An Interview With Korina Moss

by Grace Topping

In Case of the Bleus, the latest book in her Cheese Shop Mystery Series, Korina Moss delivers another exciting book filled with more adventures for Willa Bauer and descriptions of various cheeses that will prompt you to make a trip to your local cheese shop. As an added bonus, she includes recipes using those cheeses. It was a pleasure talking to Korina about her series and all things cheese.

 

Case of the Bleus

 

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?

 

www.korinamossauthor.com

 

 

A big welcome to Korina Moss, who is a member of our Writers Who Kill family.

 

In Case of the Bleus, cheesemonger Max Dumas dies without revealing the secret formulation of his award-winning Church Bleu cheese and where it’s aged. Do cheesemakers go to great lengths to keep their recipes a secret?

I don’t think they go to the lengths that Max did, but I do think they all have their ways of making their own custom cheeses special. There are so many factors in how a cheese gets its flavor and texture (from the type of grass the cows/goats/sheep graze on to the length, location, and temperature of where the cheese is aged, and everything in between), that I think it would be hard to replicate it exactly, anyway. 

Your book becomes a bit of a treasure hunt when it’s discovered that Max only left clues about his Church Bleu cheese. What is the biggest challenge you face developing the plot for your books? 

 

Making sure all the pieces fit together at the end so that the mystery is indeed a mystery for the reader for as long as possible. Writing a mystery is such a dance – each piece of information, whether it be a red herring or a clue you want the reader to overlook—has to be done at the right time in the right way. Otherwise, it’s either confusing or too obvious. But that mystery plot has to be woven around characters that readers are invested in, so I also have to make sure I grow my characters and their relationships while still moving the plot forward. It’s a difficult dance. 

 

With all of the cheeses you’ve tasted while doing research, do you have a favorite, or have you become rather tired of cheese? What about one that you absolutely didn’t like?

 

Tired of cheese? Never! There are so many different cheeses, I can’t imagine getting tired of it. It’s a new experience every time you try a different cheese, and then another new experience if you pair that cheese with an accompaniment. I have several favorites, but the list keeps growing every time I try new cheese. The three that come to mind are Brabander Gouda, Montbrú’s Curat de Búfala, and the inspiration for Case of the Bleus, Rogue River Blue. One that I didn’t care for was Alp Blossom, which is the cheese that opens book 3, Curds of Prey. It’s a showy, beautiful cheese covered in herbs and flowers (which is why my protagonist Willa chose it for a wedding shower cheese bar), but all those herbs give it a very grassy, earthy flavor that I wasn’t so fond of. I appreciated the complexity of it with each bite, but with all the cheeses out there, it’s not one I feel the need to revisit. 

 

With your first book, Cheddar Off Dead, winning an Agatha Award and receiving other recognition, do you find it a challenge to start another book, wondering if it will measure up to it?

 

Luckily, I’d already written several of the Cheese Shop Mysteries by the time I received the Agatha Award last April for Cheddar Off Dead, so I wasn’t intimidated by the wonderful award. Having said that, I do feel a lot of pressure to try to make each book better than the last. Many readers said Curds of Prey was their favorite thus far, which thrilled me, of course. But it also adds extra pressure for Case of the Bleus. My personal favorite is book 2, Gone For Gouda, so you never quite know how your work will be received. 

Your books are available in paperback, e-book, and in audio. How was it hearing your work performed by your narrator? Did you have any input to the audiobook production?

 

I love listening to Erin Moon perform my books. It’s the next best thing to having them on the screen (which I’m hoping will happen someday). I appreciate her interpretation of the characters and how she really understands them. If my dialogue is meant to be sarcastic, she always knows to play it that way. Her performance heightens the humorous scenes and the tension of the action. She hasn’t made a false move. I think even if readers have already read the paperback or e-book copies, they should also listen to the audio. It’s a new way to experience the stories. 

 

Meeting deadlines can be a challenge for many writers. I understand that you’ve gone on writing retreats to enable you to focus solely on writing. Care to tell us about some of them? Any upcoming retreats planned?

 

When I’m under a lot of pressure from a deadline, it can be debilitating to my writing. Sometimes I need a change of scenery to kickstart my process or as an excuse to ignore my daily tasks and concentrate solely on writing. I’ve taken myself to a tiny house in the Catskills, an Airbnb with a lake view, and last winter I went on a week-long solo cruise. On the cruise, I wasn’t under the pressure of a deadline, but I was feeling burnt out. Being by myself on a laid-back cruise on the open sea freed up my creativity. I outlined book 5, which I’m currently writing, and also did some freewriting for a book in a different genre that I’ve been toying with for a while. I could’ve used another few weeks on that ship, but the week I did have was wonderfully restorative. I’d love to do an annual writing retreat cruise and invite other writers along.

