The third annual fest begins Oct. 16; attendees will meet favorite writers and help solve crimes in immersive events

By James Sloan, Rogue Valley Times

Many bookworms, authors and lovers of cozy mysteries will be heading to Ashland in mid-October to celebrate the genre with a four-day festival filled with immersive events, opportunities to meet leading cozy mystery authors and more

Returning for the third year, the Ashland Mystery Festival will bring in 14 authors from across the United States as well as a Canadian first-time visitor and a British-born author. 

“I really believe there’s something for everyone here,” said Katharine Cato, festival organizer and director of Travel Ashland, regarding the festival’s programs and activities. “This event last year drew folks from over 26 states around the country.”

Easy on the violence

The cozy mystery is a subgenre of crime fiction that limits graphic content such as minimal sexual content, violence and swearing and typically involves an amateur sleuth solving crimes in a small town with mostly lighthearted themes and storylines.

This year’s festival is scheduled to run Thursday, Oct. 16 through Sunday, Oct. 19, and will be headquartered at the Historic Ashland Armory — located at 208 Oak St. — with some events at other venues around Ashland. 

Tickets for the festival start at $172.57 and include the opening and closing receptions, seven panels at the armory and a canvas tote full of goodies. Add-ons for additional actives are available for purchase.

Tickets can be purchased at travelashland.com/ashland-mystery-fest.

Lots of activities

“We have many first-come, first-served free events throughout town over the four-day festival, and there will be over 40 businesses participating and over 55 events throughout the weekend,” Cato said. 

Some of those events will include the Murder Mystery Dinner, meet-and-greets with multiple authors, mystery cooking classes, the Sleuth Dinner at the Ashland Springs Hotel and a variety of panels such as the “So You Want to Be An Author?” panel. 

“In addition, like the past two years, there will be an interactive mystery around town to be solved and 14 participating businesses. The crime scene is at the (Ashland Historic Armory) headquarters and the reveal room will be at the Inspired by Oregon store,” Cato said. 

For the full list of activities and programs, visit travelashland.com/amf-events-2025.

Some of the participating businesses for the Ashland Mystery Festival include Paddington Station, Jackson County Library Services, and the Ashland Food Co-Op. 

Dreamed up by Ellie Alexander

Ellie Alexander, author of the Ashland-inspired Bakeshop Mystery Series, is the creative visionary behind the Ashland Mystery Festival, first collaborating with Travel Ashland and the Ashland Chamber of Commerce in 2023 to put on the initial festival. 

With Alexander’s protagonist working at the fictional Torte bakeshop — based on Mix Bakeshop — “there’s landmarks in Ashland mentioned and she very much brings it alive, and for people to come and experience Ashland through their own lens is part of the magic,” Cato said. 

Travel Ashland and the Ashland Chamber of Commerce organize the logistics and other parts of the festival. Alexander selects the visiting authors for each year. 

Those visiting authors include Alexander, Emmeline Duncan, Esme Addison, Ellen Byron, Gigi Pandian, Lee Hollis, Angela Sanders and Tamara Berry returning to the festival. First-time attendees include Mia Manansala, Gretchen Rue, Hannah Dennison, Tina Connolly, Eryn Scott, Adrian Andover, Jennifer Young and Kara Loo, Jennie Englund and Tish Bouvier. 

Overlap with OSF and Mt. Ashland Haunting

The Ashland Mystery Festival coincides with many activities and events in the Ashland area, such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival season and the Haunting on Mt. Ashland Halloween event. 

Considering how niche the cozy mystery genre is, organizers don’t anticipate the festival to break massive numbers for attendance but rather center on quality and providing experiences that wouldn’t be possible if there were thousands of participants.  

“We’re pacing for around 300 attendees. However, we’ll probably pace over that,” Cato said. “That’s really our goal, is to achieve 300, and it’s going quite well toward that at the moment.” 

For more information on the festival, check out Travel Ashland’s Facebook and Instagram accounts or visit travelashland.com/ashland-mystery-fest. 

Reach Rogue Valley Times reporter James Sloan at [email protected].