Meet Your Baker: A Bakeshop Mystery (A Bakeshop Mystery, 1)

Jules, (Juliet Montague Capshaw) leaves the ship and her job she has had for the last 10 years along with her husband of an indeterminate timeframe, after finding some letters to and from her husband. She returned home to Ashland, Oregon. Where she grew up, the town is famous for the theater productions, and her mom owns a bakery.
Jules finds one of the directors of the theater murdered in her mom’s bakery, and also finds out that her mom is in serious financial trouble. In helping to find out who the murderer is, Jules is attacked on multiple occasion, and is also hospitalized for her efforts.
This was a well written story, but, it could have been so much better. One of the first things mentioned is these letters, it takes 36 chapters to finally find out that the letters are to and from the man’s son who is eight years old. The letters have been mentioned multiple times and have left you wondering for ¾’s of the book if they are a relationship with another woman? Blackmail letters? Something else altogether.
Ellie Alexander also used one full chapter describing a very nice meal preparation while she though over everything that had happened during and before her arrival in Ashland. It was pretty much just a filler to put more words in the story and not really relevant to the storyline.

Rather boring. Most of the book was spent adding this ingredient or creaming/mixing these two and everything was always done to perfection.Really? Jules spent most of her non-baking hours accusing people of being the murderer and not one of these people were insulted by this.
I liked the characters but would really like just a bit more substance and a bit less fluff & filler.

I can't believe it took me this long to start this series! I love the author's other series, Sloan Krause, and the series she writes under her pen name. Now I know why everyone loves this one!

Jules Capshaw came home to her Shakespeare themed town with a broken heart. She'd left the chef she was married to on a cruise ship where she was a pastry chef. Now she had to adjust to life on solidi ground for one thing, and soon she'd have a murder case she was busy investigating, somewhat with the go-ahead from her former high school boyfriend, now Deputy Thomas Adams. After a heart-stopping showdown with the killer, that person was safely hauled off and everything was solved.

It didn't take me long to fall in love with the regular characters! Jules was a pretty strong lady for dealing with the complicated personal life she had right now. I really liked her mom a lot and thought the two had a fairly decent relationship, which grew even better as the book went on. I can only hope that she can ditch her former guy sometime and start over with Thomas--I'm probably dreaming, lol. I loved the detective in this book! He was so different from any other that I've read about so far. Doug aka the Professor was super nice, but very into Shakespeare, so he'd toss out a Shakespeare quote instead of answering Jules about the investigation or giving the always-heard, "I can't talk about that." Shakespeare quotes made it easier to take? Maybe lol. It seemed like it took a long time to find out exactly what was bothering Jules about her break-up, but I think it was done in small pieces, because that's how Jules was healing, a little at a time. Sometimes she couldn't think about any of it, then finally it all came tumbling out.

I didn't guess the killer and what a cool twist that was! I loved how things worked out with Torte and its employees--they even gained a new worker. After reading a little preview of the next book that came at the end, I'm anxious to read it! The recipes at the end sounded so yummy--I'd love to try that raspberry danish one.

What a great start to a new cozy series - Alexander quickly draws you into this quaint, quirky and artistic town where the main character, Jules, literally and figuratively tries to find her bearings as she returns home after many years at sea. Jules, a trained pastry chef, joins her mom at the family bake shop to lend a hand and finds herself in the middle of a messy murder.
The book weaves in a number of compelling storylines including old flames, messy break-ups, mother/daughter issues, and the challenge to find one's place in the world. Jules and the rest of the characters are well-developed and the setting is the perfect stage for a cozy series. Only downside was all the cooking scenes and recipes actually made me hungry. Looking forward to more from this new author.

This book started out good with a good plot, but the writing is horrible. The author is wordy and tends to repeat herself within a couple sentences. It needs a better editor! !

This review is for Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander, the first book in her Bakeshop Mystery series. I had ordered this book after Courtagonist had recommended it on her Cozy Mystery blog, as the idea of bakeshop-themed murder mystery really intrigued me. This story is written in first person, from Juliet's point of view, and takes place in Ashland, Oregon.

Juliet Capshaw, a.k.a. Jules, had spent years working as a chef on a cruise ship when suddenly her husband emotionally destroys her, leaving her heartbroken...so she returns to her family home in her quaint, little hometown of Ashland, Oregon, to allow her heart to heal and figure out what to do next with her life. While home, she helps her mother to run their family-owned bakeshop, Torte. It just so happens that the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is currently running, drawing in excited tourists aplenty. When OSF's newest board member and modern-day Lady Macbeth, Nancy Hudson, turns up dead, it's difficult to figure out who murdered her, as Nancy was despised by many with plenty of reasons for wanting her dead. On top of everything, Juliet's high school sweetheart, Thomas, is one of the police investigators on the case, and he certainly is making things deliciously interesting for Jules. ;)

While I'm currently a busy mommy of a toddler and a six-month-old, I was constantly trying to squeeze in time to read this book during the day. Even though I'm not exactly a fast reader and that those chances to read were sometimes far and few between, technically I did devour this book. This mystery was so delicious! I'm now craving more bakeshop-themed cozy mysteries and I have already obtained the next book in Ellie Alexander's Bakeshop Mystery series. (Not to mention I also now have quite an urge to do some baking myself, haha!) The setting sounds so wonderful! Ashland, Oregon sounds like such a charming place to be, what with all of its artistic quirks and Shakespearean theater-themed shops. It sounds like the perfect little town, and I would just love to live there! Ellie Alexander did a remarkable job at making this town come to life in my imagination. The characters in this story were all quite likable and memorable...even the killer, before they were revealed as the killer. And the killer was one of my guesses, but they weren't my first guess, as my first guess was eliminated earlier on. I am dying to try the recipes in the back of the book, they sound super yum! :D

Overall, Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander was a delightfully delicious read, and I can't wait to start the next book in the series! 5/5*

I love this series so much!!
Jules has come home from a life on sea. Her husband kept a secret from her and now she is trying to take some time to figure things out. I love that she jumps right in to help her mom at Torte. Ashland sounds like such a beautiful place and fun community. This time I really noticed Jules' mom. She is so calm and the one that the town leans on. I want to be like that one day.
Jules gets tossed in to the murder by finding the body. What a crew of people are surrounding Torte. Lance, Sterling, Andy, Stephanie, and I cannot forget Richard Lord! Oh to spend one day with them!!
I did not guess the killer, which is funny because I have read this before. I just get wrapped up in the story and the town.
If this is not on your to-read list, it should be!!

I loved reading this books. It really kept Ed me guessing.

Fantastic book. I won't go into plot details. Only comment that it is a tight, nifty, personal plot. Very engaging. Beyond the purpose of the book, which is to enjoy a good story/mystery, Ms. Alexander's work inspired me. I want to cook better, not just serve food, but share love through good food. I also want to care more about my community, to add to it and enrich it. Last of all, I want to care about what I do with more sincerity. All of these yearnings came from reading Meet Your Baker. I wanted to run, to feel spring, to be healthy, to live fuller. What an unexpected bonus from a book in the genre of cozy-mystery. I look forward to any other books she writes.

Somehow I knew just by looking at the cover of this book that this would be a new favorite series of mine, why you ask? Well, it was the scrumptious treats on the cover and the bakery setting being a fan of baking and what life is like inside a bakery and the idea of a cozy mystery in a bakery had me hooked. I'm the type that judges a book by its cover and I knew that I would look forward that what lied ahead of me inside the pages and I was happy that I was proven right.

The first book in the A Bakeshop Mysteries introduces us to Jules Capshaw, shes returning home from being a chef on a cruise ship and escaping from a broken marriage, she is a emotional mess and trying to find where she fits in and belongs and sort out her life. We are also introduced to a Jules mom's bakery Torte where Jules will help her mom bake and run the business but we soon come to find out that Jule's mom has secrets of her own that could destory Torte forever. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is in town and the whole town of Ashland, Oregon is abuzz with excitement being a town with filled with play rights, actors and theater goers with a love for Shakespeare.

Torte is the place where most of the cast of the Shakespeare festival gathers and Nancy Hudson the festivals newest board member finds herself the victim of a crazed murderer, bludgeoned to death inside Torte's walls. Most of the Shakespeare cast of characters that want her dead with her Lady Macbeth attitude. Being the namesake of Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet and together with trying to decide if Torte is where she belongs and her issues with her mom with Torte and hopefully to find her place once again.Jules takes it upon herself on top of everything else going on in her life and being back home with her high school love and investigator, Thomas working the case, Jules can't help but thinking life is sweet when he is around and being determined to find a killer and save Torte from a uncertain future.

I loved that there was no shortage of fabulous food descriptions in Meet your Baker. If you love your mysteries like I do with food and in this case baked goods and a home town bakery with delicious treats in the center of it all you will not be disappointed and it was sure comforting to read that this book was filled with them and nothing beats the feeling you get while reading them if your a foodie . Jules is a character that to me is still finding her way and I still don't completely know who she is but that is but I look forward to getting to know her more in future books. Our ameture sleuth, Jules is a compelling character and in some ways reminds me of myself looking for a place to belong and has a lot to deal with in her life and with murder in the mix she still seems to keep it together but can she find a murderer and discover herself in the process only reading Meet your Baker will answer that question.

FTC Disclosure: Thank you to the publisher and/or author for the giveaway and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review.This did not influence our thoughts in any way. All the opinions of the book and review are our own and our reviews are honest.