Beat Until Stiff - Softcover

Johnson, Claire M.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0743475127 ISBN 13: 9780743475129

Publisher: UNKNO, 2003

Synopsis

Experienced pastry chef Claire Johnson whips up an insiders look at San Francisco's cutthroat restaurant trade. Cranky Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the in-vogue American Fare, the town's hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. At work very early one morning, she steps on a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The investigation soon exposes all the dirty secrets that the food business would like to keep secret: the philandering chefs, the silly whims of the dining public, the hiring and illegal aliens, and the subsistence-living pay scale. Events begin to spiral that, in time, take out the restaurant's celebrity chef and force Mary to use her unique skills to uncover a poisonous scheme. Hard-edged, filled richly with restaurant lore and murder galore, this is a mystery debut to savor.

About this title

About the Author

CLAIRE M. JOHNSON completed the California Culinary Academy's program for professional chefs in 1983, and worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco and Oakland for eight years. Her first novel, Beat Until Stiff, won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writer's Grant. She lives in Lafayette, California, with her husband, two children, and numerous animals.

From Publishers Weekly

Mary Ryan, feisty pastry chef at American Fare, a trendy San Francisco restaurant, finds murder on the menu in Johnson's delicious debut, which mixes an unglamorized, behind-the-scenes view of the upscale restaurant trade with a plot replete with well-timed shocks. Horrified to discover the battered body of one of her El Salvadoran employees stuffed in a laundry bag on arriving for work early one morning, Mary debates whether to call her ex-husband, Jim, a homicide detective with SFPD. As it turns out, Jim's former partner, Inspector O'Connor, takes on the case. Lonely and emotionally fragile in the wake of Jim's leaving her, Mary comes to rely on the tough, bullying O'Connor, whose job is on the line, as more than just a friend, while innate curiosity and love of justice propel her to investigate the crime and into grave danger. The down-to-earth Mary, with her keen sense of humor, casts a sharp eye on the novel's flashier characters: American Fare's showman of an owner, an egotistical chef, the suave maitre 'd in charge of the wine, the designer-clad, social-climbing manager. Assorted wives and mistresses, immigrants and a high-profile lawyer fill out the bill of fare. The restaurant business-its food, financing and philosophy-is here in all its complexity for discriminating mystery palates.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: UNKNO
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0743475127
• ISBN 13: 9780743475129
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224