Now that you have four books in the series, how is it balancing writing more books and having to do book promotion? 

 

It’s a difficult balance. I find myself wanting to cross off the things on my list that are due first, but then I realize too much time has passed where I haven’t worked on my book – the very reason for all that marketing. Unlike some authors, I enjoy marketing very much. I love interacting with readers, whether it be in a Zoom book club, in a Facebook group, or in person. Most of my time is spent alone, writing. Hearing from readers reminds me why I care so much about what I’m putting onto the page.

 

I see that you are scheduled to attend the Cozy Mystery Fete in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on October 14. That’s a new gathering for me. Can you tell us about the fete?

 

I’m very excited about this and am so happy to have been invited. There will be 15 cozy mystery authors attending this all-day fête. It’s more than just readers buying our books and getting them signed, although there will be that too. We’ll get the chance to interact with our readers, we’ll do Q&As and roundtable chats. There’ll be freebies and swag, like recipe cards from those of us who have culinary cozies. The fee is $5 if you register ahead of time, and $10 at the door. This gets you in all day with refreshments. If you’re a cozy mystery fan, it’s worth making a special trip to attend, even staying overnight. Here’s more information: Mechanicsburg Cozy Mystery Fete

 

Do you make a lot of author appearances? Or have a favorite mystery conference you attend?

 

You asked about balance before and because my books have been coming out every six months, I find I haven’t had as much time for in-person author appearances as I would like. I have been on panels and book signings at libraries, and I have another Murder Mystery and Cheese Pairing event with Spread Cheese Co. and Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown, CT coming up. I do a lot of appearances online—podcasts and YouTube interviews—through Facebook Live or Zoom. If people follow my FB author page, my private Team Cheese FB group page, or subscribe to my monthly newsletter through my website, they’ll be notified when and where I’m appearing. Of course, I love going to Malice Domestic, which is a fan convention that takes place in April in Bethesda, MD. I highly recommend it for fans of mysteries and writers, alike. This November, I’ll be on a panel at Crime Bake, a three-day mystery writers conference that takes place near Boston, MA.   

 

In addition to your books, you’ve had short stories in the Crime Travel and Death by Cupcake anthologies. Which do you find more challenging to write, novels or short stories?

 

I find short stories extremely challenging. I’m in awe of short story writers like Barb Goffman and Art Taylor, who make it look easy with how prolific they are. I rarely write short stories, but I feel challenged and proud when I’m able to (sort of) pull one off. My story in Crime Travel, “On the Boardwalk,” was especially challenging because of the theme. 

What’s next for Willa and her crew?

 

Right now, I’m working on book 5, the title is still to be announced. It takes place at the Dairy Days festival in a nearby town to Yarrow Glen. When a murder occurs, Detective Heath isn’t on the case—it’s not in his jurisdiction. But when danger lurks, involving Willa and her crew, for the first time Detective Heath puts down his badge and teams up with Willa to solve the case together. 

 

What is the most valuable thing you’ve learned since you started writing?

 

It’s a bigger responsibility to be an author than I realized. Just recently, I received a message from a reader who binged my series while she was in the pediatric ICU as her daughter was recovering from surgery. She said my books gave her a sense of comfort during a time when life was kind of scary. I’ve received a handful of messages like this before—readers who were recovering from knee surgery or heart surgery or reading to their moms in the hospital. You can’t underestimate how your books may affect someone. I take that responsibility very seriously. 

 

Thank you, Korina

 

 

To learn more about Korina and her books, visit her at www.korinamossauthor.com

 

 

Bio

 

Korina Moss is the author of the Cheese Shop cozy mystery series set in Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner of the Best First Novel, Cheddar Off Dead. Her books have been featured in Parade Magazine, Woman’s World Magazine, AARP Magazine, and Fresh Fiction. She loves creating quirky characters who live in idyllic small towns. She grew up on a healthy dose of Nancy Drew and Agatha Christie novels, which developed her passion for solving mysteries and eventually writing her own. She lives in a small New England town with its own share of quirky characters. Korina is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She blogs on Writers Who Kill.

 

 

Grace Topping is the author of the Laura Bishop Mystery Series.

