Torte - the beloved small-town bakeshop run by Jules Capshaw - is set to hit the stage. But who would have guessed that murder would makes a surprise appearance?

It's the role of a lifetime for Jules. The Shakespeare Festival has returned to Ashland, Oregon, for the season and Torte has been cast as the supplier of Elizabethan-era treats for the main event. But on the eve of opening night, a brawl between Jules's friend Lance, the artistic director, and a strapping young thespian named Anthony almost brings down the house...and the next morning, Anthony is dead. 

Jules knows that Lance loves his drama - and his just desserts - but she also knows that murder is way off-script for him. Now it's up to Jules to cut through a bevy of backstage betrayals and catty co-stars who all have their own secrets - before the curtain drops on someone else....