Juliet Montague Capshaw returns to her hometown of
Ashland,
Oregon after ten years as a pastry chef on a cruise ship.
She's taking a break from her unfaithful husband Carlos
and
sorting out her life. The family bakeshop, named Torte, is
the perfect place for Jules to figure out what's next for
her. Right now, she and her mom are getting the shop ready
for a reality TV show entitled Take the Cake to use their
kitchen for filming one of the contestants. When everyone
arrives at the shop for the first meeting, Jules learns
that one of the contestants has dropped out, and she is
asked to be the replacement. With a prize of twenty-five
thousand dollars, it's hard to say "no." They could use
the
money to update the ovens at Torte and make some much
needed renovations.
Jules arrives in the mock kitchen setup at the local
theater for their first taping and finds one of the
contestants face down in a large bowl of buttercream
frosting. Upon further examination, she determines that he
is actually dead. The police are called in and filming is
shut down for the day. This isn't the first time Jules has
found someone dead in a kitchen. A few months ago, she
found someone dead in the kitchen of Torte. Jules got
herself involved in that investigation and almost ended up
a victim herself. The first thing everyone tells Jules is
to stay out of this investigation. Will she do it, or will
her armature sleuthing get the best of her?
A BATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH is a delightful cozy mystery
that will keep you turning pages to see what Jules is
going
to get into next. Juliet tells this story in first person
and gives us a lot of insight into her personal life and
thoughts. She is surrounded by many supporting characters
that are a real mix of very colorful personalities.
Ashland
is a quaint little town that author Ellie Alexander
portrays in such a way that you want to pack your bags and
go for a visit. Torte is more than just a bakeshop. It's a
place where people come for advise, encouragement and
compassion, as well as delectable pastries and a good cup
of coffee. A BATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH is a story about
taking a step back for a time and assessing your life and
relationships and the directions they are headed. Grab a
few napkins, because you'll be drooling all over the pages
as you read some of the delicious-sounding recipes these
chefs are cooking up. Ms. Alexander includes a few at the
end of her book as an added bonus.
Welcome to Torte--a small-town family bakeshop where
the
coffee is hot, the muffins are fresh, and the cakes are
definitely to die for…
It's
autumn
in Ashland, Oregon--'tis the season for a spiced hot apple
cider with a serving (or two) of Torte's famous peach
cobbler. It's also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to
promote her family's beloved bake shop by competing in The
Pastry Channel's reality show, Take the Cake. The
prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people
would kill for that kind of dough.
Literally.
Then, just as Jules dusts off her
Bavarian Chocolate Cake recipe and cinches up her apron,
the
corpse of a fellow contestant is discovered--death by
buttercream. What began as a fun, tasteful televised
adventure has morphed into something of a true-crime
detective show for Jules and everybody else on set. Who
could have killed Chef Marco, and why? Can Jules sift out
the killer before someone else gets burned?
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