Another wonderful cozy mystery from Korina Moss. This is a fun series, with great characters. This book has Willa and Team Cheese actually teaming up with Heath to solve not one but two crimes, which end up being intertwined. Lots of action, laughs, a sprinkle of romance, and delicious cheese recipes. Recommend to all cozy mystery lovers, this series/book will not disappoint.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I have always enjoyed this series, I absolutely am a big fan of cheese, and this series educates and expands our knowledge as well as always making me hungry. What makes me happy after reading our latest cheesy adventure is that Willa grows and gets a little wiser in each new adventure. Our whole cast of characters is involved in Dairy Days, a big event in the town next door. Willa and Archie are setting up a booth to sell cheesy snack boxes, with Baz' help hauling cheese coolers and helping with booth maintenance, Mrs S is helping with costumes for the Miss Dairy Pageant and everyone is looking forward to something a little fun and different. Everything is going famously until the director of the Dairy Day Pageant is found dead in the on site Museum, unfortunately Willa finds the body and is immediately convinced that this was not an accident. When the local police decide to keep everything low-key until after the Festival, Willa is afraid a killer is about to escape. Fortunately, she involves her friend Heath, who, although out of his jurisdiction, also has a few concerns! This is a very twisty mystery with lots of offshoots to keep us maneuvering and turning in many different directions to try and figure things out. This is a very interesting mystery with a cast of characters that has become one of my favorites. Thanks to #Netgally, #StMartinsPress, and the author for a chance to read. #FondueorDie #KorinaMoss #CheeseShopMysteries #bookreview #bookideas #retiredreader

Culinary Cozy Mystery that features a California cheese shop owner as she investigates the murder of the Labor Day Dairy Days festival's pageant runner after fingers point at one of her employees.

5/5 stars: Moss is a favorite author and doesn't disappoint with this fifth entry in the Cheese Shop Mystery series, which is a Culinary Cozy Mystery that takes place is Sonoma County, California and features a cheesemonger and cheese shop owner who turns sleuth after the neighboring town's Labor Day festival Dairy Days' pageant runner dies in a supposed accident and fingers start pointing at one of her employees for the crime's culprit. Moss has masterfully crafted a mystery that deftly balances the suspects, clues and red herrings and will leave you pondering the whodunit until the final reveal. Additionally, Moss's writing and character work are stellar; the characters are well-rounded and complex while remaining incredibly likable. It's a joy to catch back up with Willa, her friends and cheese shop, Curds & Whey, employees and the charming folks of Yarrow Glen. Especially the other members of Team Cheese: Baz, Archie and Mrs Shultz. Plus it's great to see Willa and Detective Heath finally getting to a place where might be able to go on a date. As ever I'm charmed by Willa's betta fish, Loretta, and her love for the awesome Ted Allen. And you won't want to miss all of the fall flavors featured in the very cheesy and yummy recipes included. While you could read this as a stand-alone, you'll gain so much more by reading the series from the beginning; so be sure to pick up book one, Cheddar Off Dead. A great read, highly recommend!

I received this eARC thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Paperbacks in exchange for an honest review. Publishing dates are subject to change.

The neighboring town is hosting Dairy Days and Willa’s cheese shop, Curds and Whey, has a booth to sell their cheese. Part of the Dairy Days is the Miss Dairy pageant, run by Nadine. Nadine tells everyone she will be making an announcement later and then Willa finds her crushed under a heavy bookshelf in the museum on the grounds. With a sheriff downplaying the probably murder, crooked pageant judges, and pageant moms, there are lots of red herrings.
Being a cheese lover, the descriptions of cheese sound amazing. The characters are varied and fun, and the mystery kept me guessing. This is a fun cozy mystery in a small town setting.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

In FONDUE OR DIE Willa Bauer and the rest of her Team Cheese crew are at Dairy Days, the annual three-day Labor Day weekend festival held in Lockwood. They have a booth to support Willa’s cheese shop, Curds and Whey. Nadine, the director of the festival’s Miss Dairy pageant, is found dead. Was Nadine’s death an accident or was she murdered? Willa intends to find out.

It feels good to return to Willa’s world with her Team Cheese employees from the Curds and Whey cheese shop—Archie, Baz, and Mrs. Schultz. I like the occasional inclusion of words of wisdom from Nancy Fuller, who has a real television cooking show. I also like that Willa’s phone ring tone is “Sweet Dreams Are Made of Cheese.” The characters are interesting and the plot is well-structured. Although I didn’t solve the mystery, I appreciate the way Korina Moss ties up all the loose ends during the story’s resolution. I look forward to reading future books in the series and finding out what develops between Willa and Detective Heath. This book is a fun read, especially if you love cheese. Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for the chance to read and review an advance reader copy of FONDUE OR DIE.

