Cheese-obsessed Bird Nichols has just inherited her grandmother’s estate in a quiet, quirky Californian town. But when a body is found on her property, her life begins to get rather loud…

Bird Nichols is ready to make a fresh start in a familiar place. Last year, her parents died together in a car crash and her beloved grandmother is presumed dead from an ocean drowning. Bird is now moving onto her grandmother’s California coastal property, and finally living out her dream. Bird loves cheese like nothing else. It’s her autistic special interest, and she designs her boards along her sensory needs, and other people love them, too.

But just when everything seems to be going right, the local troublemaker ends up dead on her rural road. Grizz, the closest thing Bird has to family, is the sheriff department’s favourite suspect, but she is determined to prove Grizz’s innocence. So now, Bird needs to unpack her possessions, assemble her pretty cheese boards, and find the true murderer before they strike again.

In Cheddar Luck Next Time, Beth Cato has created a cozy mystery with cheese with delightful characters, a dash of murder and tons of intrigue. She’s also written an authentic presentation of a character with autism Bird who uses her skills and her special interests to dig into the truth even when its complicated and messy unlike her cheese boards.

One of the elements that makes this story so unique is the cheese as Beth Cato describes different cheeses and presentations, all in a way that is important to the story and to the character, helping to develop Bird and create a world that we might want to revisit, especially the small town down the road that is full of unusual characters, including one orange cat and other cheese aficionados. I also like how Bird gets others to open up to her with kindness even as she attempts to solve the murder. 

The mystery of who killed the victim, when there are many possibilities along with the mystery of what and who Bird’s grandmother was up to adds layers to the intrigue. It is a great mystery with a hard to guess ending and threads that leave room for future mysteries, especially surrounding Bird’s grandmother and her past.

If you like cozy mysteries with authentic and memorable characters, I recommend this one. It is a cozy mystery with cheese, lots of fun and heart, tons of intrigue and a whole lot of using kindness to help others and solve the mystery. 

5 out of 5 cheese sandwiches. 

Datura Books

author website