5/5 stars: This is the sixth entry in Moss's Cheese Shop Mystery series, which is a Culinary Cozy Mystery set in a small Sonoma County town in California and follows a cheesemonger and cheese shop owner as she turns sleuth after the town's newest reporter's found poisoned by chocolates from her ex fiance and ex-best friend's new chocolate pop-up shop. With multiple possible victims, even more suspects and too many motives, she and her friend's will have to work fast to find the killer before they can strike again. With plenty of twists and turns, 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. Heartfelt and humorous, 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 up with Willa, her friends and her employees at Curds & Whey and the charming folks of Yarrow Glen. Especially her fellow Team Cheese sleuths: Baz, Archie and Mrs Shultz. Additionally, it's great to see Willa and her detective beau, Heath's, relationship going strong. And of course, you won't want to miss all the 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. Moss is a favorite author and this entry doesn't miss; 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.

It's the second year anniversary for Curds & Whey. Willa and crew are throwing a celebration. The festivities are marred though by her ex when they open a chocolate pop-up shop across the street in the newly renovated bakery and then someone is poisoned. Willa is just one of the suspects and with the success of the local businesses also on the line Team Cheese is on the case.

I previously read only the first book in the series, but I had no trouble jumping back in. In fact, Bait and Swiss made me excited to back and read others to catch up on what I have missed out on. It's clear that the characters and their relationships have developed. It's fun when there's a clear history in the town.

There are a lot of returning characters which is fun as it makes Yarrow Glen seem like a lively place. The characters are charming and fun. Willa herself is likeable even if she isn't perfect. It makes her relatable. Detective Heath is sweet.

The mystery is so well done and thought out. There are a lot of suspects and potential motives. There is plenty of stuff going on to keep the reader guessing. I love how Team Cheese works together. It was a lot of fun trying to guess the killer.

This is a series that I can tell just keeps getting better and better. I really enjoyed this and can't recommend it enough for mystery fans!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of Bait and Swiss, the sixth book in the Cheese Shop mystery series by Korina Moss. I've read several of her earlier books and believe this is the best one so far.
Willa Bauer, the first-person protagonist, owns a cheese shop in Yarrow Glen, in California's Sonoma Valley. She has developed a great camaraderie with her fellow business owners and employees and has recently become romantically involved with Heath, the local police detective.
This idyllic life is disrupted when neighbor Hope transforms her bakery into a cakery and rents part of her space to a franchise of Chocolate Bliss, a candy shop founded by Willa's ex-fiance, Pearce, and ex-best friend, Riley. The last two people she ever wants to see.
The day of the shop's grand opening, Willa goes to pick up a cheesecake and ends up volunteering to deliver a box of chocolates to AJ, the editor of the local newspaper; the new arrivals are hoping he'll write them a favorable review.
However, a new reporter at the paper, who apparently has quite a sweet tooth, intercepts the gift and eats the entire box. And then keels over dead. Toxicity tests determine the cause of death to be poisoning.
Because Willa delivered the chocolates, she becomes a suspect. Team Cheese (Willa, her employees Archie and Mrs. Schultz, and her best friend, Baz) must spring into action to clear her name.
The mystery has a lot of moving parts. Who was the intended target? The actual victim, A.J., or Willa? Or was the motive merely sabotage? And where were the chocolates poisoned? At the newspaper office? In transit? Or at the shop, perhaps while they were being made?
The entire community suffers as tourists and residents are afraid to eat any food served in Yarrow Glen, which gives Team Cheese another reason to solve the murder quickly. Also, Heath and Willa have to put their relationship on hold until the investigation is concluded, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The author did a great job of casting suspicion on multiple characters, and Team Cheese laid it all out logically. I didn't figure out whodunnit until almost the end.
This was a very enjoyable read with endearing, well-developed characters and setting.

Best of the series so far! Great blend of suspense and character revelation, with cheesemonger Willa's past coming back to town -- literally! A nice, comfortable read, with almost everyone in town suspected when a box of poisoned chocolates kills a new, pushy reporter. I'm already looking forward to the next installment (which I hope is coming).

