KORINA MOSS is the author of the Agatha Award-winning Cheese Shop Mystery series (St. Martin’s Press) set in the Sonoma Valley. Her books have been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, AARP, and Fresh Fiction. Her short stories have been included in the mystery anthologies Crime Travel and Death by Cupcake. She lives and writes in a small town in New England.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the story?
Korina: I’ve been wanting to set a story at a fair or festival, outside my normal setting in Yarrow Glen. I liked the idea of it being outside Detective Heath’s jurisdiction so that he and Willa would have to sleuth side by side, without him taking on the role of the cop telling her not to get involved. This required introducing a whole new community of people.
Q: Why include fondue in the title?
Korina: I wanted to feature Harbison cheese, which is a soft cheese that can almost act as a dip on its own. Its fondue-like softness inspired the connection.
Q: Was the Dairy Days Festival in the story based on a real event?
Korina: I researched to see if there were any dairy festivals, and I found some smaller ones in Wisconsin and California. The festival in the book is a mix of what I read about, combined with agricultural fall fairs I’ve attended. It’s a blend of different small events, with games and even a Miss Dairy Pageant.
Q: How would you describe Detective Heath?
Korina: Readers get more of his backstory in this book. He’s goofy, sincere, vulnerable, and a rule follower.
Q: Where are you taking the relationship between Detective Heath and Willa?
Korina: After the last book, Case of the Bleus, their relationship was left on hold and not in a good place. In this book, I wanted Detective Heath to realize that sometimes it’s important to get involved, even if he doesn’t think it’s the right thing to do. They hadn’t spoken for four months, but working together to solve the murder brings them closer again.
Q: Can you explain Willa’s backstory?
Korina: She has trust issues stemming from her ex-fiancé and best friend falling in love. This rocked her world, and then a year later, her younger brother died in a car accident. She was adrift for a while and didn’t want to get close to anyone. Moving to Yarrow Glen to open her cheese shop changed that. She’s grown close to her employees—Mrs. Schultz, Archie, and Baz—and considers them family. Together, they’ve formed “#Team Cheese” as their name for investigating murders.
Q: What can readers expect in the next book?
Korina: It’s titled Bait and Swiss and comes out in April next year. Willa’s backstory plays a major role when her ex-fiancé and former best friend open a pop-up chocolate shop directly across the street from her cheese shop.
Fondue or Die by Korina Moss is an intriguing mystery that will keep readers guessing to the very end.
In this story the setting is changed from the small town of Yarrow Glen to its neighboring town, Lockwood, that is hosting the Dairy Days Festival. Cheese monger Willa Bauer is ready to fully participate in the Dairy Days festival hosted by Lockwood. She and her beloved employees Archie and Mrs. Schultz will be running a booth selling grazing boxes when they’re not helping with the festival’s Miss Dairy pageant. It is one of the weekend’s highlights, where the prettiest and most talented young lady will be selected and receive a $15,000 scholarship to go toward her college education.
Mrs. Schultz is a long-time volunteer with the beauty and scholarship pageant. Nadine, the woman in charge of the pageant is hard-charging and not afraid of stepping on people’s toes. When Willa and Mrs. Schultz find Nadine’s dead body under years’ worth of ceramic milk jugs, the police aren’t sure whether the death was an accident. After Mrs. Schultz becomes a suspect Willa calls on Detective Heath and her other friends to help clear her friend’s name and find the real killer before anyone else gets hurt.
This book blends humor and suspense. Team Cheese is back in full force to clear Mrs. Shultz’s name, but more importantly they always support each other, reinforcing the themes of loyalty and friendship.
