Live and Let Pie

Live and Let Pie is the ninth Bakeshop Mystery by Ellie Alexander, published in 2018. Juliet "Jules" Capshaw is running Torte in Ashland, Oregon, while her marriage to Carlos — still at sea on a cruise ship — hangs unresolved.

A picnic by the lake ends when Jules finds a human skull, remains that may be tied to a missing-persons case from the 1960s. Not long after, Edgar, a local curmudgeon, is found murdered. Out delivering bread and pastries, Jules learns that Edgar owned a choice piece of property in the middle of a town that is developing fast — which gives a number of people a motive.

The book runs the two threads together, the cold case and the fresh one, alongside the series' usual bakeshop routine and Jules's own decision about her marriage. Cosy throughout: small-town, low-violence, and heavy on food.