Who’s most likely to be impulsive?
Answer: Willa. My cheesemonger protagonist doesn’t stop until she solves the case, even if it means jumping into some precarious situations.
Who’s most likely to break a serious mood with a joke?
Answer: Baz. The local handyman and Willa’s next-door neighbor quickly becomes like a brother to her—sometimes annoying but always able to make her smile.
Who’s most likely to be the first to want to investigate?
Answer: Archie. Willa’s cheesemonger-in-training also has a penchant for investigating. In CASE OF THE BLEUS, he suggests naming their Scooby Doo-like sleuthing group, hence Team Cheese was born.
Who’s most likely to be overlooked and underestimated?
Answer: Mrs. Schultz. Willa’s Curds & Whey crew member and friend, she’s smack dab in her sixties and knows this often allows her to go unnoticed—all the better to eavesdrop, like she did in CHEDDAR OFF DEAD. As a retired drama teacher, she’s also quite good at putting on a performance, as she did when they needed a diversion in CASE OF THE BLEUS. Who would suspect a nice older lady of faking a sprained ankle?
Who’s most likely to want Willa to stop sleuthing?
Answer: Detective Heath doesn’t like when Willa puts herself in danger, especially when they begin to have feelings for each other. But in FONDUE OR DIE, the murder doesn’t occur within his jurisdiction, and the detective gets a taste of what it’s like to investigate as an outsider.
Who’s most likely to wear sneakers to a fancy party?
Answer: Willa. She breaks out her little black dress for the town’s valentine dance in CURDS OF PREY, but investigating a murder doesn’t mean killing her arches in the process. It was lucky she stuck to her comfortable platform Keds, as she ended up face to face with the murderer.
Who’s most likely to bring snacks to a stakeout?
Answer: Baz. Baz is always up for snacks, but he comes especially prepared for a stakeout, like he did in CASE OF THE BLEUS. Even an impromptu stakeout at the Dairy Days Festival in FONDUE OR DIE didn’t stop him from getting cheese-smothered fries.
Who’s most likely to talk to their pet?
Answer: Willa. Loretta may be a beautiful betta fish who can be judgy and crushes on Ted Allen while watching Food Network’s Chopped, but she’s also a good listener.
Who’s most likely to cook for everyone?
Answer: Willa. It relaxes her to make a cheesy meal for her friends at their Team Cheese meetings, although everyone tends to pitch in. Lucky for readers, recipes for some of her meals are in the back of each book in the series, such as reader favorites Cheesy Apple Pockets and Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese from GONE FOR GOUDA.
Who’s most likely to be in costume?
Answer: Archie, although Mrs. Schultz is a close second. Archie used to be his school’s mascot, so he’s always up for being a cheese wedge or a dairy cow to promote Curds & Whey. Readers, watch out for someone you’d least expect to see in costume in FONDUE OR DIE!
Cheese Shop Mysteries #5
A Mystery
In Korina Moss's Fondue or Die, the lazy, hazy, dairy days of summer are coming to a close in the Sonoma Valley. . . and so is someone’s life.
The small town of Yarrow Glen’s neighbor, Lockwood, hosts an annual Labor Day weekend bash: Dairy Days. And Willa Bauer and her cheese shop, Curds & Whey, refuse to miss out on the fun. Willa is thrilled to celebrate her favorite thing—she is a cheesemonger after all—and this festival goes all out: butter sculptures, goat races, cheese wheel relays, even a Miss Dairy pageant. Too bad the pageant runner, Nadine, is treating Dairy Days prep like it’s fondue or die and is putting everyone around her on edge. When Willa finds Nadine’s dead body under years’ worth of ceramic milk jugs, the police aren’t sure whether the death was an accident. But fingers are pointing at Willa’s employee, Mrs. Schultz, who steps in to help the pageant after Nadine’s death. Someone wanted Nadine out of the whey, and Willa is going to find out who.
Mystery Cozy | Mystery Culinary | Mystery Woman Sleuth [Minotaur Books, On Sale: October 22, 2024, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250893918 / eISBN: 9781250893925]
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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