num_pages: 277
description: The latest installment in the Bakeshop Mysteries: Christmas comes to Ashland ORbut all Jules wants is to catcher a killer. Torte Ashlands favorite bakeshop is decking the halls and brewing up cups of holiday cheer. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is dark for the season but spirits are high as twinkle lights illuminate Main Street and snow falls softly on rooftops. Torte is bustling with activity. Jules and her team are rolling out dozens of Christmas tree cutouts and dusting them with sparkling green sugar. Helens signature Antoinettes a delectable almond cookie filled with raspberry preserves and slathered with chocolate buttercream are an instant hit. As are Andys peppermint bark mochas and eggnog shooters. While carolers serenade shoppers in the plaza Jules packages up festive boxes of holiday sweets. She feels a bit like Santa Claus as she delivers glistening Christmas stolens dainty tea cakes and mincemeat pies.To cap off the merry season Jules and Helen host their annual staff party at the historic Winchester Inns Dickens Feast. The six-course dinner is a beloved tradition complete with Yorkshire pudding and a Christmas goose. Santa Mrs. Claus and even a cheerless Ebenezer Scrooge delight dinner guests with jokes friendly banter and surprise gifts. As snow piles up outside the hot buttered rum and mulled wine keep everyone toasty inside. However just as the dessert course is about to be served the power goes out. When the glow of warm light returns the merriment evaporates. One of the guests is sprawled out in front of the twenty-foot Christmas tree. Suddenly Jules finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation. Her only wish this Christmas is to catch a killer.
language: English
title: A Cup of Holiday Fear
publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks