When I read the first of Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop mysteries, Meet Your Baker, I commented that the amateur sleuth, Jules Capshaw, was too impulsive, ready to fling herself into danger. It appears that Jules learned her lesson after ending up with a scar after her last adventure. She’s still sleuthing in the second book, A Batter of Life and Death, but her experiences are causing her to be a little bit more cautious.

When Autumn arrives in Ashland, Oregon, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival performs the final productions, and the town grows quiet. This year, though, the Pastry Channel is filming “Take the Cake” in town. Five pastry chefs will compete for $25,000. And, Jules will represent the family bakeshop, Torte, by competing on the show.

It’s going to be tight quarters at Torte, though. One of their ovens is out of commission, and they’ve agreed to host one of the contestants in the Torte kitchen. When Jules meets her fellow bakers, she’s happy to have the vegan baker at Torte. She feels sorry for the kitchen staff that has to host Chef Marco from New York. He may be famous as a baker to the stars, but he’s also a stumbling down drunk, carrying a bottle around with him. When Jules finds Marco dead, surrounded by the ruined cakes from all the bakers, she just assumes he was drunk and fell into the cakes. But, Thomas, Ashland’s detective-in-training, points out it was murder. And, he shuts down the set for the day.

However, the show must go on. Jules juggles working at Torte, baking for the competition, and asking questions of the other contestants, hoping she can find out some information that Thomas hasn’t yet learned. She just feels a little left out of the investigation, and, as the one who discovered the body, thinks she has an interest in the case.

However, Jules is careful. She tells Thomas when she’s followed. She reports vandalism at Torte. She’s just in the wrong place at the wrong time when the killer follows her.

I’m not sure I’m going to read On Thin Icing, the third in the series. I may just skip to the fourth. One of my quirks is a lack of interest when the amateur sleuth leaves the familiar town and supporting characters. Although Jules takes one of the staff of Torte with her to cater a weekend retreat, and her estranged husband shows up, this isn’t my favorite storyline. That’s my issue, not a problem with the series. I guess I’m more comfortable with the “Cabot Cove Syndrome” in which one town is devastated by murder over and over again, and, sooner or later, all known characters will become suspects. (smile)

Ellie Alexander’s website is https://www.elliealexander.co/

A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander. St. Martin’s Press, 2015. ISBN 9781250054241 (paperback), 296p.

*****
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