Bakery owner Jules Capshaw is looking forward to taking a few days off from running her popular cafe, Torte, so that she can enjoy a long weekend at the Whaleshead Resort on the Oregon coast, where she spent so many joyful vacations as a child. This time, she’ll be accompanied by her chef husband Carlos and her stepson Ramiro as the family enjoys their last few days together before Ramiro heads back to Spain. With her own mother and stepfather coming to join them soon, it looks like it’s going to be an idyllic getaway.

The main draw for Jules and Carlos, however, is the official opening night for the resort’s newly restructured restaurant, the SeaBreeze Bistro. Sterling and Stephanie, two of Jules’ and her mother’s former employees, have finally struck out on their own to helm their very first restaurant. They’ve invited their beloved former bosses to come celebrate the experience with them. Jules, of course, has also offered to help in the kitchen, an offer that turns out to be entirely necessary due to the strange behavior of the rest of the staff, and especially of the resort’s general manager Erik Morton.

Erik has few friends and fewer allies among the staff and inhabitants of Whaleshead, but most crucially to the SeaBreeze has been skimping on payment to their fish supplier. While Sterling manages to secure enough seafood for opening weekend – with Carlos and Jules helping him brainstorm alternatives, just in case – Erik makes it very clear that he has no interest in making life easy for his newest hires. And why should he, when he hasn’t done any favors for his other employees either? So when Jules finds him at the bottom of a cliff, the clear victim of foul play, there’s no shortage of suspects who might have wanted to do him in.

When Jules’ stepfather, a celebrated police detective on the verge of retirement, offers to help the short-staffed local police with the murder investigation, Jules soon finds herself involved as well. Trouble is, there are so many suspects, with an equally bountiful array of motives. Will Jules and her loved ones be able to keep Whaleshead safe even as a killer threatens to strike again?

This was another transporting installment of the Bakeshop mystery series, as what should be a joyous celebration of a professional milestone turns into a somber murder investigation. Sterling and Steph’s experience will strike a chord with anyone who’s ever embarked on a new career path only to find themselves face to face with a boss awful enough to make you rethink all of your life choices. Luckily, they can rely on their friends – and some amazing food – to help see them through!

There were seven food and drink recipes included here, of dishes deliciously described in the novel. I decided to try out this one:

Peach Cobbler Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup butter, chilled and cut into small squares

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or grease the muffin cups. In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter and 1 cup of the sugar together.

Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Gradually add the buttermilk, mixing until the batter is smooth and well combined.

Sift 2 cups of the flour, the salt, and baking powder into a separate bowl.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until a batter forms. Gently fold in the chopped fresh peaches.

Make the crumble topping in a new bowl by combining the remaining ½ cup each flour and sugar with the cinnamon. Add the cold butter squares and use a fork to incorporate the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over each muffin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm.

Despite not having fresh peaches available to me – canned worked just fine, though, in my opinion – these are easily some of the best muffins I’ve ever made! Perhaps I’ve finally mastered the art of the crumble? Regardless, these muffins were outrageously good, really evoking both the taste and texture of a peach cobbler while still maintaining the fluffiness and portability of the muffin form.

I did wind up making 24 of these, with enough extra batter to fill two mini tart pans, but that was unequivocally a good thing in my family’s book. These muffins aren’t too difficult to make and do provide a delicious twist on – or merger of, if you will – two classic sweets.

Next week, we travel southeast all the way to the opposite coast to investigate the shocking death of a bride, while baking up more muffins. Do join me!