Crafts and Life

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. . .

Lance is getting stressed, very stressed, a young actor seems to be trying to get Lance fired from his position as the director of the OSF (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and this leads to a rather nasty fight on opening night.  This should have cleared the air between Lance and Antony, unfortunately Antony winds up dead and Lance has ended up at Torte covered in blood and clutching a dagger! With the Professor having to take a step back from the proceedings (due to the fact that he is friends with Lance) a Detective Kelly is brought in and she is doing everything by the book, and the book is being thrown at Lance! With Jules being certain that Lance is not a killer (however dramatic he acts) she (and Thomas along with the Professor) work behind the scenes to make sure that Lance's show goes on!

This is a series that keeps getting better, we have a wonderful cast of characters that make Ashland a place I would love to visit (if only the body count would go down a bit *grin*) with theatrics and baking who could ask for more – please keep them coming Ms Alexander!