Knife Skills for Beginners
A gripping, irresistible murder mystery from a Masterchef semi-finalist. In this cookery school, murder is on the menu
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3.5 • 4 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE VAL McDERMID DEBUT AWARD 2024**
Richard Osman meets MasterChef in this gripping cosy murder mystery. In this cookery school, murder is on the menu...
'If Agatha Christie were to go on Masterchef, this novel would be the result.' Clare Pooley
'Delicious fun!' Tess Gerritsen
A recipe for disaster.
When chef Paul Delamare takes a job teaching at an exclusive residential cookery school in Belgravia, the only thing he expects his students to murder is his taste buds. But on the first night, the unthinkable happens: someone turns up dead...
The school rests on a knife-edge.
The police are convinced Paul is the culprit. After all, he’s good with a blade, was first on the scene – and everyone knows it doesn’t take much to push a chef over the edge. To prove his innocence, he must find the killer. Could it be one of his students? Or the owner of the school – a woman with secrets and a murky past?
It all boils down to murder.
If Paul can’t solve the mystery fast – as well as teach his students how to make a perfect hollandaise sauce – he’ll be next to get the chop.
Readers love Knife Skills for Beginners!
‘A deliciously dark slice of murder and mystery.’ Chris Whitaker
'If Ruth Rendell had teamed up with Delia Smith they’d have produced something like this.’ J. M. Hall
‘The perfect blend of The Great British Bake Off and Agatha Christie.’ ***** Reader Review
‘A fun mystery full of quirks and fun characters that will leave you guessing.’ ***** Reader Review
‘A welcome addition to the cosy crime genre.’ ***** Reader Review
‘Sharp, incisive, cutting - and that’s just the prose!’ ***** Reader Review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MasterChef semifinalist Murrin puts his culinary expertise to good use in this charming debut mystery featuring London chef Paul Delamere. After culinary celebrity Christian Wagner breaks his arm, he asks Delamere to substitute for him at a posh Westminster cooking school. Delamere agrees, happy both for the extra cash and for the distraction from mourning the recent death of his partner. Delamere's eight students, each of whom will board at the school for the duration of the weeklong course, include an aristocrat, her daughter, a pharmacist, and a last-minute sign-up who knows the school's administrator. At first, Delamere's charges are disappointed that the hunky Wagner won't be teaching them, but gradually, he wins them over. His good fortune runs out, though, when he finds a corpse in the kitchen, its head nearly severed by a meat cleaver Delamere had used to chop up pigeon carcasses earlier the same day. Delamere becomes the obvious suspect, forcing him to ferret out which of his students is the real killer before he winds up in prison. Murrin delivers a brisk, funny variation on the classic closed-circle formula. A sequel would be welcome.
