Say Cheese and Murder

by Michelle Pointis Burns

Happy New Year . . . or is it? Cassandra Haywood hopes her aunt, Lady Lemington, the CEO of Lemington Cheese Company, will behave tonight. With the help of a large household staff, they are hosting an elegant holiday gala for friends, local merchants, and rival cheese company owners. Scarves and secrets swirl around Cassandra as the clock counts down. When an unexpected ice storm traps guests and staff within the modern English estate, someone dies in the great halls of the house that cheese built. After Cassandra realizes she has become the head detective's number one suspect, she must overcome self-doubt to discover the truth and clear her name. The first book in the Lemington Cheese Company Mystery series serves up intrigue, red-herrings, and humor, alongside several kinds of cheese. This culinary, cozy mystery introduces readers to Cassandra Haywood. She loves scarves, has a knack for business, and unexpectedly adds "amateur sleuth" to her resume following a possible crime at the manor.
Written in American English sprinkled with British expressions. Bonus recipe included.

392 pages, Paperback

Published October 24, 2020

Reviews

[Kathleen]

Say Cheese and Murder is a cozy mystery and such a fun read! I felt that the Author did a wonderful job weaving many different threads through the story and pulling them all together by the end. There was a great blend of a solid more serious plot with little bits of silliness that lightened the mood of the book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a light and fun mystery and I look forward to more in the series in the future. 4.5*

[Melora]

Mystery reviews can be some of the toughest to write because I don’t want to give away too much information. Also, I have to be completely honest here - I’ve read this book before. The author is a member of my local author’s group. However, I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading this cozy mystery. It is pure fun.

I love a good mystery. Set it in a British manor house on New Year’s Eve and it harkens back to some of my favorite books by Marjorie Allingham and Agatha Christie.

Tensions are high. Add in an ice storm that traps all the partygoers there for the night, and you can feel something is going to go wrong.

Obviously, it does, in a big way. Someone is murdered during the night.

Cassandra Haywood wakes up the next morning with a mystery on her hands. She’s a regular, modern day, working girl, handling business matters in her Aunt’s cheese company. Effectively told from the limited viewpoint of Cassandra, we can only know what she knows, but she doesn’t sit on her hands. The scene where she overhears that she is a suspect is at once humorous and full of great sensory details.

All the big themes have a place here - love, honor, justice, friendship, and betrayal. The love of refined manor life, and cheese, as well as strong writing skills shine through in this debut novel.

With character names like the vile Baron Von Pickle and a butler named Fartworthy, who is conversely not quite what you would expect from a butler, there is definitely humor here, both overt and less in your face.

As every good mystery demands, this one is brought to a very satisfying conclusion. Cassandra is no shrinking violet and her confrontation with the murderer is well thought out and will have you cheering her on.

I can honestly recommend this book.

[Leslie Hickman]

I loved this book! I am a huge mystery fan, so I was curious if this new author could live up to my other favorite mystery novels. A good whodunnit needs an interesting plot, enough clues to allow the reader to make guesses, but not enough to be obvious, plot twists, danger, characters to love, characters to love to hate, and believability. This novel has it all and more.

I came to really like Cassandra, and I hope to meet up with her again some day! The tempo of the action made it hard to put the book down, but as I approached the last chapters I didn't want it to end.
One person found this helpful

[John]

This book had many fun little moments in it. The characters were drawn vividly enough that I could actually imagine it as a show or film. A nice standalone book but I wouldn't mind reading more with these characters either! There were a few small errors in the Kindle printing otherwise it would have been "5 stars". I'm a tough grader.

[M Orr]

What a fun book with a clever hook. English manor? Check. Locked room mystery? Check. Keep you guessing to the end? Check. Charming and quirky, but with a serious thread running throughout like the veins in a delicious blue cheese.

[Ericka Brennan d'auria]

I forgot U was reading a book!

I loved the characters, it was so well written. I was invested from the first chapter. I can't wait for the next installments! I forgot i was reading a book, and can see the characters come to life.

[Neith]

This book delivers on its promise to be a cozy mystery. I enjoyed it the whole way through, and it brightened my winter nights.

[Amanda]

If you like cozy mysteries, you may enjoy this one. It seemed to me that the speech was very stilted and there was a LOT going on, but this isn’t my favorite genre.

[Joseph Gary]

Say Cheese and Murder hooks the reader from page one. The story introduces marvelous characters, both endearing and vile, as young entrepreneur-turned-sleuth Cassandra Haywood must not only solve a gruesome mystery that touches close to home but also find the strength hidden within herself. Michelle Pointis Burns’ debut novel promises a delightful cozy mystery series for years to come.

[Heather Balog]

This book made me feel like Agatha Christie had risen from the dead and decided to write a book about the backstabbing (and stinky) cheese business, while infusing it with introspection and humor. There was murder and intrigue, and of course, cheese, in this "locked room" who-done-it. Truly, this book is a treasure for anyone who misses Dame Agatha's wit and wisdom.

[Melora]

A fantastic house mystery with lots of humor and atmosphere.