You Feta Watch Out (Grilled Cheese Mystery 5), by Linda Reilly

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It's Christmastime in Balsam Dell, Vermont, where Carly Hale is the owner of the well-loved Grilled Cheese Eatery. To celebrate the season, she is excited to enjoy a production of A Christmas Carol...until tragedy strikes. When one of the actors is murdered and Carly's best friend is framed, she is determined to find out who the real killer is.

You Feta Watch Out may just be my favorite installment in the Grilled Cheese Mystery series, by Linda Reilly, thus far.  All of the ingredients come together to form the perfect Christmas cozy. What really keeps me coming back to a series is the cast of characters and this one is certainly no exception. I enjoyed spending time with Carly and her team at the Grilled Cheese Eatery. They have such great rapport and it's obvious that they truly care about one another. 

Specific to this installment, I especially enjoyed spending more time with a character I wasn't sure would be there after the previous book. When this character appeared in You Feta Watch Out, you may have actually heard me shout out with glee. I felt like I was seeing one of my friends again for the first time in a while. I'm hoping this isn't the last we'll see of this character. There is another character from previous installments that was mentioned as well. I like that these characters have not been forgotten. There are also some new characters I enjoyed meeting.

Every solid cozy has a strong mystery and that is the case in You Feta Watch Out. Carly's sleuthing in this installment, at times, reminded me of Jessica Fletcher from Murder, She Wrote. There are plenty of suspects to consider, but not too many to overwhelm the reader. There were also lots of twists and turns. I thought I had the culprit narrowed down to two possible suspects, both of which turned out to be wrong. I was surprised when the killer was revealed, but it all made sense. I also really enjoyed the way in which the killer was revealed and I thought Carly's feelings about this character being the culprit were perfect. 

This cozy is well-balanced with some light, witty humor sprinkled throughout the book. It was just the right amount of comic relief in the midst of the mystery. I found myself chuckling at some of the metaphors several times

For fans of culinary cozies, there are two at the end of the book. One of them has a strong holiday twist, that I likely won't try, but I'm certain there are readers out there who will enjoy it. I like the sound of the second one, so I will have to try that one.

I continue to enjoy this series and I'm hoping there will be more. I'm very excited to see how relationships progress, which new grilled cheese recipe will be served at the eatery next, and what Carly's next sleuthing adventure will be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Beyond the Page Publishing for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.