CATCH ME IF YOU CANDY (A Bakeshop Mystery #17) by Ellie Alexander will be published on August 22, 2023 by Minotaur Books.
Following Ashland’s the annual Halloween parade, Jules Capshaw finds a dead dragon outside of her bakeshop. The person inside the costume was stabbed to death, and the murder reminds Jules of an ominous note that her mom’s friend discovered in a vintage mahjong set that she recently purchased from the local thrift store. Even though she knows she shouldn’t conduct her own investigation, Jules can’t stop asking questions and searching for suspects.
This is the first novel in the Bakeshop Mystery series that I’ve read, and I found myself at a disadvantage because I didn’t know who any of the main characters were and their relationships to the main characters were not always explained. My main reason for requesting the ARC was the Halloween theme, and that did not disappoint. Ashland, Oregon, really knows how to celebrate the holiday. The book was well written, but the plot dragged at times during the middle. There were some twists and turns and the killer turned out to be someone that I didn’t really suspect, but the big reveal of the killer’s identity was rather anticlimactic.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.