In BAIT AND SWISS, written by Korina Moss, Willa Bauer, the owner of the Curds & Whey cheese shop, attends the grand opening of Hope’s Rise and Shine cakery the day before the two-year birthday bash for Curds & Whey. At Rise and Shine’s opening Willa is confronted with her ex-fiancé, Pearce, and the woman, Riley, who Pearce chose to be his wife instead of Willa. Pearce and Riley own a candy shop, Chocolate Bliss. Hope features Chocolate Bliss at her cakery’s opening. How will Willa deal with everything?

I am excited to return to Willa’s world and Team Cheese--Willa, Archie, Baz, Mrs. Schultz, and June (a Curds & Whey new hire). Korina Moss has come up with some entertaining names, like the Curds & Whey cheese shop and the Let’s Talk Tacos food truck. Happily, I was unable to solve the who-done-it before the end of the novel. I enjoy the mystery, as I do all the Cheese Shop Mysteries, and want to know what happens with Willa and her love interest, Detective Jay Heath. I look forward to reading future books in the Cheese Shop Mystery series. Thank you, St. Martin's Press and NetGalley, for the chance to read and review BAIT AND SWISS.

Wow, how do you top an awesome series about cheese and mystery? Add a little chocolate! In this adventure, the sixth in the series Willa gets a little blast from the past and not in a good way. When Hope reopens her bakery as a cake shop, instead of the bakery it was, that's one surprise, when she rented out a part of her space to a new chocolate shop everyone is in shock and the biggest surprise is for Willa as Chocolate Bliss is owned by Willa's ex-fiance and ex-best friend Pearce and Riley. When Willa ends up dropping off a gift of chocolate from Pearce to AJ at the newspaper, in hopes of a good review, things go haywire when the chocolate gets eaten by someone else at the paper who ends up dead. As usual, in this series, you know that Team Cheese will be on the case. Some of the things I really enjoy about this series besides the cheese talk and a satisfying mystery are the teamwork and the deepening relationships. All of those things are present here, plus chocolate! Thanks to #Netgally, #StMartinsPress, and the author for an opportunity to read! #BaitandSwiss #ACheeseShopMystery #KorinaMoss #bookideas #bookreview #retiredreader

I would recommend this book. This is another enjoyable book in the series. Willa is a suspect in a murder. She must figure out who did it. If you like cheese recipes included.

Team Cheese, cheese shop owner Willa Bauer and her friends, are back at it in this 6th installment in this excellent series.

This time, Willa's ex-fiance and her ex-best friend are in town to open a pop-up chocolate shop, Chocolate Bliss, in conjunction with Willa's friend, Hope, and her new cakery. All the chocolate talk in this mystery made the cheese talk even better, at least for me.

An absolutely terrific plot and a tremendous cast of recurring characters made this one one of my favorite mysteries so far this year.

Highly recommended to cozy mystery fans!!

Who doesn’t love cheese? Or maybe you prefer chocolate? The 6th installment of Korina Moss’s Cheese Shop Mysteries has both! But it isn’t too sweet. When Willa, the owner of Curds and Whey and a fine amateur sleuth, finds out her former fiancée, Pearce, and her former best friend, Riley, are in Yarrow Glen to open a pop-up Chocolate Shop, she’s not too pleased. She’s even less happy when a reporter covering the opening is poisoned and Willa becomes the prime suspect.

Filled with all of the quirky characters of Yarrow Glen that readers have come to love, and all of the wacky and dangerous situations Willa gets herself into (there are some truly entertaining moments of physical comedy), Bait and Swiss continues Moss’s series with typical aplomb. The recipes at the end are winners too!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Bait & Swiss is the newest instalment of the Cheese Shop Mysteries cozy mystery series by Korina Moss. I love this series and we are back following Willa as she runs her cheese shop in Yarrow Glen. While preparing for their big anniversary celebration Willa is distracted by a new caker opening in town and its featuring a chocolate business owned by Willa's ex fiance and ex best friend. Things get worse when a reporter dies after eating chocolates from that business that were accidentally given to Wila and she ended up delivering to be reviewed.
She's pulled into a mystery that has multiple suspects, a number of potential victims and lots of twists and turns. We get some romance, great friendships and lots of red herrings to keep you guessing!

