On Thin Icing by Ellie Alexander (thoughts)

Summary from Goodreads:

"It's the dead of winter in the sleepy town of Ashland, which means no tourists-and fewer customers-for Jules Capshaw and her bakery. But when she's asked to cater an off-season retreat for the directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, business starts heating up...until Jules finds a dead body in the freezer.

 Someone at the retreat has apparently iced the bartender, a well-known flirt with a legendary temper-that is, before a killer beat him to the punch. Then, from out of nowhere, Jules's own ex-husband shows up at the shop-and soon becomes a suspect. With accusations piling up higher than the snow-and thicker than a chocolate mousse cake-Jules has to think outside the (recipe) box to find the real culprit...and make sure he gets his just desserts."

My Thoughts:

This series is fast becoming one of my favorite cozy mystery series to follow!  Last year I read all three of the books in this series and each one was such a fun reading experience.  What I love about this series is how focused they are on baking and food in general.  It makes me SO hungry while I'm reading at times because the descriptions of food are just amazing!  If I could bake and cook like Jules does, well that would be just amazing.  Sometimes I truly feel like I am reading more for the food and descriptions of Jules' cooking rather than the mystery itself.  I also really appreciate in this series that Jules doesn't have her life figured out.  She isn't perfect and is kind of at a turning point in her life.  Actually all of the characters in this series are pretty great which is one of the reasons why I love this series so much!  Great characters, yummy food descriptions, and suspenseful mysteries are why these books are clear winners for me.  I just can't seem to get enough!

One of the things that I really loved about this book was the setting.  I loved how the author used a winter snow storm and a mountain lodge to give this book such an isolated and creepy feel to it.  I read this book during a snow/ice storm of our own and it just fit in so perfectly with this time of year.  This book felt darker and more suspenseful than the previous two books thanks to the setting.  I just loved it!  The mystery portion of this book was well done and I wasn't able to figure out what was going on until the very end.  I also liked that in this book we finally got to meet Jule's estranged husband Carlos.  We have been hearing so much about him since the very beginning and now it was interesting finally getting to see him and Jules interact with one another.  I can't honestly say how I feel about him at this point.  I actually am more a fan of Thomas (Jules' ex-boyfriend) so I am very, very curious to see what happens in the next book!  The ending of this book tied up everything quite nicely and left me eager for book four.  I especially love how the author includes recipes at the end with some of the different recipes that Jule's has made throughout the book.  I just need to get some confidence and try one of them!!! 

Overall, this was another great addition to one of my favorite cozy mystery series!!  I'm super excited that another book will be releasing in 2016....I just need to get my hands on it as soon as possible.  I'm hoping that we will get more resolution to Jules and Carlos' relationship in the next book.  And many more delicious recipes of course!  These books are just so much fun and are such great reads.  I cannot recommend them enough!  I feel like you should start with book one Meet Your Baker just so that you get the full reading experience but really these books could be read on their own.  Cozy mystery fans and mystery readers in general should really give this series a try!  Highly recommended!

Bottom Line:  Another standout read from one of my favorite cozy mystery series!

Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley as part of a CBB Book Tour.