Good series and a good read. I would highly recommend this book. There is a murder mystery...Archie and Wiĺla find the body under a shelf.

The fifth Cheese Shop mystery takes place at Dairy Days which is held over the Labor Day weekend. Willa Bauer and her crew are manning a booth where they are selling taster boxes of their various cheeses.

However, her staff has other responsibilities at the festival too. Mrs. Shultz is busy assisting with the pageant to crown the next Miss Dairy and award a $15,000 scholarship. Mrs. Schultz's job gets more difficult when someone murders Nadine who is in charge of the pageant. With the police deciding to cover up the murder investigation so as not to blight the festival, it is up to Willa and her friends to track down the killer.

This was another fun episode in this cozy series. I enjoyed reading the recipes at the back too.

small-town, small-business, California, cheese-lore, cheesemaker, cozy-mystery, friendship, friends, friction, series, local-law-enforcement, local-gossip, local-legends, recipes, amateur-sleuth, fair, pageant, secrets, suspense, suspicion, missing-persons, situational-humor, verbal-humor, confrontation, helicopter-parent, murder, investigations, jealousies, rivalry, lies*****


Not an unbiased review as I love this series and am a Cheesehead.
Time for the annual Dairy Days Fair in the neighboring town and the pageant whose prize is a college scholarship. Willa Bauer is the owner/operator of the local cheese shop and has already been instrumental in solving a murder case or four in her own town. This time Willa not only finds the body of the pageant organizer but seems to be the only one (including the town police chief) to find it obvious that the death was orchestrated and NOT an accident. It's an uphill battle to make others aware without alerting the ever-present press or alarming the woman's relative to much (or distressing the tourists). Together with a few friends she manages to solve this tangled mess without getting herself killed in the process. Another winner!
I requested and received a free temporary EARC from the St. Martin's Press/St. Martin's Paperbacks via NetGalley. Thank you!
#CheeseShopMysteriesBk5 Avail Oct 22, 2024

A delicious twist of mayhem and murder, with a twist of romance.

Willa and her friends and workers from her cheese shop, Curds & Whey, are helping out at the annual Dairy Days festival in the neighboring town. Then, something goes horribly wrong. Nadine, the festival's organizer of the Miss Dairy Pageant is killed. Was it an accident or murder? Willa and Archie are the ones who discovered the body, however, and despite the local police chief's determination that it's an accident, Willa isn't convinced. While rattled, she'd still noticed several clues that pointed towards murder. She also isn't shy about letting the Police Chief Womack know. And, this is where the story takes off.

I won't detail the plot, see the blurb, but there are quite a few things going on here. Some obviously related. Some not. As is noted in the story, you just never know what is going on in people's lives to cause them to act as they do. Nevertheless, it's great fun to see Willa and friends pull together to try to solve this mystery or, for that matter, simply to convince the police in that jurisdiction to deem it a murder. Even Det. Heath, who seems to have been distancing himself from Willa (I've obviously missed a book in the series) makes an appearance. The murder didn't occur in his jurisdiction but, well, he didn't hesitate when Willa texted him that she needed his help. Ah, something's brewing and you don't have to be a sleuth to see that. Grin. In any case, in the process of the story, we get some cute costume scenes and, oh, my, can these people eat. Make sure you don't miss the recipes, cheese related, at the end. Of course, that's natural given that cheese is Willa's comfort food as well as her livelihood.

Bottom line, a intriguing mystery that kept me unsure until the end, always a plus, with natural sounding dialogue and quite likable characters. The way they all interact, including Willa and Heath as they dance silently around their attraction for each other, is also realistic. Mrs. Schultz, despite her own part in the action, remains upbeat and a bit of a calm force in the group. The author does an excellent job weaving the various side-stories and clues together into a neatly wrapped whole by the end. Well, for all but the murderer. Thanks #StMartin'sPress for the sneak peek allowing me back into Willa's cheesy, sorry, couldn't resist, world. Now, I think I may have to go make myself a grilled cheese sandwich. Enjoy, readers. It's a fun one.

Karina Moss continues to deliver an engaging cozy mystery in "Fondue or Die", book 5 in her Cheese Shop Mystery Series.

