Most people plan their travel around a destination’s restaurants and cultural and recreational possibilities. Sunnyvale author Ellie Alexander looks for great places to kill someone — preferably in a scenic, charming setting with “the quintessential village vibe.”
Washington’s Bavarian-esque town of Leavenworth frames six of her murder mysteries. Her newest series — this one with Bay Area ties — launches this month. (Psst, look for Filoli inspiration.) And the 20 books in her best-selling “Bakeshop Mystery” series, which stars Oregon pastry chef Juliet “Jules” Capshaw and a cast of baristas, chefs and thespians, unfold in Ashland, the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the new Ashland Mystery Festival.
Last fall’s whodunnit celebration was so successful, there’s an encore in the works — Oct. 17-20 — with mystery author pop-ups, an Agatha Christie dinner, a murderous mixology class, writing workshops and an interactive mystery challenge that sends guests tracking clues across town. (Details coming soon at https://bit.ly/Ashland-Mystery-Festival.)
Of course, you can sample the delights of Ashland, sans bodies, any time of year. Here are some of Alexander’s favorite spots.
1 Lithia Park: It’s not just the fictional Jules’ favorite spot to hike and relax. This serene 93-acre expanse is popular with locals and visitors of all ages. The entrance lies in the heart of downtown, just off the plaza. “Ashland has this creative, palpable energy,” Alexander says, “and Lithia Park is such a centering space.”
2 Oregon Shakespeare Festival: This season’s productions include “Macbeth,” “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Coriolanus,” a trio whose run extends through mid-October. The company will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year with “Julius Caesar,” “As You Like It” and seven other productions, including James Ijames’ 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fat Ham,” a comedic Southern cookout version of “Hamlet.” Details: www.osfashland.org/
3 Downtown Plaza: “I love the shops and restaurants, walking through town,” Alexander says. Several of those plaza eateries, including Mix Bakeshop and Oberon’s, a Shakespearean restaurant and whiskey bar, inspired locations in Alexander’s books.
4 Mount Ashland: “There’s such a plethora of beautiful open space and hiking trails. Mount Ashland is spectacular. It’s a 20-minute detour off I-5. There’s skiing, the lodge, snowshoe tours — and in the summer, brilliant hiking.”
5 Emigrant Lake: A small town, Klamath Junction, lies beneath the surface of this reservoir. “It’s really trippy,” Alexander says. When the waters are really low, as they were several years ago, “you can see old parts. Two young girls were swimming and discovered a gumball machine underwater.”
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6 Jacksonville: This Gold Rush-era hamlet has a historic downtown, fun eateries and many nearby wineries.
7 Wineries: Southern Oregon is wine country, so when Jules and her husband buy the Uva winery, Alexander created it out of thin air. “I created this image in my mind of an organic, family-run winery. When I moved to Ashland, someone said, ‘I know exactly where it is.’ But I made it up! She took me to Eliana Wines, and it was as close as you could imagine to what was in my head.”
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