This is one of my favorite cozy series, and this was a great mystery. However, Ashland is always a character, so I miss when they aren’t at Torte. Being with the Professor/ Tom/ Kerry gives them access to police resources that, while still amateurs, make their sleuthing feel less transgressive. Overall, this felt more like filler than adding to the ongoing story, but always good to see the gang and see their lives progress.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for my copy of Laying Down the Latte by Ellie Alexander in exchange for an honest review. It publishes August 26, 2025.
Yet another great read in this lovely series. This time we get treated to a trip to Costa Rica! The scenery is beautifully described, the market sounds amazing, and the farms among the clouds are so dreamy.
As always, Juliet is wonderful, and the teamwork is great throughout.
If you enjoy this series, you’ll enjoy this as well!

Pregnant Jules, Carlos and barista boy Andy fly to Costa Rica for a weekend at an organic coffee farm. While Andy is busy tasting coffee and filling his copious notebooks, Jules is busy prying into family fuss about selling the coffee farm to a big conglomerate. Of course this leads to murder, and Jules must solve it before catching her plane home. The outrageous texts from Lance are one of the best things. I would of loved to see more of Costa Rica.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this DRC.
#LayingDowntheLatte #NetGalley

Another sweet Bakeshop Murder, this one in Costa Rica. The descriptions of the coffee farm and the food are, as always, mouth-watering. You definitely want to be able to pull up to any table where they have created dishes! It was also interesting to learn more about coffee farming and production. It almost makes me want to drink coffee. It is also fun to have the secondary characters like Andy playing a bigger role. Overall, a strong story with a couple of real surprises along the way. This is a great read for those who like their mysteries very cozy with a side of tasty!

#LayingDowntheLatte #NetGalley takes Jules, Carlos, and amazing barista Andy to the coffee capital of the world, Costa Rica.
Valentina, a colleague of Carlos from his cruise ship days offers the trio a chance to see the preparation of coffee from inception on her family's farm.
Andy is beyond excited to be part of this adventure and he's eager to learn all he can.
Upon arrival, things are hostile with this family, Valentina wants to expand the farm, create a venue that tourists will visit, while offering the best coffee she can. Unfortunately, her cousin Miguel has no desire to grow the farm, he wants to sell his share to another coffee manufacturer.
Tempers flare and a possible murder poses trouble for the family, but will Team Torte be able to solve the mystery and save the farm?

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for selecting me to read an advanced copy of this book.

I had to DNF this book because the story didn’t fit my expectations and I was disappointed because I wanted more about the characters in this book. But, one positive thing is that the cover art is cute.

Juliet and Carlos are going to Costa Rica to see their former shipmate and friend's coffee plantation. They also bring Andy, the coffee expert in Torte. Valentina shows them around the plantation but she seems distraught. Juliet coaxes the information out and she tells them her cousin who owns 50 percent of the coffee farm wants to sell out. Later when her cousin is mysteriously killed. Juliet decides to find the killer.

This book made me so hungry. Now I need to try empanadas. I loved following the clues and trying to figure out who the killer was with Juliet. I'm a big fan of this series and I'm excited to see what happens next.

This is my favourite cosy mystery series ever and I always await the next installment dreading the day when it's going to end. This is a fantastic book - Juliet, Carlos and Andy go on a trip to coffee heaven, Costa Rica, and are hosted by Valentina, a coffee producer who's resisting being taken over by a big company. While the murder investigation was interesting, this book absolutely made me want to go and visit the country - I know the author went there to research this book and it shows - all the descriptions of farmers' markets, food, coffee and preserved nature are absolutely gorgeous and so immersive. I also loved to learn more about the making of coffee (it takes a lot of people and a long long time to make what people drink everyday out of a cup) and it was so sweet that the farm was run a lot like Torte, with kindness and love at its heart. I didn't want this book to end - no matter the setting, this series always feels like home.

My endless thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for this ARC!

Although I don’t drink coffee, I think I’m in need of a tropical vacation down to Costa Rica to visit a coffee farm just like Jules, Carlos and Andy did in the 21st installment of Ellie Alexander’s Bakeshop Mystery series. The crew at Torte are truly family and I love how much they support and invest in each other especially with Andy and his coffee love. Carlos and Jules envision a new venture with Andy and bring him along on their trip to Costa Rica but it wasn’t the relaxing and informative trip they planned especially when a member of the host family ends up dead. Jules and company put all of their sleuthing knowledge to the test as they tried to determine what happened without some key players still back in Ashland.

I can’t wait for the next book because hopefully the twins arrive soon but I have a feeling we might have to wait another book or two but there’s hope Lance and Arlo’s wedding could happen beforehand with the way Lance is throwing out ideas.


Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

Turns out I love cozy mysteries. I did not know this about myself previously. This little book is precious. Cozy and suspenseful all at once.

This is one of my favorite cozy series by one of my favorite authors, and I am always so happy when a new release is coming! As always, this was a wonderful installment with all our favorite characters and a fun cozy plot set in our favorite bake shop. You can never go wrong with an Ellie Alexander book and the Bakeshop is a great place to go!

