Ms. Alexander’s eclectic, imaginary town of Ashland, Oregon always seems to have an event going on. This occasion also includes the wedding of one of the town’s favorite police detectives.
Juliette and her staff at Torte are trying to keep everything running smoothly and then a body is found underneath the bandshell, one of the musicians for the wedding. Now Julie and her staff as well as her stepfather the police chief are trying desperately to solve so the bride doesn’t get stressed or involved.
The set and food descriptions are delicious and the characters varied. I enjoyed the tale and recommend for cozy lovers, especially those fond of culinary cozies.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC to peruse gratis and offer my opinion in the same vein.

I am a big fan of Ellie Alexander's A Bakeshop Mystery series. My favorite part is the warm interaction among the workers at Torte, and we get that in spades with the 15th book in the series, Donut Disturb. They are such a great group. The mystery has some unique twists, but it didn't hold my attention as much as some of the earlier books have; somehow Jules feels off. I will say that I appreciate that Lance is growing into a better investigative partner and his humor is fun as well as silly now. The excitement about Thomas and Kerry's wedding was infectious fun, but not everything is bride perfect.
Kerry is shocked to see her dad who should be in prison and worries about how to handle the situation; she hasn’t told Thomas or the Professor about her career criminal parents. It feels like the whole town has come together to make the wedding special, but the excitement gets tamped down when one of the musicians is murder and Kerry’s dad is the prime suspect.
My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an ARC of Donut Disturb, maybe not my favorite book in the series but still a fun read and well worth my time. I look forward to my next visit with this awesome gang.
#NetGalley #StMartinsPress #DonutDisturb #BakeshopMystery #EllieAlexander

I have always been a fan of this series and I’m never disappointed.
Always a top notch whodunit, interwoven with the great characters.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Spring has come to Ashland, Oregon and flowers are blooming along with love for Juliet and her team at Tort, as they cater the wedding of Thomas and Kerry at the park. It’s a beautiful day and everyone is on the green watching the bride come down.

But when an uninvited guest pops up it’s a shock for everyone. Including the bride. And why is Kerry’s father here? He is supposed to be living in a gated community as a guest of the state! What is going on?

As if things couldn’t get any worse, the bass player for the band is found dead by his own instrument. What next? We all know Jules is going to jump in with both feet to find out what is going on and hopefully before she’s next on the killers’ invite list!

Always a pleasure to see one of Alexander’s mysteries!

NetGalley/ June 28, 2022, St. Martin’s Press

Donut Disturb by Ellie Alexander (Bakeshop Mystery #15) 4.5 stars

It is springtime in Ashland, Oregon and Juliet Capshaw is extremely busy. Not only is she baking delectable delights for her shop “Torte”, Juliet is also catering the wedding of her longtime friend, Thomas. But there is panic in the air, when Kerry the bride-to-be asks Juliet to help find her father - Her estranged father, who should still be in prison. Ex-con father aside, you have disagreements between the jazz trio, a harried park manager and Lance orchestrating the wedding – what could go wrong? The answer to that question is the dead body of the bass player in the basement storage space at Lithia Park. But the wedding must go on and does without a hitch. Unfortunately, before she leaves on her honeymoon, Kerry finds out her father is the number one suspect. Kerry asks Jules to help find the real killer while she on her honeymoon cruise. But can Jules put the clues together before the happy couple come home? Read the book and find out.

This was a fun and engaging mystery. The Bakeshop Shop Mysteries have all been winners. As usual, the food descriptions were out of this world. (I really have to get a regular copy, the ARC didn’t have any recipes) I can’t wait for the next book in this series – Muffin But the Truth that comes out in December 2022.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Donut Disturb is the 15th book in the Bakeshop Mysteries series. However, this is the first book for me by this author, Ellie Alexander. I suspect that fans of this series will certainly enjoy this cozy mystery, and thus, I don't want to give away the story with spoilers. Instead, I will stick with the non-mystery aspects of this novel. The recipes were wonderful, and for readers who are not bakers, there are plenty of good hints for how to be a better baker.

