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?
Local Author!
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. . .
The owner of the Emergency Dessert Squad, Winnie Johnson, is starting to have doubts about her baking abilities, but she’ll have to put her worries aside because business is booming. When she receives an order from a woman named Sally Dearfield to make motivational treats for an artists’ retreat, Winnie pulls out all the stops to whip up batches of delicious goodies.
But life isn’t sweet for long. Winnie and her best friend, Renee Ballentine, are out delivering desserts to the artists in their respective cabins when they come across Sally Dearfield’s dead body. The circumstances surrounding her death seem suspicious, and Winnie soon realizes that there could be a killer amongst the artists. She’ll have to rule out a cast of characters before another innocent person falls victim to murder.
Set In Ashland, Oregon!
When the body of Shirley Randolph is found floating in a fishing hole, their relationship reaches entirely new territory.
Shirley, the town's Realtor of the Year, was also Wyatt's suspected romantic interest, and now the residents of Brandywine Creek are speculating that Wyatt is responsible for her death. As the town council moves to suspend the handsome lawman, Piper springs into action to save his reputation and possibly his freedom. She enlists the aid of her BFF, Reba Mae Johnson, along with Wyatt himself, to help solve the puzzle and find Shirley’s real killer.
Pointing them toward high-powered real estate tactics and possible affairs, the investigation soon becomes personal when Piper's shop, Spice It Up!, is burglarized, and she’s forced off the road late one night, narrowly escaping serious injury. Realizing that she must be close to uncovering the truth, and that the evidence against Wyatt is no longer circumstantial, Piper resorts to drastic measures to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice.
