What a fantastic debut to what I hope will be a long, successful series!!! I loved everything about this book. The characters are warm and seem so real. You get a sense that you've already known them for years. The setting is perfect and the authors descriptions are spot on leaving you with a clear picture of your surroundings - plus a heavy craving for a nibble of cheese and a sip of wine. The mystery was intriguing keeping me guessing from a handful of suspects until the very end. The story flowed smoothly and ended with a slight twist leaving you anxious for book number two. Definitely a great cozy mystery that I would recommend to anyone!!!

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I really enjoyed this book. It started a little slow for me but once I stared to get to know the characters it took off. I also liked how the police chief in this book is a good and competent guy. I feel like I read a lot of cozies where that is not the case and it was refreshing. The author describes some really delicious food in this book but it only has a few recipes in the back. Maybe she has a website that has more. All in all it is a good start to a series and I look forward to reading the next one.

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The Long Quiche Goodbye by Avery Aames
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cozy Mysteries are probably my favorite genre of books, and so when I find something new, a new series, especially one with wine and cheese involved, I am in a pretty good place for reading any series of books.

A Cheese Shop Mystery, although the family cheese shop has just been given over to the hands of the next generation with Charlotte and her cousin Matthew taking over as Grandpere' and Grandmere' enjoy retirement.
The grandparents are French immigrants and switch between English and French all the time. Charlotte is the cheese expert and her cousin Matthew and expert with wine, hence the addition of a wine annex to the family cheese shop and the story begins in the middle of the remodeling.

I did feel that book took a bit to get into, it kinda bogged down and I wasn't really sure I liked the characters until about half way through the book, and by then they had developed into people I wanted to route for and learn more about and hope they were able to find the murderer.

The book ends with receipes, always a double bonus for me, I love to have receipes in my books, and I have found some of the greatest receipes in my cozy mystery books. Some amazing sounding quiche's and more. Also at the end of the book is a teaser to Book 2 in the series, titled Lost and Fondue. Looking forward to checking it out, but I might have to take a cozy mystery break to work on reading some of my First-Reads.

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First of all, I didn't understand how the title actually went with the book that I read. The main locale is a cheese shop that also sells quiche. The title should have been more cheese related like - Goudas Dead, or something equally cheesy.

Nevertheless, back to the story - the murder of Ed Woodhouse happens on the night of the grand reopening of the Fromagerie Bessette, also known as the Cheese Shop, in the quiet town of Providence, Ohio, which is located close to Amish Country and geared to the tourist trade.

Ed is not well like, actually despised, since he has made it quite clear that he plans on selling off the buildings in town and the small business owners will either have to ante up the new rents or just close their doors.

Charlotte Bessette and her cousin, Matthew, have put too much time and effort into the shop that they have taken over from their grandparents. When Charlottes' seventy-two year old grandmother is found over the body of the ruthless man, all fingers atomically point to her as the killer. But Grandmere Bernadette is not the only one that would like to see this vile man dead, so with the help of the very entertaining Rebecca Zook, Charlotte sets out to find out what was really going on behind the closed doors of their community.

Unfortunately, Ms Aames did not give enough distinction in the voices of her many characters. Kristine, Tyanne, Freckles, Vivian, Delilah, etc (I actually had to look up those names) all came across as the same person to me. I hope in future books she can either limit her characters or do something to make individuals stand out more.

Overall, this is the usual paint by number cozy mystery. Other then Rebecca Zook's character, who seems to have seen every episode of CSI and Law and Order, the book felt a bit stagnant and at times I wonder if it was ever going to end. Good luck with future installments, but as for now, I do not think I will be revisiting Providence, Ohio.

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First, let me say I like cozies. I've read a lot of them. But in most of those cozies the characters are people you can respect. However, I couldn't find anyone to respect in this one.

The first chapter was difficult to wade through. It, like much of the book, was a parody of cozies. Then we meet our heroine. She is a real airhead who spends more time worrying if the new town hunk will ask her for a date, than if her grandmother will be convicted of murder.

Many of the characters are two-dimensional, some are even one-dimensional. Apparently, this is a nutritional problem due to the fact everyone lives on exotic cheeses and wine. It's all they ever eat.

Can you really respect a heroine who steals into a suspect's office and opens a locked desk to examine her suspect's finances. Then, when she is caught by the suspect, they yell at each other before ending up forgiving each other. Maybe in books, but in real life the heroine would be in jail. Then the heroine accosts another suspect at a public gathering, rips the suspect's purse from her and sorts through it to find proof her new suspect is the killer. Yet, no one in the book seems to find this unusual.

Then, to prove she really has a mental problem, she enters a friend's house, and, accompanied by other ding-a-lings, bursts into her friend's bedroom to discover---her male cousin and friend in bed. Yet, no one seems to get really upset about this.

Then most of the town shows up for her grandmother's political speech---she is running for a fourth term as mayor. Everyone is eagerly anticipating the speech, which lasts about two minutes, leaving the grandmother drained from emotion. We can only wish real life political speeches were like this one.

It got so I was hoping the heroine would be uncovered as the murderer and sentenced to life in prison on a diet of Thunderbird wine and American cheese slices.

And does anybody really take their nieces up into the attic to read young adult books to them while sharing a plate of "gluten-free creme-cheese button cookies"?

Thank God I don't have any more books by this author.

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Good for a start. Great characters and subject

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