new; she learned the ropes while working in a cheese shop under the tutelage of Max Dumas, a legend in the world of cheese. The Northwest Cheese Invitational Festival is in her town and there is a tribute to the recently departed Max Dumas as part of the festival.

It seems that in the year or so since Willa left Max’s cheese shop, several important things have happened. The first is that Max had developed a blood disease that was getting worse and had his staff worried about his health. Then he was in a car accident that claimed his life. Prior to the accident, Max had reconnected with his long-estranged daughter.

The reading of Max’s will was going to take place on the second day of the Cheese Festival. That would answer two questions that were up in the air. Who would inherit the cheese store and who was going to inherit the recipe for the famous Church Blue cheese that Max had kept as a closely held secret. There seemed to be an assumption that Max’s daughter would inherit the store but that Kendall, his assistant, receive the secret to the cheese.

But when the will was read, it did not disclose who would have the recipe for the cheese. With that mystery still over their heads, the four people who worked for Max along with Willa and her staff went over to have a picnic at the festival.

While at the picnic, Kendall drinks a glass of wine and goes into anaphylactic shock. While looking for her Epi pen, Willa finds that it isn’t in Kendall’s purse although it was just a couple of hours before.

Who would have wanted to kill Kendall?  And why was Kendall seen coming out of Willa’s apartment? The mysteries start compounding. Who is the mysterious good-looking stranger?  What will happen to Max’s shop now that his daughter has inherited it?

I found that the plot of the book moved at a good pace. While some things became evident while I read, I thought the book gave enough hints but not too many. I don’t try to solve mysteries when I am reading them. I did see the “who done it” in this one. That is not bad. I enjoyed the book. I think it is a worthy addition to your “to be read” pile.

Thanks for reading!