I loved this mystery. Willa's personal life and professional life intersect when her ex fiancé and bestie come to town. I feel like even though the cheese crew worked really hard to identify every possible suspect there were really only a max of 5 that made sense. I love her work crew and Baz, they are a great group of friends to surround herself with. The author does a good job of not making Willa seem older than she currently is. I do believe she could be in her thirty's (for example she isn't odd about tattoos or piercings) and when she talked about being salty I smiled. I thought the ending was good, cause I really didn't know which of the two people I suspected actually did it but wow exciting ending. Now Heath.... Willa is more forgiving than me cause I would not accept that and continue the relationship. I still like Roman the most, I do truly understand why it didn't work out but if you are gonna maintain a no label why not go with the more charming dude?

This was another excellent book in the Cheese Shop Mystery series! I loved getting more info on Willa's past, in the form of her ex fiance and ex best friend's presence in the book. While we already knew the basics from previous novels, getting to read about her interactions with them gave more light to the situation. I was surprised by the ending, (I figured it out right before Willa does!) and thought the mystery aspect was really well written. As always, I love getting appearances from all of her friends, plus the other people in town, including ones we haven't seen much in recent books. Overall, this is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, and I highly recommend it!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

I get a lot of advanced reader copies offered to me and I stopped taking most of them because, well, I just haven’t gotten into reading for fun much of late. So often I find contemporary stories dull or indistinctive from all the others out there. I thought I’d give Bait & Swiss a shot, though, as the premise sounded more fun than most: cozy mystery focused on cheese.

I’m delighted I gave this book a shot – and I’m thrilled to say it’s an engaging, fast-paced read full of intrigue plotting, excellent writing, and believable characters. Let’s dive in.
What is Bait & Swiss All About?

Bait & Swiss, at a quick glance, comes from the Cheese Shop Mysteries cozy mystery series by Korina Moss. The stories center on the first-person narrator, Willa, the owner of a cheese shop in a small town on the West Coast. The story follows the mystery of poisoned chocolates and murder, which Willa must solve for the sake of herself and her friends (and former friends).
How’s the Writing and Storytelling in Bait & Swiss?

Korina Moss is one of the best writers I’ve read in a while, at least in this genre. The writing is clear, succinct, and emotionally charged to just the right level for believability and enjoyment. It’s not hyped drama, nor does it fall flat of what you’d expect a person in Willa’s position to feel. And, as an editor, I usually find myself editing as I read. In this case, I didn’t need to.

Pacing is often another huge issue with cozy mysteries – there’s either not enough space for readers to breathe or there’s too much fluff and the tension drops. Korina Moss does an excellent job of negotiating the pace particularly well – with neither a dry nor an overwrought moment – with tight dialogue, clear narrative, and clean action.
What Were My Personal Impressions and Impact of Bait & Swiss?

I’m now officially a huge fan of Korina Moss and the Cheese Shop Mystery series! I plan to find older stories in the series and will always claim future books by the author, no matter what the series or genre.

I can’t say this book changed my life in any way – after all, it’s a cozy mystery – but it’s been one of the few books in the past 12 months that I’ve looked forward to reading and had to force myself to stop so that I could get work done. Well done, Korina Moss!
Would I Recommend Reading Bait & Swiss?

If you enjoy a good, cozy mystery novel, I’d highly recommend pre-ordering your copy today. It’s one of the best in the genre I’ve read in a long time. You won’t regret it! I’d also recommend find previous stories in the series to “catch up” before you get Bait & Swiss delivered on April 29, 2025.

Bait and Swiss Review: A Perfect Installment to a Perfect Cozy Mystery Series

⭐ 5/5 Stars

Summary:
Willa Bauer’s cheese shop, Curds & Whey, is thriving in Yarrow Glen and about to have their anniversary party—until her ex-fiancé and ex-best friend steal her thunder by surprise opening a chocolate pop-up shop right across the street. As if that isn’t bad enough, on their opening day, a local reporter is found dead—by chocolate poisoning. When her exes begs her to help clear their names, Willa would rather chuck a block of cheese at them, but she can’t ignore how the murder is hurting her town’s business district and her good friend who happens the boss of the dead man. Setting personal feelings aside, Willa and team cheese set out to find the killer before Yarrow Glen crumbles like blue cheese under the weight of scandal.