I have been to Ashland for the Shakespeare Festival, and so this novel provided an element of coming home for this reader. I enjoyed the descriptions of the town, but it is the descriptions of the food that were quite captivating and that tended to make me hungry for such luscious desserts. Because this was a new series for me, I was not familiar with the characters and their backstories. There were times when I was a bit lost about who people were and their relationships. I was puzzled about the Professor and who he was and why he has that nickname. And I was almost all the way through the book before I realized that Carlos was Juliet's husband. I thought perhaps it was simply a very solid partnership. It is always a fine dance between providing too much background and not enough. In this case, a bit more back story would have been good.

Thank you to the author and St Martin's Press for providing this ARC for me to read and to review. The opinions above are my honest review of this cozy mystery. Thank you also to NetGalley for introducing me to another new author.

Coming back to Ashland and Torte is like spending time with old friends in your favorite town. It is really a town I would love to visit one day and sit in a place like Torte. This was a very enjoyable read from start to finish. I can't wait to visit again.


Thank you NetGalley, Ellie Alexander and St. Martin's Press for this advance read

Ellie Alexander has done it again and Donut Disturb is a delightful summer must read for all fans of this baking series. I confess that I have read every book in this series and Donut Disturb is as good as every book in this series. In this latest instalment in her baking series , there is a wedding, murder, lots of baking, coffee, a graduation and baby talk. Families are important, whether they are made up of family members, friends and those are very special and who you can depend on when you need help and guidance. Thank you Ellie for an amazing book which I loved and couldn’t put down until I read the final page.🇨🇦🥰👏 Thank you also to NetGalley for an arc E-book copy of Donut Disturb and can’t wait to read the next book in this series.🍩🤗😋

I enjoyed this book. The characters are great, like visiting old friends. I was surprised by who the killer is. The food sounds great. #DonutDisturb #NetGalley

This is the 15th release in this delightful series. This is one of my favorites in the series. Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley. My review opinion is my own.

The author has a wonderful series that blends the beautiful atmosphere of Ashland Oregon with a outstanding array of loved charcters and well crafted sleuthing. In this next in series Jules is setting up her catering in a beautiful park for a friends wedding when a body is found. Julies is determined to find out what happened before her friend returns from her honeymoon. This next in series has a donut theme, a wonderful view of the torte bakery inner workings and fun foodie treats throughout. The sleuth was well crafted with many red herrings and suspects abound in the small town. I enjoyed this book to conclusion. Well done to the author.

This is one of my favorite cozy series and this installment didn't disappoint! I really enjoyed this installment, which involves Thomas and Kerry's wedding. The mystery in this one wasn't as compelling as others in the series, but I still had a lot of fun reading it. One thing I appreciate about this series is that the full cast of characters is so rounded and deep. A lot of the book reads like an ensemble story, which is delightful. After so many books, I'm invested in all the characters.

Plot: 5
Characters: 5
Setting: 5
Writing: 5
Cover: 5

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before the June 28th publication.

DONUT DISTURB is a great title because donuts is a theme in the 15th book from the TORTE BAKESHOP series. A Springtime wedding in Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon. Cake shaped as Donuts. A wedding music band. The delicious pastries at Torte Bakeshop. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival buildings in the background. Upcoming performances at the OSF. Lost and Found items at the Lithia Park. Red herrings.

Two of Jules' friends are getting married at Lithia Park. The wedding plans are going smoothly until an unexpected guest shows up. Jules stumbles on a dead body hours before the wedding. Fortunately, the crime scene tapes are gone by the time of the wedding. To Jules' surprise, someone who usually refuses her help in investigating, asks her and Lance to help the Professor solve the murder.

Jules' best friend Lance is his usual hilarious self. The Bakeshop crew and Jules' Mom, Helen, provide witty dialogue and the reader gets a glimpse into what it is like to work at a Bakeshop in a town like Ashland.

There were a lot of suspects and red herrings. There is an interesting mix of suspects from members of the wedding band to a respected Judge to a gardener. And I loved the secondary characters too..

To quote Shakespeare: "All's well that ends well."

Love this series and author. If you haven't read this book and series yet. I highly recommend doing so. She has several different series.

