1--What is the title of your latest release?
CASE OF THE BLEUS
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When cheese shop owner Willa Bauer’s former employer, the enigmatic cheesemaker Max Dumas, dies, he leaves everyone in the cheese world scrambling to discover the secrets to his award-winning blue cheese. But when the cheesemonger expected to inherit those valuable secrets is murdered, Willa and her Team Cheese crew must race to decipher the riddles Max left in order to find the sought-after cheese and the murderer before Willa becomes the next victim.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I discovered a cheese trail map that follows a plethora of family-owned dairy farms, creameries, and cheese shops in northern California. Since the Sonoma Valley is primarily known for its wine, which happens to complement cheese, I decided it would be a great place for my fictional small town of Yarrow Glen.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely. I love mysteries and cheese, as does she, and she’s a loyal friend.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
loyal, confident, hardworking
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I’ve learned so much about cheese. Before I began writing my Cheese Shop Mysteries, I only knew that I loved cheese. I’ve since learned how much there is to know about cheese, its history, the multitude of ways it’s made and aged, all the variables of its taste and texture… I have so much respect for cheesemakers and cheesemongers, and I now understand the passion they have for cheese.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
My idea of editing might be different from others. I brainstorm in a notebook, then I write a sketchy outline and keep working with it, sometimes on note cards. Then I type my first draft just to see if all my “great ideas” in theory are going to actually work. Some of the things I’m looking for: Are the events believable? Do the scenes and chapters flow from one to the next? Does the mystery hold together? Does the pacing work? Does each of my core group of characters have enough of a role and do their relationships grow? So in this way, I’m constantly working on the draft to ensure that all these things exist. When I feel like the book has enough of a foundation, I’ll start my first revision and work on description, filling out the characters, the cheeses and the cheesy meals my main character makes, etc. Then I’ll keep re-reading and revising until I’m satisfied with it.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
At this time of year, it’s the blue cheese that inspired Case of the Bleus—Rogue River Blue. It’s a World Champion blue cheese only available during the fall, a little pricey, but very worth it. It’s by far the best blue cheese I’ve ever had, perhaps the best cheese of any kind I’ve ever had.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have a loft above my bedroom, which is my office space. However, I don’t like to write in the same space all the time. I will sometimes write in my bed (which my chiropractor hates) or at the kitchen table or on my sofa. I often prefer to be surrounded by background activity, so I’ll go to a café or a local fast-food restaurant. (I drink a lot of Diet Coke while writing.) My favorite place to write in nice weather is in my car. There’s something about the constraint of the space (and no internet) that forces me to focus on what I’m working on and not get distracted. I usually park in a lot where there is activity around me, but I still feel like I’m in a private space and getting to enjoy the outdoors.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I admire so many authors. To choose one, I’d have to say Agatha Christie. A prolific writer, she made a name for herself in a genre (crime writing) that men dominated, paving the way for women to prevail as authors in the subgenre we refer to today as the cozy mystery. The way she executes her mysteries is extremely clever and she always plays fair with the reader. She also gave us two of the most iconic characters in literature: Miss Marple and Inspector Poirot.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I would say there were two that played a seminal part in my desire to be a writer. The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie was the first adult mystery I read when I was 12. I’d always loved reading mysteries, but that one was so clever that it was the first time I ever thought I’d like to try writing a mystery, myself. The second book was Night Shift, a collection of short stories by Stephen King, when I was 13. Those stories were so far removed from anything I’d ever read that it made me realize you didn’t have to write within anyone else’s constraints—all you needed was your own imagination.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
It was a Tuesday afternoon in April of 2020. I was watching Britain’s Best Bakery on TV when my agent called. The first thing she said was “This is the news you’ve been waiting for.” She told me St. Martin’s accepted my proposal for Cheddar Off Dead and wanted a 3-book contract. I’d worked very hard on that proposal in a very short period of time, so I was proud of myself and excited for what was to come… and in quite a bit of disbelief.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Mystery and cozy mystery. I also like psychological suspense without gore or violence on the page, like the type of books Liane Moriarity writes.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Jaws, since the day I saw it when it opened in theaters on the weekend of my 9th birthday.
15--What is your favorite season?
Fall, but I also love warm summer evenings.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
One of my sister’s birthdays is the day before mine, so we like to celebrate together. Four of the five of us sisters have summer birthdays, so we try to do a sister celebration sometime during the summer months. On the day of, I’m usually with my son. Whatever I do, there must be birthday cake involved.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Only Murders in the Building. It’s a TV series in its third season on HULU starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. It’s clever and funny and makes me smile from ear to ear the entire time I’m watching it. I’m thrilled that traditional mysteries seem to be making a comeback onscreen.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Mexican food
19--What do you do when you have free time?
With 4 books out in 2 years and two books remaining on my current contract, I don’t have much free time. When I have it, I like to relax by doing jigsaw puzzles, reading, or watching reality TV or mystery series (mostly British, sometimes Hallmark). When I want to be social, I like being with my friends, visiting my family, and if I’m lucky, stealing my son from his (local) college to hang out for a few hours.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Case of the Bleus released on September 26th. It’s the fourth book in the Cheese Shop Mystery series. I’m currently working on book 5.
Cheese Shop Mysteries #4
What in the bleu blazes is happening in Yarrow Glen now?
Cheesemongers from across the Northwest have come to the Sonoma Valley for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. As owner of the local cheese shop, Curds & Whey, Willa Bauer loves it. The event showcases custom cheese creations, and it’s the perfect time to gather with old colleagues to honor her former boss, the late and grate cheese legend, Max Dumas. He was famous for journeying into the wild bleu yonder to where he aged his award-winning custom Church Bleu. Only Max knew the recipe and location to his beloved cheese, and many are eager to have these revealed at his will reading.
But instead of naming someone to inherit his cheese and its secrets, Max stuns everyone with one cryptic clue. When a fellow cheesemonger dies under mysterious circumstances––the woman they all thought would get the secrets to Max's prized possession––everyone falls under suspicion. Willa adores Church Bleu as much as the next cheese connoisseur, but it’s not to die for. Is a killer trying to get away with murder...and the cheese?
Mystery Culinary | Mystery Cozy | Mystery Amateur Sleuth [Minotaur Books, On Sale: September 26, 2023, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250893895 / eISBN: 9781250893901]
KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series (St. Martin’s Press) set in the Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner for Best First Novel, CHEDDAR OFF DEAD. Her books have been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, AARP, and Fresh Fiction. For more information about Korina and her books, and to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit her website.
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