I received ARCS of these books from the publishers in exchange for honest reviews. This did not affect my opinions of the books or my reviews themselves.
In the latest installement in the Bakeshop Mystery series, the small town of Ashland, Oregon has come together to organize and ceebrate the wedding of two of the town's beloved citizens. But then the bride's father shows up unannounced, and the bassist of the wedding band is found murdered, and Juliet, owner and operator of bakeshop Torte, must once again put on her amateur detective hat and solve the mystery.
I love this series. The characters are so endearing, it's like a warm hug reading about them again. There is no shortage of suspects or twists and turns, and the solution to the mystery is a surprise that makes sense. The beautiful descriptions of the town make it its own character. I'm always happy to revisit Ashland, and I highly recommend other readers take the trip too.
In The Finalists, Bell sets his mystery in the academic world. Six college students are locked in a building, just like students for years before them have done, to take place in a ritual of sorts. They are the finalists for an extremely generous and long-running fellowship, and must now compete in an essay portion and interview to determine the winner. The bylaws are rigid, the representative of the family running the fellowship is drunk, and no one can leave until a winner is selected.
Then one of the students dies.
Bell creates a tense "murderer among us" atmosphere with locked doors and no one coming until the designated time. He also delves into the politics and policies of the behind the scenes workings of academia, which escalate the tension between the characters. The ending is a little pat, but still a surprise.
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