An Interview With Korina Moss

by Grace Topping

 

It’s no wonder mysteries featuring food and cooking are popular with readers. The food descriptions are enticing and frequently introduce dishes that may be new. They also whet our appetites for the foods being described. The main character in Korina Moss’s series owns a cheese shop. So while reading her latest release, Curds of Prey, I made multiple trips to my refrigerator searching for cheese—although none of mine was as good as the cheese Korina describes in her books. I need to make a trip to a cheese shop. In the meantime, I spent time with Korina, a member of our Writers Who Kill group, talking about Curds of Prey and all kinds of cheese.

 

Curds of Prey

In Korina Moss’s Curds of Prey, murder again comes to Yarrow Glen, and cheesemonger Willa Bauer must be the predator … before she becomes the prey.

Yarrow Glen’s favorite cheese shop, Curds & Whey, gets to be a part of the social event of the season: Summer Harrington’s wedding. Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is going all out for the wedding shower’s cheese bar. But the eagle-eyed Harrington family is proving to be a pain in her asiago. A last-minute tasting ends in disaster when one of Willa’s potential beaus, Roman, gets in a fight with the groom. Then the shower arrives, and while there’s anything but love in the air, there is plenty of cheese. Oh, and Roman… again. The day officially ends in disaster when Willa finds the groom―who also happens to be the mayor’s nephew―in the stable, dead as a dodo. At the mayor’s request, Willa must follow the trail of cheese curds to find a killer while continuing to walk a tightrope between two of Sonoma Valley’s most powerful families.                         amazon.com

 

Welcome, Korina. 

 

What inspired you to write a mystery series featuring a cheese shop owner?

 

It was actually an idea from an editor at St. Martin’s Press, who was seeking a writer for a cozy mystery with the theme of a cheese shop owner. My agent asked if I’d like to vie for the contract, so of course, I did. I began brainstorming ideas and researching cheese, and within a few weeks, I had a proposal (synopsis, the first three chapters, and summaries for the next two books in the series). They loved it and gave me a three-book contract. Last summer, I got a second three-book contract to continue the series (six books total, thus far). The theme was the catalyst, but my inspiration for what became the Cheese Shop Mystery series came from my love of cozy mysteries and my newfound respect for cheese and cheesemongers. I discuss this inspiration in more detail in an article I wrote for Women Writers, Women’s Books. 

 

Since you live in New England, why did you set your series in the Sonoma, California, area?

 

When I was researching cheese, I came across the northern California cheese trail – a map where tourists can discover where to visit artisan cheese shops, creameries, and homestead dairy farms to learn about and eat cheese. I liked the idea of setting it in a region known for wine. Although they go together, it’s also a little unexpected to focus on cheese in a wine country setting. My fictional small town of Yarrow Glen has its roots in dairy farming, so it’s a bit of an underdog compared to the fancier surrounding vineyard towns that draw the bulk of the tourists. The underdog theme of the town itself parallels my protagonist, Willa, and many of the small business owners in town who make up the close-knit community in my book.  

 

In cozy mysteries, the main character’s business or interest is a key component of the story, and readers will often gravitate to cozies with certain businesses. How do you balance how much focus you give Willa’s cheese business with the mystery she must solve?

 

That’s a great question. One reader who reviewed my first book, Cheddar Off Dead, said she absolutely loved it, but she was furious that Willa kept going off to investigate instead of staying in her new shop to work. I thought that was funny, but she had a point. You need to balance realism with the fairly rapid pace of a mystery. I want my readers to walk away with new knowledge and fun facts about cheese and, hopefully, a desire to explore new types. I’ve heard from readers that they develop a craving for cheese while reading my books, so I’ve done my job there. But I also need to develop the characters and their relationships, keep the town alive and the cheese shop cozy, and solve a mystery, which should always be at the forefront. To accomplish this, I make sure all my cheese shop scenes serve a purpose toward developing the mystery itself, which keeps pushing the momentum forward. 

 

You write authoritatively about a wide variety of cheeses. Were you knowledgeable about cheese before you started your series?

 

Not at all. I was your average cheese eater who liked eating it and bought the same four varieties at the grocery store. I love it when readers think I must’ve been a cheesemonger myself—it’s a great compliment, and it means I’ve done my research. However, when interviewers ask me a lot of specific questions about cheese, I have to remind them that I’m not actually a cheese expert. I’m a mystery writer. 

 

How did you research the various cheeses you describe in your books? 

