Article and Interview by Elise Cooper
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.
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Korina Moss: I have been wanting to do a story at a fair or a festival, outside of my normal setting in Yarrow Glen. I did it so it was not in Detective Heath’s jurisdiction. I wanted him and Willa to have to sleuth side by side and not have him as the cop not wanting her to be involved. I had to introduce a whole new community of people.
EC: Why Fondue as part of the title?
KM: I wanted to put in the story the Harbison cheese. It is a soft cheese like a dip by itself. It has a fondueing softness.
EC: Was the Dairy Days Festival made up?
KM: I researched to see if there were any Dairy Festivals. In Wisconsin and California, there are small dairy festivals. The one in the book is a collaboration of all the ones I read about that are small, with games and sometimes a Miss Dairy Pageant. I also intertwined the regular agricultural fall fairs I have gone too.
EC: How would you describe Detective Heath?
KM: Readers get more of his backstory in this book. He is goofy, sincere, vulnerable, and a rule follower.
EC: Where are you going with the relationship between Detectives Heath and Willa?
KM: After the last book, Case of the Bleus, it was left on hold, not in a good place. In this book I wanted Detective Heath to realize sometimes it is important to get involved even if he thinks they should not. They had not spoken for four months. While working together to solve the murder they get closer.
EC: Can you explain Willa’s backstory?
KM: She always had some trust issues. Her ex-fiancé and her best friend fell in love. She was rocked by this along with her younger brother dying a year later in a car accident. She was adrift for a while and never wanted to get close to people. When she arrived in Yarrow Glen to open her cheese shop, she ended up getting close with those hired to work there: Mrs. Schultz, Archie, and Baz. She feels very loyal to them and realizes what close friendships can be. They formed “#Team Cheese” as their name when investigating murders.
EC: Next book?
KM: It is titled Bait and Swiss and comes out in April of next year. Willa’s backstory comes into play when the ex-fiancé and best friend open a pop-up chocolate shop across the street from her cheese shop.
EC: THANK YOU!!
