Mystery Monday

 A Smoking Bun (A Bakeshop Mystery #18) by Ellie Alexander.  (St. Martin's,            20 February 2024).  

It's winter in Ashland, and Juliet's in-laws are coming to visit.  She's planning to give them an authentic Ashland winter experience, complete with snowshoe tours and winter picnics. 

An unpleasant encounter with a rule-breaking guide named Fitz Baskin puts a damper on their snowshoe tour, but they hope Ashland's unique Downhill Dummy race (in which makeshift dummies are strapped to skis and hurled down difficult ski run) will make up for it.

Unfortunately, one of the dummies speeds down the hill and lands on top of Baskin.  It's determined that he is dead.  Did the impact with the dummy kill him, or was he already dead?

Ellie Alexander's mysteries are always well-constructed,  and her characters are engaging.  Additionally, her descriptions of Juliet's baking and cooking processes are fascinating!

Ellie Alexander (who also writes as Kate Dyer-Seeley) is a Pacific Northwest native with a deep love for the region, which is why she sets her books there.  Ellie also writes the Sloan Krause mystery series, set in Leavenworth, Washington.