Culinary Fiction

Spring has sprung in Ashland, Oregon, and everything at Torte seems to be coming up buttercream roses. But just when Juliet Capshaw seems to have found her sweet spot - with her staff set to handle the influx of tourists for this year's Shakespeare festival while she moves back into her childhood home - things take a dramatic turn. Jules discovers a long-forgotten dossier in her deceased father's belongings that details one of the most controversial cases in Ashland's history: a hit-and-run accident from the 1980s.

It’s almost spring in Ashland, Oregon, and the town is preparing for the Shakespeare and the annual Chocolate Festival. Business is cookin’ at Torte, and the store is expanding as Jules’ team whips up crèpes filled with mascarpone cheese and dark chocolate. Torte stands a chance of being this year’s confectionery belle of the ball! Life couldn’t be sweeter...unless murder taints the batter.

Jules Capshaw has too much on her plate - and she's feeling the pinch: The whole town of Ashland, Oregon, is in on the surprise Elizabethan-themed wedding she's planning for her mom and soon-to-be stepdad. But is her secret scheme half-baked? She's hiding racks overflowing with sweet treats while Torte is topsy-turvy with a major remodel and the return of Jules' estranged husband, Carlos. And until now, Jules had no clue about the bitter family feud that has her friend Lance frazzled and suspicious.

It's the dead of winter in the sleepy town of Ashland, which means no tourists - and fewer customers - for Jules Capshaw and her bakery. But when she's asked to cater an off-season retreat for the directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, business starts heating up...until Jules finds a dead body in the freezer. Someone at the retreat has apparently iced the bartender, a well-known flirt with a legendary temper - that is, before a killer beat him to the punch. Then, from out of nowhere, Jules' own ex-husband shows up at the shop.

It's autumn in Ashland, Oregon, - 'tis the season for a spiced hot apple cider with a serving (or two) of Torte's famous peach cobbler. It's also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to promote her family's beloved bake shop by competing in The Pastry Channel's reality show, Take the Cake. The prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people would kill for that kind of dough. Literally.

Summer has come to Elkview, Alaska, bringing 20 hours of sunlight every day, not to mention a surge of tourists and seasonal workers. Chef Charlie Cooke is eager for a busy yet relaxing season, but when a young man working a summer job at the local fish processing plant dies moments after walking into the Bear Claw Diner, she is quickly swept into the investigation. Soon, through her best friend Annie Jensen, Charlie learns that another student worker at J and M Processing has disappeared, leaving more questions and fewer answers.

When Lucy Berberian quits her Philadelphia law firm and heads home to Ocean Crest, she knows what she's getting - the scent of funnel cake, the sight of the wooden roller coaster, and the tastes of her family's Mediterranean restaurant. Lucy could do without Heather Banks, though. The Gucci-toting ex-cheerleader is still as nasty as she was back in high school...and she's just taken over as the local health inspector. Just minutes after eating at the Kebab Kitchen - where she's tallied up a whole list of bogus violations - she falls down dead in the street.

Mia Carina has steered her Italian-American family's Astoria, Queens catering hall into becoming the borough's premiere party site, and nothing could make her happier—except her boyfriend proposing. There's just one presumed-dead obstacle in the way.

Courtney Archer is known for hosting the show Cooking with the Farmer's Daughter...despite the fact that she's actually a pediatrician's daughter. Now she's signed on for a role on The American Baking Battle. On this reality show, she can start developing a more authentic image for herself - and as a bonus, the usual backstabbing and manufactured drama isn't part of the Baking Battle script. But genuine drama is heating up behind the scenes....

A treasure hunter finds a priceless coin on the beach in front of Allison’s bakery at sunrise, and she is stunned at the treasure. But she is more stunned to find him murdered. Allison, left standing at the scene of the crime, dog by her side, treasure in hand, couldn’t have picked a worse place and a worse time. She hardly looks innocent. And if she doesn’t solve this crime soon, things, she realize, are about to get a whole lot worse.

Delilah O’Leary can’t wait to open her new gourmet deep-dish pizzeria in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin—a charming resort town with a long history as a mobsters’ hideaway, millionaires’ playground, and vacation mecca. Engaged to a hunk with a hefty trust fund, Delilah is poised to begin a life that’s just about as delicious as one of her cheesy creations. Just before opening night, though, Delilah’s plans for pizza perfection hit the skids when her fiancé dumps her and leaves her with a very large memento from their relationship—Butterball, their spoiled, plus-sized tabby cat.

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.

If Alison Kerby really wanted peace and quiet, she never should have opened the Haunted Guesthouse. The Jersey Shore lodge's latest polter-guest is Richard Harrison, the recently murdered brother of long-time resident ghost PI Paul Harrison. Alas, a beyond-the-grave brotherly reunion is nowhere in the foreseeable future - phantasmal Paul left the guesthouse months ago for parts unknown, and for all her ghost-whispering prowess, Alison has no idea how to find him. And she's going to need Paul, because Richard's isn't the only murder still unsolved.

A rude tourist dies after eating his way up and down the boardwalk, and all eyes fall on Allison, as the police blame her new macarons. The macarons have a secret ingredient that is so delicious it has customers lining up and down the boardwalk - but they are not, she knows, the cause of death. Allison, forced to clear her name and salvage her customers, has no choice but to retrace the victim’s foodie trek up and down the boardwalk, and to figure out what he ate - or who he insulted - that could have gotten him killed.

Tearoom sleuth Gemma Rose is looking forward to a holiday filled with delicious Yuletide treats, time with friends and family, and maybe even a "white Christmas" in Oxford. But when she's snowed in at a country manor, she finds herself stumbling on a puzzling murder, complete with a body in the library, a house full of suspects, and a trail of mysterious footprints!

Fed up with dating after a disastrous setup, the only thing Hayley wants to snuggle up to is a box of made-to-order chocolates from plus-sized, plus-mouthed chocolatier Bessie Winthrop. But when Bessie is found dead in her kitchen, only Hayley suspects that Bessie's "heart attack" might actually be a candy-coated murder.

Francesca is nervous about catering her first-ever murder mystery party - but it’s clear from the clink of champagne flutes and piles of empty plates that the evening is a roaring success. The guests look spectacular in their disguises, whispering and giggling, as they try to identify who killed the beautiful, young Becky. But days later, the game takes a sinister turn, when Becky is found poisoned, and all the signs point to the culprit being a party guest.

It’s hurricane season in New Orleans and vintage cookbook fan Ricki James-Diaz is trying to shelve her weather-related fears and focus on her business, Miss Vee’s Vintage Cookbook and Kitchenware Shop, housed in the magnificent Bon Vee Culinary House Museum.

Food critic Hayley Snow and her pal Miss Gloria are overjoyed to welcome Violet and Bettina Booth, aka the Scottish Scone Sisters, to Key West. The sisters will host The UK Bakes!—Key West Edition. But the same day they arrive, the bed-and-breakfast the sisters are staying in gets torched. The contest begins the next morning featuring three local bakers. One is the inn owner’s wife, Rayna, who is not only the most talented chef of the group but now a person of interest in the fire. The next night, a dogwalker discovers a body near the bed-and-breakfast.

After solving a murder and getting her organic farm ready to overwinter, Shiloh Bellamy still expects the next few months to be busy with repairs, spring planning, and networking with local businesses. She might even be able to broker a new partnership with Fields Brewery and its organic brewer's association. Well, she could've if the owner wasn't found murdered at the county Ice Fishing Derby. Once again, Shiloh gets tangled up in the investigation when the police ignore an entire crop of suspects to blame one of her friends.