I came for the mystery and stayed for the characters. Okay, the characters and all the grilled cheese mentions. Like the author, grilled cheese has always been my comfort food, so this series has been a hit. I like the setting, Balsam Dell, which sounds like a delightful small town, and the well-fleshed out cast of characters. Carly seems likable, smart, and certainly has other important things on her mind to think of this go-round, Like what? Well, her upcoming wedding to Ari for one. Even her morkie, Havarti, has taken him to heart and it's easy to see why. One of my favorites was missing at the start, however, so it was a special delight to see them appear later in the book. Nope, not telling but bet long time readers can figure out who I mean if I say "musician chef".

As for the murder, it was intriguing. After an fantastic opener describing the stage as the Ghost of Marley appears in "The Christmas Carol", you just knew something bad was going to happen. That said, if you're at all interested in how some of the special effects and costuming is accomplished, you'll thoroughly enjoy learning some tricks of the trade and, if you're a theater buff like me, may even forget the murder investigation for a bit. Carly can't shake her concern, however, as Gina is one of the main suspects and the only person who could vouch for the reason her prints were found at the murder site is strangely reluctant to do so. Why? No, not sharing. You'll just have to read the book. There are several suspects, from the victim's rude, bizarrely acting wife to the young understudy perhaps too eager to replace him on stage. As it turns out, the victim wasn't particularly popular with anyone, including the show's stage crews.

Or....never mind. Enough teasers. It's complicated, to use a cliche. Can Carly juggle work obligations, I mean, yes, she's the boss but she does have to show up at times, romance, family issues, the quickly approaching holiday, and more, without putting herself in danger? Bet you know the answer to that one. Thanks #BeyondThePagePublishing for letting me jump in early to catch up with Carly and her friends. It's always fun to spend some time hanging out with them but, as usual, I always come away craving a grilled cheese sandwich. Wonder why? Grin.

Love this series of books. This was a great Christmas cozy . Carly gets involved in a murder mystery because it involves her best friend Gina. It has a good twist at the end.

Another delicious mystery from one of my top five cozy series.
The characters are interesting and the whodunit is well paced and kept me guessing.
A well rounded crafted mystery.
I look forward to reading the next book in the series!
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Vermont, small-town, small-business, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, recipes, friendship, amateur-sleuth, restaurant, pet-dog, state-police, local-theater, unpleasant-victims, murder, investigation, families, relatives, relationships, unpleasant-suspect, sisters****

Cheese is the word here. Lots of well-defined characters you love to follow and a few real scum for contrast. The murder itself is strange and needs the ME to declare cause. That makes the multiple agencies and the Grilled Cheese Shop owner go around in circles and cross paths with the red herrings and more. Good afternoon read!
I requested and received a temporary uncorrected advance review copy from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you! Avail Nov 19, 2024
#YouFetaWatchOut #NetGalley #GrilledCheeseMysteriesBk5

Thank you to NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for this ARC.

Carly Hale lives in Balsam Dell, Vermont, with her fiancé Ari and dog Havarti (yes, after the cheese). She runs a Grilled Cheese Eatery and in her spare time solves murders in her community.

This has a huge cast of people that are her friends, colleagues or other business owners. She's even on good terms with the police now. There is her sister Norah with Nate, her BFF Gina with Zach and a million other people we get the lowdown on. Now I know this is book 5 in a series but I honestly didn't need to be caught up on every person Carly has ever come across. If you've read the other books you don't need the info, and if you haven't, it's too much to learn.

I would have been content to just have the people introduced that actually have something to do with the murder mystery but I agree that the world building has been successful in bringing together a community of very nice people - almost too nice.

I don't know why but it took me forever to read this even though it's a short book. I don't think the mystery was very interesting. An obnoxious actor in a Christmas production of A Christmas Carol is murdered and he was so awful that every single person around him would have had motive.

Friends and family come together to eat and drink too much mouthwatering food, which is nice, and we get a couple of recipes at the end, but the measurements are in imperial only. I liked how Christmassy it all was, with tree decorating etc.

You might enjoy this book more if you've read the previous books with the cheesy pun titles, just for the development of the community relationships. As it is, it is a nice fluffy holiday read, but the central mystery isn't too taxing or memorable.

I think this book made excellent holiday readings sans the murder of course. The book celebrated friends, family and love at the holidays. It also celebrated all the food that is lovingly prepared at the holidays. We enjoy it until we feel like we are going to burst much like Carly did a few times in the story. This series has built a nice relationship with Carly and her team and over time that team has evolved to include the plus one. We even get a visit from an old friend for the holidays and he seamlessly slots back in with the team.
The mystery was well thought out and contrasted nicely with the story. Carly and her friends and family are a loving bunch, and the victim was the opposite. Carly has a terrific relationship with family and our victim fell to a relationship gone wrong.
I love Christmas and adore decorating my tree and then reading with just the tree lights so I enjoyed the story were Carly and Ari along with her mom and step decorated theirs. That was a very relatable story because there is nothing like decorating the tree with loved ones and including ornaments with a special meaning. Fingers crossed we get the wedding in the next book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this story for its Christmas setting full of Christmas tradition.
Thanks to NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Carly's BFF Nina has landed a role in the chorus of the Christmas Carol at the local theater but things are not going great. The lead actor is a diva and when he's found dead in his dressing room no one is too broken up. When the police hone in on Nina, Carly is back on the case!

I have been reading this series since the very beginning and I really enjoy it. The town of Balsam Dell is lovely and the characters are all very sweet (almost too sweet sometimes, but that's ok). The idea of a grilled cheese restaurant is awesome, I would totally go eat there! The mystery in this book involves a new local theater, which I would have loved to see more of. There were some fun new characters involved in the Christmas Carol production too, some of which made for great suspects.

There was one clue dropped early in this book that, for me, narrowed the suspects down to just two people and that kind of messed me up for the rest of the book. That didn't much take away from my enjoyment of the story though, because I loved being back in Balsam Dell and seeing Carly and Ari together and getting ready for their wedding. I'm a bit concerned about Norah and Nate, I'm not sure they'll last, especially as Norah is getting her business back up and running in Balsam Dell. At this point in the series I'm totally invested in the characters!

Overall I would say this was not my favorite of the series but I do really enjoy the series and I'm definitely going to continue it as long as it lasts (which will hopefully be for many books to come!)

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.