Orlando Murrin

recipes, mystery-fiction, thriller, foodie, suspense, cookin-lessons, cooking, friends, friendship, London, investigation, cozy-crime, friction, twisty, law-enforcement, amateur-sleuth, police-detectives, snarky, verbal-humor, situational-humor*****

Chef Paul Delamare makes the mistake of agreeing to take over for a friend and cover the teaching at an upscale cooking school held in a private home. The adult students are something else, but it's when Paul discovers his friend's body with a show more meat cleaver in his head that things really get sticky. The detectives are more than just irritating and seem to have stopped looking for the murderer and focused on Paul. Paul has to do his own investigating and does a fine job, but the very best thing about this book is the laugh your sox off humor!
I requested and received a temporary e-book from Kensington Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you! show less

Chef and writer Paul Delamare has been invited on the honeymoon cruise of his good friend Xera. He is tasked to write her biography but has barely got started when Xera is found dead. Only Paul suspects murder but as the yacht is beset by a huge storm and strange navigation, Paul realises that something is afoot.
Despite themes including murder, drug and human trafficking, this is a very 'cosy' crime book. There is the requisite cast of diverse characters, human and canine, and the hidden show more motives. Having said that it's very entertaining and lightweight read. show less

It's a present day whodunnit murder mystery novel in the Agatha Christie style with a closed circle of suspects, a grab bag of misfits. A townhouse in a posh London neighbourhood replaces the traditional English country house. An egotistical celebrity chef persuades a too-loyal friend and fellow chef to help him out on a gig teaching at a residential cooking school. There's a bad result for both of them.
There's an immediate red flag: this is the author's crime fiction debut after several show more cookbooks. Some of a beginning author's mis-steps find their way into this novel: an over-ambitious plot with loose ends, gimmicks (e.g. the weird text message emojis) and dead end plot tangents. In the result it's heavy on plot and atmosphere, light on character development. It's also a choppy uneven read with some breathless story-telling and melodrama that made it a frustrating challenge for me to finish. However, I'm suspending final judgement until the likely sequel appears in print. There's sufficient promise in the debut to anticipate a follow up novel.
I'd rate it two and a half stars, but round it up to three in recognition of a good effort. show less

Paul Delamare has lived a fairly retiring life since the death of his partner. He has a lifetime lease on a lovely cottage in Belgravia but little else apart from a vengeful stepson. When an old friend, the celebrity chaf Christian Wagner, asks him to run a week's cookery school as a favour Paul is railroaded into agreeing. However on the first night Christian is murdered and Paul is suddenly suspect number one - can he solve the crime before he is locked away?
This is a debut novel by an show more acclaimed food writer and it fits neatly into a fairly cosy crime setting. The plot is fairly obvious and the characters rather cliched but it works. There is a love of the finer things in life running through the novel (wine, perfume, watches etc) as well as a couple of recipes and the mix makes a quick and quite fun read. show less