Ellie Alexander's "Another One Bites the Crust"

Ellie Alexander is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she’s not coated in flour, you’ll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research.

Here Alexander dreamcasts an adaptation her new novel, Another One Bites the Crust:

One of my favorite things about writing a series is getting to develop the characters over time. Not just the lead heroine, but also the supporting cast. In the 7th installment of the Bakeshop Mysteries, Another One Bites the Crust, one of the secondary characters, Lance, gets to take center stage. Lance is the artistic director at my fictional version of the real-life Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon. Lance has a penchant for dramatics. He and Juliet (aka Jules) have become fast friends and sleuthing partners over the course of the series. He tends to take a flippant approach to murder. However, in this book that changes when he becomes the prime suspect.

Jules and Lance have such a natural rapport and witty chemistry that I would love to see them fleshed out on the screen.

In my mind Lance can be played by none other than Robbie Williams. He’s debonair, devilishly handsome, impish, a singer (why yes, of course he would belt out Oklahoma at random), and can pull off an ascot. He and Jennifer Garner as Jules would make movie magic with their playful banter. I’d love to see them sneaking through Ashland’s downtown plaza and backstage at the Elizabethan theater. Jennifer Garner as Jules is simply perfect casting. She’s equally gorgeous and goofy. She wouldn’t take herself too seriously, and her mad baking skills would have customers drooling over her artisan pastries and sugary confections. Seriously, have you seen her Instagram? The woman knows her way around a kitchen!

To round out the cast, I want Matthew Rhys to play Jules’ high school boyfriend and Ashland’s most loveable deputy. Matthew would bring a natural warmth and kindness to the role. Plus, he’s pretty dreamy and could give Carlos (Jules’ estranged husband) a run for his money. Carlos would be played by Gilles Marini, because have you seen Gilles Marini? I mean, yes. Nothing more needs to be said, except maybe that even though Marini is French, I’m convinced that he could pull off a Spanish accent which would make Jules and viewers go weak in their knees.

While Jules is busy deciding between Matthew and Gilles, her mom Helen will be finding love with Ashland’s resident detective and Shakespeare aficionado the Professor. Played by the amazing Patricia Clarkston and Gary Oldman respectively. Don’t you want to see them as a couple? Just the thought of them together on-screen makes me want to write a wedding scene.

The crew at Torte, the family bakeshop featured in the series, would include Maiara Walsh as Bethany, Sara Paxton as Stephanie, Freddie Storma as Andy, and Ben Barnes as Sterling. Their unique styles would mesh beautifully with the aromatic espressos and dainty petits fours they’d be crafting together in the kitchen.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sold. Let’s go find a casting director and get this baby into production—stat!

Visit Ellie Alexander's website.

--Marshal Zeringue