Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector

Grilled Cheese and Goblins: Adventures of a Supernatural Food Inspector (2018) Nicole Kimberling

“Cherries Worth Getting” from Irregulars (2012)
“Cookie Jamboree”
“The Little Golden Book of Goblin Stories”
“Magically Delicious” from Charmed and Dangerous (2015)
“The Most Important Meal of The Day”
“Bring Out Your Best”

Keith Curry is a supernatural food inspector. He works for NIAD and looks into crimes involving food.

For reasons unknown to Agent Keith Curry, food carts proliferated on the mostly rainy streets of Portland, Oregon, like they did in no other city in North America. Their awnings sprang up like the chanterelles in the Pacific Northwest forest, sometimes filling an entire parking lot.

Keith preferred visiting these eateries because many had permanently rented parking spaces and settled down like oysters cementing themselves in place. The parking lot near his hotel supported one of these colonies, so he thought it might be as good a place as any to begin his investigation, though he didn’t expect to find much.

Rarely did venues like these serve human flesh.

Hidden places, places with concealed entrances, front businesses with makeshift kitchens, art galleries—he found contraband in places like these, but the average health-department-certified cart?

Probably clean as a whistle.

Thus opens the first story in this anthology, “Cherries Worth Getting” where Keith meets back up with Gunther, his ex, who also works for NIAD, and who turns out to be a transmorfigied goblin.

Keith is quite often a jerk, but he does have a right to some of his anger, and despite (or perhaps because of) that he manages to be subtly compassionate.

Gunther drew closer. “I thought blue meant human.”

Keith nodded. “The chef doesn’t need to know that though. He doesn’t need to have that knowledge on him for the rest of his life—that he’s a cannibal.

That is the darkest story in the anthology.

“Cookie Jamboree” is a cute little short, a bridge chapter really, that gives us an important moment to Gunther and Keith.

So they’d argued and made up and gotten a little stronger every time—understood each other better as the days went on.

“The Little Golden Book of Goblin Stories” is another little short that shows not just how much Gunther’s parents love him, but also how much Keith loves him.

“Magically Delicious” is the story that introduced me to this world and these characters.

Again, I love how we see Keith’s feelings for Gunther in little ways.

Gunther had more cousins than anyone Keith had ever met, as well as apparently endless interest in looking at photos of their babies, pets and favorite outfits. Suddenly his expression brightened and Gunther glanced up at him.

Keith steeled himself against the shock of whatever photograph he was about to be shown.

Snow goblins—that is, goblins who had not undergone transmogrification—looked like creatures of nightmare. They seemed to be made entirely of spiky, white bone. Blood-red pits smoldered where their eyes should have been and they had more teeth than a barracuda, even when just born. Keith had now gazed upon many small, toothy creatures being held by proud parents or grandparents.

He mentally crossed his fingers, hoping for a pink or blue hat that would help him figure out the gender, at least.

But it’s the little details, slipped in, that absolutely delighted me.

Gerald appeared to be using the television’s screen-within-a-screen function to watch two separate curling tournaments simultaneously.

“The Most Important Meal of The Day” is another super short vignette about Keith and Gunther’s jobs.

And the anthology closes with “Bring Out Your Best” which is both a mystery and a lovely conclusion to a stage of Keith and Gunther’s relationships.

It’s another fun story and a lovely conclusion to the book–even though I really wouldn’t mind reading more stories about Keith.

Publisher : Blind Eye Books
Rating: 8.5/10

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