Looking Ahead to My Books and Yours

 by Korina Moss

I’m closing out 2024 with my latest release in the Cheese Shop Mystery series, Fondue or Die. This fifth book in the series takes place at the annual Dairy Days, a weekend festival hosted by Yarrow Glen’s neighboring town of Lockwood. Cheese Shop owner Willa Bauer and her Curds & Whey crew (who are also her Team Cheese sleuthing friends), Archie and Mrs. Schultz along with her best friend Baz, will be working at the festival. Willa’s 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. Willa is convinced it’s murder, but fingers are pointing at Mrs. Schultz, who stepped in to help the pageant after Nadine’s death. Team Cheese needs Yarrow Glen’s Detective Heath on their side, but this crime is outside his jurisdiction. Even though their relationship is rocky, Willa asks the by-the-book detective to team up with her to investigate on the sly. Someone wanted Nadine out of the whey, and Willa is determined to find out who. Fondue or Die is available now everywhere books are sold. 

While you’re catching up on Fondue or Die, get ready for Cheese Shop Mystery #6, Bait and Swiss. It releases April 29, 2025. In Bait and Swiss, Yarrow Glen’s newest business gives one unlucky resident the swiss of death. 

It’s been almost two years since Willa Bauer opened Curds & Whey in Yarrow Glen, and both cheesemonger and cheese shop are thriving in the Sonoma Valley. While Willa doesn’t eat chocolate, it’s true that life is like a box of chocolates. Unfortunately, life’s latest curveball is that Willa’s ex-fiancé and ex-best friend―the reason for her chocolate aversion―are opening a chocolate pop-up shop across the street. By the end of the shop’s first day, the town’s newest reporter is the victim of death by chocolate. Now Willa’s ex wants her to be Swiss Congeniality, solve the case, and save the day. As much as Willa wants to hit him with the nearest cheese wheel, she can’t stop herself from saying yes. There’s more at stake than her ex’s reputation—customers have decided to stay clear of Yarrow Glen’s shops until the killer is caught, and a cryptic note sends Willa to the top of the suspect list. To save herself and her town, Willa enlists her Team Cheese sleuthing friends to help her solve the case before anyone else falls victim to a bitter chocolate ending. You can preorder Bait and Swiss now. 

Are you a cozy mystery writer? Make 2025 the year your writing and publishing dreams come true! As well as writing the Cheese Shop Mystery series, I also offer developmental editing for your manuscript, specializing in cozy and traditional mysteries. With my experience writing a cozy mystery series for a Big 5 publisher (St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing), I have the inside track on what editors, agents, and readers are looking for in a cozy mystery.  Whether you're a new writer hoping to be traditionally or independently published, or you're an established writer wanting some guidance with a manuscript, I can help you strengthen your book. 

Having written six books in my series, I know the expectations of a Big 5 editor. One of my strong suits for cozy mystery writers is making sure your manuscript has the cozy elements needed, while still delivering an exciting and well-plotted mystery. As an Agatha Award winner and an Agatha Award finalist, I can help level up your manuscript, so your theme, characters, and setting stand out. I focus on the balance between an exciting murder mystery and the cozy essentials that keep readers loyal to a series and make agents and editors take notice.

For further details and fees, email me at korinamossauthor@gmail.com. 

Readers: Have you ever dreamt of becoming an author? Writers: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? 

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series set in the Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner for Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead, and the Agatha Award finalist for Best Contemporary Novel, Case of the Bleus. Her books have been featured in USA Today, PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer's Digest. To learn more or subscribe to her free monthly #teamcheese newsletter, visit her website korinamossauthor.com.