Book ~ "Chilled to the Cone" (2020) Ellie Alexander

From Goodreads ~ The deep freeze has thawed in Ashland, Oregon, and Torte is gearing up for a busy spring. When a surprise opportunity to launch a pop-up ice cream shop comes her way, Jules jumps at the chance to showcase Torte’s signature iced drinks and cold custards. But selling the desserts of her dreams comes at a price and, before she knows it, Jules’s life swirls into a nightmare. 

One of the town’s most colorful characters, a street performer known for wearing capes and a cone-shaped hat, turns up dead just as Torte 2.0 is set to open its doors. 

Can Jules get the scoop on what happened to “The Wizard” of Ashland before her new business venture reaches a chilling conclusion? 

Juliet (aka Jules) was raised in small town Ashland, OR, but dreamed of seeing the world.  She grew up helping her parents in their bakery and went on to culinary school.  She got a job with a cruise line and didn't get home often after that.  She met her husband, Carlos, an executive chef, on a cruise and things were going well until she discovered he had a secret.  With a broken heart, she headed home to figure things out.  It's been two years and she now shares ownership of the bakery with her mother and Carlos has been living with her trying to work things out.

A pop-up opportunity opens up and Jules decides to try it out for the summer.  She's going to sell drinks, ice cream and pastries from the store.  She and her staff are getting the space painted and cleaned when The Wizard, an elderly homeless man, is found dead on the train tracks nearby.  Most of the townspeople had helped the eccentric man over the years but there were some who would have wished he'd stop hanging around.  Did one of them kill him?

This is the twelfth in the Bakeshop Mystery series and I liked it.  I've read all in this author's Sloan Krause Series.  It works as a stand alone ... I'd read the first one in the series last month (but none of the others) and there was enough information provided.  It's written in first person perspective in Jules' voice.   It was a quick light read and is a "cozy mystery" so there is no swearing, violence or adult activity. I look forward to reading the others in this series.