I love this series! Great setting, Ashland, Oregon, something of a Shakespearean mecca, great characters who are fleshed out with back stories of their own, and lots and lots of food talk with Shakespearean quotes and references popping up frequently, and it all makes for a fun, intriguing read. Main character Juliet Montague Capshaw is smart, energetic, and cares about her friends, family, and her town, Juliet and husband Carlos operate not just popular bakery Torte but Uva, a winery. The tale of how both Carlos and Juliet came to be where they are has been fascinating but they're seemingly in a happy place as this book opens, staying very busy and, hmm, thinking of future plans. Juliet is likable and seems to be respected and trusted in her community and it's hard not to wish that the extended cast of family and friends is your own. This is #15 in the series but this can be read easily as a standalone although I encourage you to read the series because it's plain ol' good.

Juliet's also a darn good amateur sleuth although she seemed to falter a bit in this installment. IShe finds herself investigating a murder that takes place not long before good friends Kerry and Thomas are about to walk down the aisle and be married. Even worse than the timing, Kerry's father, who has shown up unexpectedly, is the main suspect. While his background is, well, shady at best, could he have gone to the great effort of being there despite obstacles only to turn right around and ruin his daughter's big day? What connection does he, not to mention some others, have to the victim, Brett? I mean, could the 80 year-old have committed this murder? Or maybe one of the other members of the jazz band the victim was bassist with? Dani does seem particularly driven. Could seemingly always cranky business neighbor Richard have done it? Why won't Nat take his information to the police himself? Why does he want Juliet to be involved? Who.....nope, not telling any more. You're just going to have to read the book. I do have one suggestion, however. Make sure you eat before you start reading. All that talk of food prep and fine wines makes you almost able to sense the smells and tastes.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #StMartinsPress for the invite to Kerry and Thomas' wedding. Glad I hung around after to taste test and see how Juliet's sleuthing was going. I'm looking forward to the next adventure which sounds like it may be a bit of a trip.

Juliet Capshaw owns and runs a trendy bakery cafe in Oregon. While setting up early for the catering of a friend's outdoor wedding, she finds a dead man. With part of a musical instrument in his torso, it appears to be intentional.

Rumors are flying like flocks of birds, and Juliet doesn't know what to believe, but the bride to be wants her help to find the truth. Even if that means the bride's ne'er do well estranged father is the killer.

I was on board with this book until our intrepid (chef/baker) detective started to freeze around suspects; she spoke about trusting her instincts, but ignored them, and made absolutely sure they knew she thought they are about to kill her. I was silly the first time, and got more ridiculous each time. (How has she been a detective for 14 previous books?)

In addition, a lot of the cooking or baking felt like superficial window dressing or space filler, not like someone actually making the food. I really wanted to like this book, because it started well, but it fizzled out long before the culprit was found.

3/5 Stars

Thanks to St. Martin's Books and NetGalley for the galley of this ebook; the review is voluntary.

#DonutDisturb #EllieAlexander #NetGalley
#StMartinsPaperbacks #BakeshopMystery15
#StMartinsBooks #StMartinsPublishing
#CozyCulinaryMystery
#AmateurSleuthMysteries

Ellie does it again, another wonder story from torte's bake shop. The characters are friends and family in this small town. A wedding and murder will keep you on your toes. Your mouth will water as you read about all the delicious food.

Another fun installment of this series. This time a murder threatens to ruin Thomas and Kerry's wedding but Jules is on the case along with her pal, Lance. This series was my introduction to cozy baking mysteries and I am still delighted by the characters and lovely, descriptive setting.

I’m jumping into the Bakeshop Mystery series rather late in the game but I didn’t feel lost at all. Author Ellie Alexander’s descriptions of setting, foods and various citizens of Ashland were just right and I felt up to speed with all.

I’m sure fans of the series will be excited that the wedding of Kerry and Thomas is about to happen. If I lived in Ashland I’d want to be a guest at this celebration. Everything sounded amazing. Well, until one of the people involved in the big day is found dead. And one of the suspects is the bride’s estranged father.

Alexander gives the reader plenty of red herrings and it was interesting to see how the case was solved. A quick read that I enjoyed and would read more of the series. Recommended to fans of cozy mysteries.