Cheesemonger Willa Bauer is joined by her loyal staff at Curds and Whey, her neighbor, and local detective in discovering the killer of the person in charge of the scholarship beauty pageant at the Dairy Days Festival in a neighboring town. With numerous suspects, the author keeps us guessing right to the end.

I really do love the Cheese Shop Mystery series. The store serves as a good basis for the plots and the characters but at heart these are just good, well developed mysteries.

In the latest installment of the Cheese Shop Mysteries, Willa and her friends find themselves in the middle of a fall festival murder mystery. As they get ready for the Dairy Festival in the neighboring town of Lockwood, Willa and her team at Curds and Whey find the Dairy Days Pageant organizer, Nadine, under a pile of old ceramic dairy jugs in the town museum storeroom. The police think it’s an accident, but Willa thinks otherwise.
With a potential murderer loose at Dairy Days, Willa, Archie, Baz and Mrs. Schultz work together to find the murderer before there are any more deaths.
This series is a joy to read. Even if you know something about cheese, you’ll learn more interesting details, not to mention the delectable recipes Moss includes! And the camaraderie between the characters is very satisfying. This time Willa gets to work with Detective Heath, instead of against him, which is a nice change of pace, and hopefully a good sign for their future.
FONDUE OR DIE (out Oct. 22, 2024) is the fifth in the Cheese Shop Mystery series but can be read as a standalone.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the opportunity to read an advance review copy.

Fondue or Die is the fifth Cheese Shop Mystery in a series but my the first I had read and didn’t have any issues keeping up with the plot. It’s time for the annual Dairy Days festival in Lockwood. Willa is all set to sell her cheese shop goods to the dairy enthusiasts this year. But when the dairy pageant organizer is murdered, Willa dives head first into amateur sleuthing to find a killer in a twisted case that will keep you guessing. The whodunnit is a wiley one and the characters are interesting for a fun to read cozy that will have you ready for more. I will definitely be reading the earlier books in the series. My voluntary, unbiased, and non-mandatory review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

This was a well-written whodunit with a comfortable tone making it easy to follow along. The mystery was nicely executed with a slew of potential suspects, and I enjoyed slicing through the clues. Love the inside knowledge of cheese. Love seeing Team Cheese getting into action looking for motive and opportunities and this time working alongside Detective Heath. Sidebar, love that Willa and Heath are connecting more on a personal level. It was touch and go with who I fingered as the killer, so it was enjoyable watching it all play out, even when the author changed directions. The pacing was on par with how well this tale was being told. This was a fun read that left a smile on my face at the conclusion, and one of the best books in this delectably appetizing series.

If you were to ask me what the perfect food was, I’d have to say cheese, mixed with things and alone so I’m sure this is the perfect series for me to read and review.

Fondue or Die is the fifth book in the Cheese Shop cozy mystery series and like the others it’s delectable. Everyone loves a summer festival, and the hot, lazy days are perfect for the Labor Day weekend bash: Dairy Days.

Booths filled with delicious and refreshing cheeses and other dairy products, butter sculptures, cow contests and other things all take a backseat when the Miss Dairy pageant starts as it’s the main attraction and has been for years.

Curds & Whey owner, Willa Bauer once again finds herself embroiled in a riveting case to solve when behind the scenes things are not as calm as they appear.

An engaging cozy mystery that was a fast read that kept my attention. I liked the characters, and the reveal took me by surprise. Looking forward to more in the series.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Dairy Days Festival is in full swing and several of Team Cheese are involved in the controversial Miss Dairy Pageant (a scholarship competition, of course). When the Pageant director gets bumped off the list of people who might have wanted her dead could stretch from one end of the pasture to the other. Unfortunately the director's death isn't the only mystery surrounding the festival. The nearby museum has seen more than one devastating fire and there's the matter of the police chief's wife, who's been missing for over a decade.

There was so much going on in this book - but in a good way! Sometimes if there's too much going on I have a hard time keeping track of all the characters and subplots, but that was not the case here. Since everything was so interwoven it was not at all difficult to follow the threads and it made for a quick, un-put-downable read.

We see lots of our favorite characters, Archie is being a good sport and helping out with the pageant even though it requires him to kind of embarrass himself, Mrs. Schultz is doing her best to keep the pageant humming along despite all the things that are going wrong each step of the way, Baz is helping out at the booth and acting as Willa's trusty sidekick throughout the investigation, and of course Willa is doing her thing and eating her cheese. Heath makes a comeback and since he's out of his jurisdiction he's playing the role of amateur sleuth right alongside Willa. We also meet a new character, who I think we'll be seeing more of, and she's super sweet.