 

Because my protagonist Willa is a cheesemonger—a cheese expert—I felt I needed to do a lot of research to get it right. I discovered that cheese is a subject that you could never know everything about. It’s also extremely interesting—the centuries-long history, the multitude of ways it’s made, all the variables that contribute to its flavor and texture… I fell in love with it, not just because it’s delicious. My first book was written during the initial months of the pandemic, so I only had Google to help me out. I’ve since found a local artisan cheese shop, Spread Cheese Co in Middletown, CT, whose owners and cheesemonger are three young women much like Willa (without the amateur sleuthing). They’re now my resource for cheese, although I still take full credit for anything I might get wrong in the books. 

 

When reading Curds of Prey, I wanted to sample the cheeses you described. Do you have a problem limiting the amount of cheese you consume—all in the name of research? 

 

Ha! All in the name of research, indeed. The only saving grace is that the cheese shop I mentioned is almost an hour away, so I don’t have the time to get to it as often as I’d like. I try to limit myself by just sampling. Although some cheese is so good, I just have to bring home a wedge and indulge myself. 

 

Do you have a favorite cheese? Or does that change with each new cheese you try?

 

It changes with each new cheese and at a moment’s notice. Last fall, in one shopping visit, I’d brought home Brabander Gouda, Curat de Búfala (my first buffalo-milk cheese), and the World Champion Rogue River Blue, a seasonal blue cheese wrapped in syrah grape leaves soaked in pear spirits. Each time I ate one of the cheeses, I’d insist it was my favorite… until I had the next and the next and went back to the first. They were all so different but incredibly delicious. 

 In Curds of Prey, you shine a light on the wealthier side of the community. Is it true what they say about the rich being different?

 

By the fact that they are automatically given the privilege of power, yes. In Curds of Prey, it’s assumed by everyone, even the wealthy Harringtons themselves, that they’ll receive special treatment during the ongoing murder investigation. It’s something that bothers Willa, since the guy she’s dating is one of the prime suspects. It also concerns the mayor, so Willa begins sleuthing on her own. However, the Harringtons aren’t the only powerful family Willa should be worried about.

 

Authors often will take a writing retreat so they can focus solely on writing, especially when facing a deadline. Please tell us about some of the writing retreats you’ve taken.

 

I’ve worked retreats into my budget because they’re a must for me. I wish I could take more! I’ve spent a few days in the Catskills in one of those tiny houses with a view of the woods and no internet. Being unplugged is a great way to focus. I’ve driven to an Airbnb with a lake view. By far, the best one has been my most recent, a solo writing retreat cruise, which was utterly divine and boosted my creativity. I wrote about it in my March Writers Who Kill blog post. 

 

How was your path to publication? You had a terrific launch of your first book, with it garnering an Agatha nomination for Best First Novel. Congratulations. Did the nomination put more pressure on you when writing the subsequent books in the series?

 

Thank you. I’m so honored to be nominated for the Agatha Award, named after Agatha Christie. (Pinch me.) The nominations were announced in January of this year after my second book had already been released, my third book was about to be released, and my fourth was nearing completion. I suppose that’s a good thing, or I may have felt added pressure. Now with four books under my belt, I still feel the pressure to make each book as good or better than the last, but mostly I just love getting to return to Yarrow Glen and decide what’s next for my characters, who I’ve grown to love. 

 

Since you started writing, what is the most valuable thing you’ve learned along the way?

 

The act of writing may be solitary, but being a writer isn’t. The mystery writing community is a big family that befriends and supports one another. For any mystery writer, beginner or otherwise, who may feel alone in their endeavors, I would say to join a writing organization like Sisters in Crime and your local chapter of SinC, attend a conference if you can, or connect virtually with other writers. Read blogs like this one, follow authors on social media, and immerse yourself in the writing community. 

 

What’s next for Willa?

 

Another murder investigation, of course. Book 4, Case of the Bleus, comes out in September and is available for preorder. I did something a little different with this one. It’s not only about solving a murder but also finding the secret to an extremely valuable and highly sought-after bleu cheese. The book contains cryptic clues, a word scramble, and riddles for the reader to try solving along with Team Cheese. I think it’s going to be a fun one. Here’s the book jacket description: What in the bleu blazes is happening in Yarrow Glen now?

Cheesemongers across the Northwest have come to the Sonoma Valley for the Northwest Cheese Invitational. As the 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 of his beloved cheese, and many are eager to have these revealed at the reading of his will.

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?

 

Thank you, Korina. And now I’m off to find another piece of cheese.

 

You can learn more about Korina Moss and her series at https://www.korinamossauthor.com/

and on Facebook and Instagram.