Restaurant Weeks are Murder

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Gluten-free devotee Poppy McAllister is asked to help her former fiance Tim prepare desserts at a local contest in New Jersey. Restaurant Weeks are Murder by Libby Klein finds Poppy as the third member of Tim's restaurant team for the event. (Restaurant Weeks are Murder will be released by Kensington Publishing on February 26.)

The Restaurant Week competition is being hosted at the Cape Community College in the brand new culinary school kitchen. There are six chefs from different local restaurants as part of the event and it is being filmed for local TV and judged by well-known critics. Among the contestants is Adrian Baxter, a former classmate and adversary of Tim's at the Culinary Institute of America. Twenty years ago, he accused Tim of tampering with ingredients in a competition before they graduated. He still holds a grudge.

On the first day of the competition, someone replaces the ingredients with non-toxic replacements such as talcum powder for flour and soy sauce for vanilla. Poppy gets wind of it right away and rectifies the problem for her kitchen, but doesn't tell anyone figuring chefs would catch on themselves like she did. Unfortunately some do not catch on and most of their preparations are ruined by the mix-up. Naturally Adrian blames Tim.

Things go from bad to worse when appliances begin malfunctioning and then one of the judges dies right after eating Poppy's cannoli. An exploding oven and a deep fryer accident don't stop the competition nor Poppy as she continues to investigate. Someone has a secret they want to keep hidden and will stop at nothing to do it.

Poppy is a terrific character and her Aunt Ginny and her crazy friends crack me up.