Jules and Carlos are taking Andy on a trip to a coffee plantation in Costa Rica that belongs to a friend they made while sailing on the Amour of the Seas. The farm is gorgeous but before they can kick back and enjoy the scenery, the peace is broken by tragedy. When the brother who is threatening to sell the plantation out from under their friend dies under mysterious circumstances it's anyone's guess who might have been responsible.

I love this series but I have to admit this was probably one of my least favorite of the series. I missed Ashland and Torte and Lance and although the plantation sounded lovely, the characters were all somewhat dull. In all fairness, the characters might have felt dull because the characters we normally see in this series, Mom, The Professor, Lance, Sequoia, Bethany, are all so vibrant.

The mystery itself felt rushed and although there were lots of likely suspects, something about the way the story played out was a bit unsatisfying. Going by cozy mystery tradition, there was only one person who could have been the killer. The story would have been more intriguing if there had been something else going on besides just the sale of the plantation. If there had been some sort of industrial or ecological sabotage in the days leading up to the murder, etc.

I also found the murder itself very confusing. He fell, but the equipment was "malfunctioning" and who messed with the equipment... or did someone push him? If someone pushed him, who cares if the machines weren't working right? I just couldn't wrap my head around what happened to the victim and that kind of threw off the investigation because are we looking for the person who messed with the equipment beforehand or someone who was close enough to have pushed him? And at the same time, the victim was known to mess with the equipment so do we even know that someone did try to mess with the equipment? Or if someone did mess with the equipment did the victim actually fix it or make it worse or does it matter if the reason they died is because they were pushed?

Altogether I didn't really feel like this book was up to the standards of the rest of the series, though I still did enjoy the story and definitely recommend this series to anyone who enjoys cozy mysteries.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was such a fun escape. The owner of Torte bakeshop travels with her husband and employee to Costa Rica to visit a friend and learn all about coffee.. While they're there an accident occurs that results in death. They spend their trip trying to figure out the truth. The details and fun, vibrant characters made it easy to slip into this book and feel like you were in Costa Rica along with the characters. You'll definitely want to check this one out.

As a lover of both cozy mysteries and a good cup of coffee, I was excited to see Andy’s gifts finally take center stage in this installment! The Costa Rican setting was a fantastic change of pace — I’ve never been there, and the vivid descriptions of its landscape and sights drew me in right from the start.

From the moment certain characters appeared, I had a feeling they’d end up on the suspect list, and that kept the tension going throughout. The mystery itself felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly for my taste, and I would have loved more backstory on some of the characters to deepen the intrigue.

That said, it was still a delightful read, and I can’t wait to join Jules, Carlos, and the rest of the gang on their next adventure!

I received a complimentary copy of the book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Juliet, Carlos and Andy head to a coffee farm in Costa Rica in the hopes of getting some relaxation time and new coffee experiences. When they arrive, they find themselves in the middle of a battle to sell the farm that has been in the family for hundreds of years. When one of the family members is killed in an accident, Juliet jumps in to solve the case. I love the variety of coffees offered, even the decaf ones . Another excellent inclusion in this series.

Poor Jules/Juliet. All she really wanted to do was relax, soak up some coffee know-how, and enjoy herself. Unfortunately, that isn't going to happen. Things go wrong quickly after the arrival in Costa Rica. She's there with husband Carlos and young coffee roasting fanatic Andy to relax and learn. Then there's a murder. Even more astonishing, it seems to happen so unexpectedly and quickly right in front of potential witnesses, including Andy, but no one sees what happened. Seems Jules and Carlos' old friend from their days working on the cruise ship Amour of the Seas is facing both family drama and possible financial ruin. There's much more going on behind the scenes and tensions are high. Pregnant with twins, Jules is hardly at her sleuthing best as pressures mount, all while dealing with friend and frequent sleuthing buddy Lance's over-board wedding plans.

That's all I'll say aside from, yikes, what a murder weapon. This is a favorite series I've been reading since way back before Jules and Carlos found their way together again, and the well-rounded, likable characters are what keep me coming back. True, I sort of missed the comfort of the usual setting, Ashland, Oregon, and Lance's presence, though he did make up for it with texts and emails. Let's face it, in this modern world, you're rarely completely out-of-touch. In other words, although not together physically, we get regular updates on how things back home are going. The setting of the coffee farm sounds luscious and if you're a foodie or coffee-addict, you'll enjoy the bits of info you pick up along the way. Just the process of preparing the coffee beans alone is amazing. And, oh, my, the food. Don't read this one on an empty stomach.

So, who killed Miguel? He had big plans, plans not only Valentina but others opposed. Thus, lots of suspects to sort through, language barriers and all. What made the machinery malfunction? Did or didn't Miguel sign the contract others so strongly opposed? Will Andy manage to learn everything he needs to even after being attacked? Who....Oh, never mind. Read the book. It's well-written with great descriptions and food/coffee talk and intriguing characters. Thanks #StMartin'sPress = #Minotaur for allowing me this early peek into what's going on in the world of Juliet/Jules Capshaw and Carlos. True, sorta missed the abundance of Shakespeare quotes but, hey, there's always the next book!

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Minotaur Books.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

Jules, Carlos and Andy are off to Costa Rica on a dream trip. But things quickly turn deadly when the host employee turns up dead n the parking lot. There s more than coffee brewing as thins get steamy. It’s a bakeshop mystery not to be missed.