Up to No Gouda

Balsam Dell is a wonderful small town in Vermont, so of course they need a grilled cheese restaurant! The restaurant looking out on the town green is a great location to see all that is going on and get lots of foot traffic. I can see this being helpful in future books for our sleuth Carly.
Carly is a great sleuth. I fell in love with her from chapter 1 and I even shed a tear as she is telling us some of her back story. Carly felt like a character that could be your best friend. She was ready to befriend all the characters, so even her sleuthing wasn't harsh or rude. Her neighbor/ landlord Joyce is fun. Grant makes all kinds of wonderful sounding food. Suzanne and Gina were more complex than I expected. There were some others that I liked also, but I don't want to ruin their status as suspects.
I love a slow build romance and we get a great slow build here! She is not quite ready to jump into a relationship, but she is ready to have a crush on someone. That felt like the right balance.
It was easy to see early on that Lyle was going to be killed, but the full list of his misdeeds was longer than I expected. There were so many people who he wronged. I was surprised by who did it, but then I went back and realized that I had missed several clues. So it was a well written mystery.
So a great mystery, a good romance, and some new friends. Great book!

I got an ARC of this book. This is my review.

4 stars Really enjoyed this first book in this new series :)

Read my whole review at https://novelsalive.com/2022/01/24/4-star-review-up-to-no-gouda-by-linda-reilly/