Editor’s Note: Asiago and the Accomplice (Whine & Cheese Cozy Mystery Series) by Judy Volhart is now available. Click here to order your copy.

I had promised to try a more robust cheese this week, to try to push myself out of my comfort zone. I chose one I’d never tried, a semi-soft Canadian Fontina cheese from Quebec. When I excitedly freed it from its packaging (I am always excited to open up new foods), it was promising. There was a faint foot smell, like that of parmesan but very mild. I eagerly bit into it, all proud of myself for trying something sharper, and; nothing. No yuck face, no wince. I had again ended up with a mild cheese. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but again, a safe bet. Very similar to a mild Gouda, but perhaps a touch stronger.

Having anticipated a more robust cheese, I had paired it entirely incorrectly with a rather dry white Chardonnay wine called Good Kharma, another from the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario. It seems all the wines I’ve bought lately were from that area—not on purpose, of course; I gravitate towards the funny names. Sorry, I guess we Canadians are pretty damn funny.

via Judy Volhart

A portion of the sales for this wine go to funding the Ontario Association of Food Banks, to help feed the hungry, which really appealed to me.

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It is described as having “mineral notes”, fresh citrus and apple aromas. Other than perhaps the minerals, I didn’t taste any of that, but I was correct in describing it as dry—it is actually classified as extra dry. Although it wasn’t the best pairing with the super mild cheese, it did go well with the Chianti and Fennel infused salami that also accompanied this snack, as well as the parmesan and garlic dry bread twists.

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(Side note: When I later added a handful of all dressed flavored ruffle chips to the mix, I enjoyed it even more.)

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I’m a strong believer in Karma and what goes around comes around. I try to live my life accordingly and am nice about 99% of the time. The 1% of the time that I’m not is reserved for dealing with my ever increasingly noisy upstairs neighbors. Give me strength…. or more wine….

Cheers, my friends.

“Well, I haven’t heard anything about the case, so I’m thinking I might start snooping around a bit.” I didn’t mention that I had already snooped a little here and there.

“Oh, that sounds like fun!” Nora exclaimed to my surprise. “If you need a hand snooping, let me know. It’ll get me out of the house. The man’s driving me bananas!”

We hung up and I dashed down to the bistro with my notepad. Thumbing through the reservation book, I found the entries for New Years’ Eve. That would be a good starting point. I’d call everyone who made a reservation to see if I could flush something out.

But what line could I use? I practiced: “Yes, hello, you lost a body at my bistro…” Okay, maybe that wouldn’t be the best tactic.

—Excerpt from Asiago and The Accomplice (Whine & Cheese Cozy Mystery Series)