there are no small roles, just good dogs
It’s Halloween in Ashland, Oregon, and the local bakery Torte is in full production. They have orders for cakes and cookies and pastries on top of keeping their displays stocked with the pastries that customers come to buy for breakfast. Owner and baker Juliet Capshaw knows just how much work they have ahead of them, and that’s not even including the Halloween goodie bags they plan on handing out after the town’s giant Halloween parade.
The holiday always brings hundreds of extra tourists for the celebrations, as all of the restaurants and shops close for the parade and then open afterward to hand out treats. And since the town is known for its Shakespearean theater, the costumes are top notch. Jules will be dressing as Jelly, with her husband Carlos as peanut butter. But as they’re closing up Torte after an extremely busy Halloween, they find a man in a dragon costume who is not moving. A closer examination makes them think that something that happened to him, and Jules calls for help while Carlos tries to help the man. However, there is nothing more that can be done, and it’s time for Jules’s stepfather, a local detective, to take over.
It turns out that the dragon was Anton Dudley, a dog trainer and the in-house animal consultant for the theater. He had recently held auditions for their upcoming play, A Play About a Dragon, for the canine part. A member of Jules’s mother’s mahjong group owned the pup who won the part, but Marcia said that the audition process had been very difficult for herself and for her pug George. Anton had been his trainer and had been a big help in getting George ready for the stage. It was his help that meant they could beat out poodle Pippa and her owner Jax.
George’s place in the play also got him a prime spot in the Halloween parade, which upset Jax. She was still in the parade though, dressed in the iconic pink suit from Legally Blonde and walking with Anton and a couple of other canine celebrities. But Jules didn’t miss it when Marcia confronted Jax and dog groomer Trey Kelly about what had happened earlier. Apparently a dye mishap had turned George’s tail purple, and without Trey’s quick thinking, would have dyed the entire pug. Marcie was convinced that Jax was behind it, but she had no proof.
Jules was especially concerned about Anton’s death, as he had been wearing a dragon costume at the time. When Jules had visited her mother’s mahjong group, her mother’s long-time friend Wendy had shown off a new mahjong set she had found at a local charity shop, a beautiful antique set with artisan tiles. But when she was trying to close the drawer to put it away, something caught in the drawer. She pulled it out and found a note saying, “The dragon is dead.” In hindsight, Jules couldn’t tell if it was a strange clue to lead them to Anton’s killer? Or was it just a strange coincidence?
Catch Me If You Candy is book 17 in Ellie Alexander’s beloved Bakeshop Mystery series, and this one has gone to the dogs, but in the best way. There are dog stars, dog trainers, dog groomers, dog art, puparazzi, and plenty of pupper puns. I found the dog theme to be lots of fun, but there is still enough talk about food, coffee, and cake to make a foodie fiction fan—like me—hungry with anticipation.
I’ve been reading Alexander’s Bakeshop Mysteries for several years now, and I do love these characters. I think she has a way with food descriptions that are mouth-watering, and she can plot a mystery novel with thoughtful creativity. I’m always happy to spend time in Ashland, and I look forward to seeing what Jules and her team come up with next.
Egalleys for Catch Me If You Candy were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
