[review] Curds of Prey by Korina Moss

Curds of Prey is book 3 in the Cheese Shop Mystery series by Korina Moss, featuring cheesemonger Willa Bauer, and her shop, Curds and Whey, which is set in lovely Sonoma Valley.

Title: Curds of Prey
Author: Korina Moss
Series: Cheese Shop Mystery #3
First Published: March 28, 2023
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genres: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via Netgalley

*** Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with an e-copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review. ***

Yarrow Glen’s favourite 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 beaux, 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.

Back to Curds & Whey for more fun, cheese, and oh right, murder

The Cheese Shop Mysteries is fast becoming one of my favourite cozy mystery series! It has everything to keep me coming back for more – solid characters, delicious cheese, a sexy detective, more cheese, great twisty mysteries, did I mention the cheese? In all seriousness, this is wonderful series for cozy mystery lovers to dig into.

First of all, the characters. I love the characters, especially Willa, the protagonist. She’s warm, friendly, and competent. It doesn’t hurt that she’s a cheesemonger and I LOVE cheese (I think you’ve figured that out by now, though). Along with the mystery, I’m enjoying learning about a variety of cheeses. But it’s not just the main character that is well written. The recurring supporting cast, from Willa’s staff, to Willa’s neighbour Baz, to the local shopkeepers and townsfolk, all make appearances throughout the book and many of them continue to develop into great characters on their own.

I really enjoy the way the friendships are portrayed – especially the “Scooby Gang”, or #TeamCheese, Willa’s close-knit friends who area always ready to lend a hand, whether it’s in the shop or solving the latest murder.

Plus, there’s Willa’s two potential love interests – Roman, the charming meadery-owner who has apparently dated every single woman in the vicinity, and Detective Heath, who is much more serious and tight-lipped. Roman does a lot of things in this book that had me screaming “Team Heath!” at my screen several times – I must admit that since book one I’ve been #TeamHeath all the way… so fingers crossed (and no spoilers!).

A mystery between all that cheese sampling

As for the murder and mystery solving, as usual, it was paced very nicely throughout the book. We are introduced to several new characters who didn’t take long to make their marks. They all added a lot of intrigue to the mix and their personalities were quite vivid and well written. I felt like they were part of the regular group of characters after only a few chapters. You could almost hear the spoiled whining and the tense showdowns between the rich and the powerful.

There were enough motives to keep me guessing and I found the tightrope that Willa had to walk between the mayor, the bride’s mother, and Heath to bring some nice tension into the mix.

Looking back I think there were enough clues for me to figure out who the murderer was but I also enjoyed just sitting back and letting the action unfold. This was a book I definitely read in one sitting because I couldn’t stop until the conclusion (which was satisfying, to say the least).

Korina confirmed on my Instagram post that she’s been contracted to do at least three more books in this series (hooray!) and Book 4 is titled “Case of the Bleus” (which is amazing because I love blue cheese!). I absolutely can’t wait!

Quote from Curds of Prey