The Cozy Mystery List Blog

Today, I will once again be continuing my long-running monthly series highlighting the first entry in a Cozy Mystery, almost always a mystery recommended by site readers multiple times. This particular example is no different in that regard – the first book of Korina Moss‘s Cheese Shop Mystery Series, Cheddar Off Dead.

This is one of the newer Cozy Mysteries that I have featured in this series, starting as recently as 2022, though it already has four entries as of the time of this writing, with a fifth due out later this year. As such, it isn’t surprising to see that the series does a very good job in sticking with and representing the cheeses, in this case highlighting and discussing various cheeses for sale at sleuth Willa Bauer’s French-themed cheese shop, Curds and Whey, located in the scenic small town of Yarrow Glen, in turn located in the Sonoma Valley of California.

Willa has staked her life savings and taken a big loan out to open up the Curds and Whey, a move that represents her dreams for more than a decade of her life, which she has spent working in various cheese-related jobs around the country to learn enough to run a successful small-town artisanal cheese shop. Willa is hoping to get a good review from local food critic, Guy Lippinger, as it would go a long way to help making sure that the shop is a success. Unfortunately, Lippinger has a history of rough reviews, sometimes even being blamed for putting shops out of business, so Willa’s not hoping for too much… but even her lowest expectations aren’t low enough, as he shows up after closing time, obviously not sober, only to berate Willa’s shop, quarrel with the members of her cheese-making class, many of whom he had history, and depart, all in about five minutes.

Naturally, even newer Cozy readers will likely see how this is going. It isn’t long before Willa finds Lippinger again, this time dead with a cheese-cutting knife sticking out of his neck, and naturally, she and everyone else he had ever given a scathing review to were quickly put on the suspect list.

Cheddar Off Dead is a great example of a modern Cozy with a good theme, a flair for highlighting and discussing the theme, and a descriptive small-town setting with plenty of interesting potential suspects to go around. I recommend it to any fan of modern Cozies, particularly anyone with a serious love for all things cheese.

As always, if you want to read more of these brief discussions of some of the more popular Cozy Mystery Series that I’ve written in the past, you can find them at the Most Recommended Cozy Mystery Series page.

PS: For those cheese afficionados out there, this book does include several recipes at the end featuring cheese ideas and dishes