A Fatal Ingredient

Where the meals are unforgettable-and so are the secrets.After losing her tech job and her live-in boyfriend in the same week, Nina Parrish leaves San Francisco for Milwaukee, determined to rebuild her life in the city's fast-rising restaurant scene. Her newest challenge is helping launch Forge, an ambitious pop-up restaurant in Walker's Point, where one flawless night could secure the future of a permanent location. But when notorious food critic Laurent Pike dies during dinner service, Nina's fresh start turns into a nightmare. With the restaurant under suspicion and the staff's livelihoods on the line, Nina begins asking questions the police haven't answered yet. As she digs into grudges, hidden loyalties, and the damage Pike left behind in kitchens across the Midwest, Nina realizes someone at Forge had a deadly reason to silence him. To save her new friends-and her own future-she'll have to uncover the truth before the killer strikes again. Paul Austin Ardoin is the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Fenway Stevenson Mysteries and the Murders of Substance series. He has published fiction and essays in the anthologies The Paths We Tread, 12 Shots, Bottomfish, and Sweet Fancy Moses, and articles about computer security in California Computer News and European Communications.

A California native, Paul holds a B.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Santa Barbara. When he's not writing novels or saving the world through better network security, Paul plays keyboards in a dance rock band. He lives in the Sacramento area with his wife, two teenagers, and a menagerie of animals.