Charlotte Bessette--proprietor of Fromagerie Bessette, affectionately known in Providence, Ohio, as the Cheese Shop--is busy setting up her tent for the town's Winter Wonderland faire, where she'll offer fine wines and scrumptious cheeses. In the midst of the preparations, Charlotte meets an old friend of her mother, Kaitlyn Clydesdale, who has come back to Providence with plans to start a new honeybee farm.

When Kaitlyn is found dead in the cottage of Charlotte's assistant Rebecca, suspicion falls on Rebecca's boyfriend, a honeybee farmer himself. Charlotte knows this beekeeper wouldn't hurt a fly, so she decides to find the real killer. While the town buzzes with gossip, can Charlotte catch the culprit without getting stung herself?

Review

Cheese shop proprietress Charlotte Bessette, her business partner Matthew, and her assistant Rebecca have their hands full preparing for Providence, Ohio’s annual Winter Wonderland faire.  The trio has been working long hours and has even enlisted the help of family and friends in an attempt to prepare for the mass of tourists that’s expected, so the last thing any of them needs is a distraction.  A distraction they get, however, in the form of Kaitlyn Clydesdale:  a cutthroat businesswoman who blows into town with plans to build a new honeybee farm right next door to the one owned by Rebecca’s boyfriend Ipo – and whose business partner is none other than Charlotte’s slimy ex-fiancé Chip.

Kaitlyn wastes no time making enemies in Providence, but when she’s found murdered in the living room of Rebecca’s cottage, Ipo quickly becomes the prime suspect.  Ipo swears he’s innocent of the crime and claims to have an alibi, but the police remain unconvinced.  Can Charlotte find the time to catch Kaitlyn’s real killer, or will Ipo go down for a crime he didn’t commit?

Clobbered by Camembert is the third in Avery Aames’ Cheese Shop Mystery series.  This, like Aames’ other Cheese Shop tales, has a lot going for it:  a charming small-town atmosphere, a whole host of viable murder suspects, and last, but certainly not least, CHEESE.  Unfortunately, while I liked Clobbered by Camembert better than the previous two installments, I still don’t think it lives up to its full potential.  The setup is promising, but the murder is implausible, there’s not enough action, and what little drama there is feels both manufactured and overwrought.  Add to that a bloated plot, a slow pace, and muddy, overly descriptive prose, and you have a book that (to me, anyway) feels too long by half. 

Charlotte is a fairly winsome heroine, and her interactions with her ex-fiancé (and inner turmoil regarding his return to town) give her character a nice depth and complexity.  The supporting cast, however, is too large and is comprised almost entirely of overly quirky characters with ridiculous names, making the whole book feel a bit like the circus has come to town.  One or two oddballs would be understandable – even the smallest of villages has its share of weird – but Aames went overboard when she populated Providence and it ultimately detracts from her fictional world rather than adding to it. 

Aames has no shortage of fans, and her books have garnered her plenty of nominations and awards; after three books, though, I’m forced to admit that her writing just isn’t for me.

Reviewed by Kat

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