Review:
I absolutely LOVED this book! It’s a fantastic addition to an already perfect cozy mystery series, bringing together everything I adore—engaging storytelling, well-developed characters, and a charming small-town setting that feels like a character in itself.

Pros:
✔ Compelling Storyline– The mystery was intriguing, and the personal stakes for Willa made it all the more engaging.
✔ Character Development– I loved seeing further depth in characters we already know and getting to understand others who haven’t been explored as much before.
✔ Yarrow Glen’s Atmosphere– The town truly comes to life, adding warmth and personality to the story.
✔ Standalone Friendly– While this book can be read on its own, it’s even more enjoyable if you’ve read at least one other in the series, as it gives more insight into Willa’s past.
✔ Willa’s Strength– Honestly, Willa is a better person than me—I would never help out my ex-fiancé and ex-best friend after the way they treated her! But her kindness and determination make her such a great protagonist.

Cons:
✘ I didn’t feel much connection to the murder victim, but that didn’t bother me too much since Willa’s motivation to solve the case was more about protecting her loved ones than avenging the victim.
✘ More Heath, Please! – I completely understand why Detective Heath kept his distance, but I selfishly wanted more romance. Just one more date night scene would’ve made me extra happy!

Overall, this book is an absolute **must-read** for cozy mystery lovers, and I can’t wait for the next installment!

this was a strong entry in the Cheese Shop mystery series, it had that element that I was looking for from this type of book. It was everything that I was looking for and was engaged with figuring out what was happening. Korina Moss wrote this well and was invested in what was going on, it continued the story perfectly and was glad I was able to read this.

Bait and Swiss is the newest book in this fabulous series by Karina Moss.
#TeamCheese is at it again when two people from Willa's past are suddenly setting up shop in her town.
Willa is shocked to see Pearce and Riley again, the two people who caused her shame and betrayal.
Willa unknowingly becomes a prime suspect in a murder investigation when she hand delivers a box of poisoned chocolate to the local paper's editor.
With the help of her two employees and her best friend, Willa is determined to find the truth and prove her innocence.
This is my favorite book in the series so far, but I'm sure I will say that about the next one, too.
I really love this series, it is definitely in my top three favorites and I'm looking forward to reading many more books in the series.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

Team Cheese is back at it again with another murder mystery to solve in Yarrow Glen. This time around, it involves people from Willa's past who had betrayed her. Her ex-fiance and ex-best friend have teamed up with Hope's cakery to franchise their chocolate business, Chocolate Bliss. Out of all the places to go, they just had to open up shop in YG! Especially since there is already a candy shop in town.

A.J.' s new reporter was found dead having eaten the entire box of chocolates that were meant for A.J. by Chocolate Bliss, in hopes of getting a good review. Not knowing that they were poisoned. Willa just happened to have delivered the sweets since there was a mix-up with her order by having the chocolates added onto her order. Now Willa and A.J. are the main suspects on this murder case, and, of course, Team Cheese has got to figure it out and clear their names. Who could have poisoned the reporter? 🤔 The suspect list was a long one this time around, and there were just too many motives. Every single person mentioned had me thinking it was them!

I know Willa is involved with Detective Heath, but I seriously 'ship' Baz & Willa. Their friendship has such a strong foundation from the get-go that it would be cute if they did end up together ❤️ sorry not sorry. I absolutely love Team Cheese. They all seem to genuinely care for one another and have established a family dynamic, which is the dream! To have co-workers who aren't just friends but family!

As always, Korina, you had me on the edge of my seat, and I can't wait for the next murder mystery to solve! TEAM CHEESE 🧀 😋

I haven’t read book 5 yet in the series, but I still enjoyed this book. The mystery kept me interested and I liked the interactions between the characters. I also like how the reveal of the killer was done in the book. Thanks NetGalley for allowing to read and review this book.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****

Wow what an unexpected plot! Willa is shocked to find out that her ex-fiancee and former best friend are in town to open a branch of their chocolate stores. When a reporter dies after eating a box of their chocolates that Willa was asked to deliver to AJ she and AJ become suspects not only in poisoning the chocolates but also in murder. Heath has to stay away to avoid conflict of interest so Willa and AJ along with Team Cheese are left to their own devices, namely finding a killer and clearing their names. A very satisfying ending as well. Probably my favorite in the series so far!