The suspects in this book are many and they all have some truly killer motives, though nothing really compares to the backstory of the pageant front-runner. You just have to read it to find out!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

This time around, Willa and her cheese shop employees are spending the weekend in the neighboring town of Lockwood, which is holding its annual Dairy Days festival. Curds & Whey has a booth there, and both Archie and Mrs. Schultz have been roped into helping with the Miss Dairy beauty pageant. The pageant director, Nadine, has has been running the show for years, ends up dead, and Willa and her friends don’t think the local cops are doing a good job with the investigation.

The mystery was good. We have several potential suspects with a variety of motives. There were a couple if twists I didn’t see coming and I didn’t guess who the killer turned out to be.

As always, I enjoy the friendship and banter between Willa, Archie, Baz, and Mrs. Schultz. It was also nice to see Willa working with Detective Heath again. He’s not officially on this case, it’s not his town, but that doesn’t mean he’s not interested in making sure the murderer is found.

And of course, it left me craving cheese. Although I’m a little like Baz and not very adventurous in my choices.

Fondue or Die is book #5 of the cheese shop cozy mystery series by Korina Moss, and it's the third one I've read. Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for giving me an advance copy.
In this novel, first-person protagonist Willa Bauer and her cheese shop employees spend the weekend in the neighboring town of Lockwood, which is holding its annual Dairy Days festival. Willa's cheese shop, Curds & Whey, has a booth there. Archie and Mrs. Schultz are involved with the Miss Dairy beauty pageant. In the first chapter, we see Nadine, the pageant director, bark orders at her young cousin, Mary Ann, the contestants and their doting mothers, and then get into a confrontation with Fiona, one of the pageant judges.
Later in the day, when Willa and Archie go to the on-site museum to search for a prop, they discover Nadine's body, crushed under a fallen bookshelf. The local police come to investigate and quickly determine Nadine's death was an accident. However, Willa isn't convinced, and she tries to point out several clues that suggest murder.
The police chief isn't interested. The mayor and the festival director want to minimize publicity so as not to disrupt the pageant.
Willa and her "Team Cheese" decide to investigate on their own, evaluating motive and opportunity for multiple suspects. Some of the Yarrow Glen police officers are helping with security at the event but are kept out of the investigation. Detective Heath shows up in civilian attire, and his romance with Willa heats up more in this book. Because the Lockwood police chief won't ask for his help, Heath is relegated to amateur sleuth status just like Willa and Team Cheese.
This was a well-written, well-constructed mystery, and my mouth watered at all the descriptions of cheese products at Curds & Whey. A fun read.

A die-hard cheese fan from the Midwest makes me pretty much the perfect person to review Fondue or Die by Korina Moss. Dairy Days? A description of I'm guessing at least a dozen cheeses? Punny names? I'm here for it.

Fondue or Die is book five in Moss' Cheese Shop Mystery series. If you haven't read it, it's perfectly fine to read as a standalone or as part of the series. There's enough backstory presented without being overwhelming that a new reader can catch up pretty quickly. It's a nice little cozy mystery to curl up with. Willa is the owner of Curds & Whey Cheese Shop, and the story is set over the events of a neighboring town's Dairy Days. To be honest, it sounded like something straight out of small-town Wisconsin or Minnesota. I mean... Minnesota has a Dairy Princess who is the ambassador for dairy farmers.

Willa and her motley crew get involved in a murder mystery, that at first is questioned if it's even a murder. Not happy with how the local police chief is handling the investigation, Willa enlists Team Cheese to get to the bottom of what is happening. There are a few twists and turns, and brief discussion on the place of pageants in modern times. One word I had pop in my mind when thinking of how to describe the book is "sweet," and not as in sugary sweet but as in wholesome and low key. I mean as much as you can use that to describe a murder-mystery. I definitely enjoyed the book and it was a nice break from some of the heavier books I've been reading.

Please be advised I received an Advance Readers Copy (ARC) from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Fondue or Die is a well-written and fun cozy mystery. Willa gets caught up in the mysterious death of the Miss Dairy pageant director, at the Dairy Days festival, and something stinks worse than the limburger cheese. The Team Cheese group are on the case. They gather info and help Detective Heath solve the case. I didn't figure out the killer until the very end. If you love cozy mysteries, this one is great. I received a free copy from Netgalley with no expectations.