Mary Ryan Mystery

Pastry chef Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the American Fare, San Francisco's hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. Then, arriving at work very early one day, she discovers a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The ensuing investigation soon exposes all of the dirty secrets that the food industry would like to keep hidden-philandering chefs, illegal aliens, and subsistence-level pay scales. Events begin to spiral and in time take out the restaurant's celebrity chef and force Mary to use her unique skills to uncover a poisonous scheme. Not since Nero Wolfe and Faith Fairchild have mystery and food been yoked together so well as they are now in Claire M. Johnson's Beat until Stiff. An authentic and fast-paced mystery novel. Claire M. Johnson's Beat until Stiff deserves enthusiastic mention as a very special title which offers an unusually frank view of the cooking and restaurant scene in San Francisco. Herself a professional and experienced pastry chef, Claire Johnson presents the reader with a lively style that mixes autobiography with culinary and social insights. Highly recommended! Johnson's delicious debut...mixes an unglamorized, behind-the-scenes view of the upscale restaurant trade with a plot replete with well-timed shocks...The down-to-earth Mary, with her keen sense of humor, casts a sharp eye on the novel's flashier characters...The restaurant business-its food, financing, and philosophy-is here in all its complexity for discriminating mystery palates. Not only is this a treat; I read it through twice to make sure it was as good as I thought.

San Francisco pastry chef Mary Ryan is back teaching at her old alma mater, trying to straddle the worlds of both her original mentors and her contemporaries. To make matters worse, Homicide Detective O'Connor has enrolled as a student, claiming to be on disability from the San Francisco Police Department. In the middle of this turf war, Mary is confronted by the dean Robert Benson, who tells Mary she must either force Coolie Martin to leave the school or lose her job. Why would Coolie's father, a member of the Board of Directors, allow this? But when faculty and staff begin dying, Mary thinks that Coolie's forced exit might only be part of a larger, more sinister plot. Acting on a hint from O'Connor, Mary contacts the only person who can help her: her nemesis, Thom Woods. Will Mary and Thom uncover the truth before another chef bakes his last pie?