Bake, Borrow, and Steal - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Bake, Borrow, and Steal (A Bakeshop Mystery #14) by Ellie Alexander

Rating: Really Liked It!
Source:   Publisher

Description:  As the autumnal hues of November fall over the Shakespearean hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, Jules and her team at Torte are working on their biggest event ever. They’ve been invited to create chocolate showpieces for the gala opening of a new exhibit, Shakespeare’s Lost Pages at SOMA. The museum, located on the campus of Southern Oregon University, is getting ready to unveil the Bard’s lost manuscript, Double Falsehood, which is being touted as the greatest artistic discovery of modern times. In addition to molding luscious, silky chocolate into magnificent structures, Torte will be serving an authentic Elizabethan feast straight from the pages of a sixteenth century cookbook featuring Lardy cakes, Frangipane tarts, and jellies with chestnut cream.

Jules has underestimated the amount of work required to pull off such a culinary feat. She finds herself in the strange position of feeling frazzled and stressed as the day of the gala approaches. However, her team rallies around her and once the massive works of chocolate art are safely installed at the museum, she can finally let out a sigh of relief and revel in the excitement of the grand celebration. But her relief is short-lived. Right before the unveiling, news quickly begins to spread that Shakespeare’s lost manuscript is missing. Not only that, but the security guard tasked with keeping the priceless artifact safe has been killed. Is this a case of a heist gone terribly wrong? Or could it be that a killer is lurking in the museum archives?

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  This is one of my favorite series so of course I had to pick up the latest book!

My Impression:  I love this series and this was no exception.  I love that this one really centered around Shakespeare.  Shakespeare has always been in the background and talked about as Ashland is home to a Shakespeare theater and Jules' stepfather regularly quotes the Bard.  So to have a mystery full of Shakespeare lore and history was lots of fun.  As well, because the acutal crime took place at a museum opening we had a bunch of new characters and a new setting but also got to enjoy the familiar characters and location of Torte.

The mystery is an intriguing one.  Who stole the manuscript, what's going on behind the scenes at the museum becuase there is all kinds of tension, and last but not least do either of those have to do with the murder that happens soon after the theft?  I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and as always enjoyed my time in Ashland with the crew from Torte.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? Of course!  Ellie Alexander is fast proving to be one of my favorite authors.

Would I Recommend this Book? Definitely!  If you like cozy mysteries this series is not to be missed.  You can jump in here without any issues but I think you will enjoy this book more if you start from the beginning of the series.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *