Thursday, January 11, 2018

Another One Bites the Crust by Ellie Alexander - #review


Torte―the beloved small-town bakeshop run by Jules Capshaw―is set to hit the stage. But who would have guessed that murder would makes a surprise appearance?


It’s the role of a lifetime for Jules. The Shakespeare Festival has returned to Ashland, Oregon, for the season and Torte has been cast as the supplier of Elizabethan-era treats for the main event. But on the eve of opening night, a brawl between Jules’s friend Lance, the artistic director, and a strapping young thespian named Anthony almost brings down the house. . .and the next morning, Anthony is dead. Jules knows that Lance loves his drama―and his just desserts―but she also knows that murder is way off-script for him. Now it’s up to Jules to cut through a bevy of backstage betrayals and catty co-stars who all have their own secrets―before the curtain drops on someone else. . .

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MY REVIEW

A return visit to The Ashland, Oregon, of Jules, her shop Torte, and the Oregon Shakespearean Festival....HUZZAH!  I'm a fan of baked goods; I'm a HUGE fan of Shakespeare (and that's not totally to do with the aforementioned baked goods!) *lol*

Jules has to remain vigilant because her neighborhood business thorn in the side seems to be trying to get her to manage her businesses...for his advantage.  And she does have a lot on her plate ... the bakery, the expansion of the building/business to include a downstairs cafe, when Lance asks her to create special desserts for the festival, things that would have been available in Elizabethan times.

Lance, now there's a great character.  He's got that bordering on overblown ego that seems to be common amongst theatrical administrators.  But he is also endearing because when the chocolate chips are down, he will have your back.  Lance thinks someone is out to get  him ousted from his job, although you really can't fault him for that one...because someone is trying to sabotage him.  And it appears to be the lead actor in his play!  (How's that for biting the hand that feeds you!)

The atmosphere at the masquerade party was magical.  I don't enjoy 'posh' parties because they are (to me) often boring and stuffy.  Ms. Alexander makes the setting so wonderful that I would even dig out and dry clean a costume I made years ago for a production of Mary of Scotland (Maxwell Anderson) in order to be there.  Of course there was the unplanned entertainment of some arguments and hinky goings on.  But overall the evening was a smash hit!

What a difference a day makes though, because Jules runs into Anthony's (the lead's) body the next morning and Lance is looking pretty good for being the cause.  So, Jules gets to flex her investigative muscles again for one of her friends.

I was thoroughly entertained the entire time reading Another One Bites the Crust.  The main plot line hummed right along.  The 'side plots', be they for local color or carried from one installment of The Bakeshop Mysteries to another were, rather literally, the icing on the cake.

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MEET THE AUTHOR



Murder mystery author, Ellie Alexander, is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing a multitude of pastry and other recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, or hard at work on the next book in one of her mystery series, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research.

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(Disclosurer:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publishers in exchange for my honest review.)

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This book was read in December 2017, so counts towards the reading challenges from that year.

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