Fromage

Food and crime are a good combination and both feature in Fromage by Sally Scott. Kerry Greenwood demonstrated this in her Corrina Chapman series set in a bakery in inner Melbourne some years ago. 

In 1993, when Alex Grant was sunbaking on a beach in Croatia she was recognised by a girl that she went to school with many years prviously. During the conversation Alex is invited to a funeral, an unusual way to spend a holiday, and also visits the Puharich family's creamery where fine cheese is made. Returning to Perth, Australia, Alex is invited to visit the family creamery at Margaret River.

Alex is a journalist and enjoys the opportunity of writing food related stories but also the occasional investigative piece. Her boss encourages her to visit Margaret River and write a piece about the business dealings of the elusive Puharich family in this country. Needless to say Alex's investigations reveal more than she bargained for, including danger, when she wants to discover just a little bit more for her story.

Needless to say there is also the opportunity to try interesting food, especially cheese, and Alex makes the most of it. A note on the back cover of the book declares:

Warning: contains nuts, sulphites, gluten, eggs, uggs, platform sneakers and vats of lactose. 

And did I mention that Alex also loves shoes!

Fromage is the first book in the Alex Grant series and is the first novel by Sally Scott. I look forward to the next installment.

Meet me in Bendigo

When Annalisa Capelli inherits the family hardware store in Wongilly she also inherits many generations of family history. However the pandemic has affected the viability of the business and her problems are further compounded by the establishment of a Carpenter's Warehouse twenty minutes down the road.

Meet me in Bendigo is a romantic comedy written by Eva Scott. While Annalisa struggles to save her store she joins an online community group as GoldFieldsGirl to test the waters for public opinion abot the new Carpenter's store. While online GoldFieldsGirl meets GardenerGuy94 and they strike up an online friendship. 

Meanwhile Ed Carpenter arrives in Wongilly to make the owners of the hardware store an offer of money to close the store down. The first person he sees is Annalisa who he immediately recognises as GoldFieldsGirl although he does not, at this point, realise that she is the owner of the store that his family company wants to close.

Eventually Annalisa and Ed meet at the store and although there is a definite attraction between the two of them, Ed knows that the next few weeks or even months are not going to be easy. As in all good romantic comedies all is resolved satisfactorally, but there are many twists and turns before this can happen.

Annalisa not only has to sort out her feelings for Ed but has also to decide how she really wants to live her life. Ed also has decisions to make as he plans to leave his family's business and start a new career for himself.