Fudge and Jury

Fudge and Jury is the fifth Bakeshop Mystery from Ellie Alexander, set in Ashland, Oregon, where Juliet "Jules" Capshaw co-runs the bakery Torte with her mother. Spring is arriving, the Shakespeare season is starting up, and the town's annual Chocolate Festival has brought a crowd of confectioners to Ashland.

Among them is Evan Rowe of Confections Couture, a world-renowned chocolatier whose showpiece fountain is the talk of the festival. When Rowe collapses and dies shortly after sampling a slice of Jules' four-layer chocolate cake, suspicion lands squarely on Torte's kitchen, and Jules has to work out what was really in that dessert.

As with the rest of the series, the mystery runs alongside the small-town business of the bakery: a renovation underway, a staff to keep steady, and a cast of Ashland regulars. It is a cozy in the traditional mould, with recipes, food writing, and a puzzle that stays firmly on the gentle side.