Who's Afraid of Virginia Ham?
by Phyllis Richman
from Avon
An ambitious young reporter with the looks and brains to become a star, new hire Ringo Laurenge is poised for a great future with the Washington Examiner. Too bad most of the staffers -- including Chas Wheatley -- wish the arrogant, back-stabbing creep would get his just desserts. Not only does this egomaniac steal other reporters's stories, he's also determined to destroy a restaurant Chas is researching. Her worries over Ringo have even begun to cut into Chas's love life. It's only a matter of time before the cheesy writer headlines the obituary page. But the insatiably curious Chas -- a journalist with a taste for sleuthing and scoops -- isn't sure she wants to find out which of her colleagues, and the rest of the capital, finally had enough...
The Butter Did It: A Gastronomic Tale of Love and Murder (Chas Wheatley Mysteries)
by Phyllis Richman
from HarperTorch
Here's a mystery guaranteed to make you hungry--for the salmon-filled pasta squares that Chef Laurence Levain sells for $20 a pop at his Washington, D.C. restaurant, for the salad of curly chicory and thick chunks of country bacon that first brings Levain and American food critic Chas (for Charlotte Sue) Wheatley together in Paris, for the warm polenta salad and pan-fried three-meat dumplings served at the CityTastes benefit the night that Levain is found dead of an apparent heart attack and Chas--his lover--has to write his obituary. Washington Post restaurant critic Phyllis Richman certainly knows her food, and her skill at keeping a lively mystery plot simmering is almost as impressive.
It is the eve of City Tastes, Washington, D.C.'s gourmet gala featuring the delectable handiwork of the city's culinary stars. Renowned restaurant reviewer Chas Wheatley expects to fill her biting Washington Examiner column with reports of a sassy soupe en chamise or a poor palourde en beignets. But when chef Lawrence Levain's heart suddenly stops the night before the event, everyone is quick to name his soaring cholesterol as the culprit. Except Chas, whose discriminating senses smell murder.
Armed with her saber-sharp pen and critic's eye for things amiss, Chas circuits the restaurant scene, doling out biting reviews and delicious recipes, while probing into Lawrence's untimely demise. With a dollop of help from her loved ones at home and a soupcon of advice form a secret admirer at work, Chas's tastebuds lead her down a dangerous trail of revenge and murder, where her next bite could be her last.
Murder on the Gravy Train
by Phyllis Richman
from Avon
Add to the burgeoning cohort of culinary-themed mysteries Phyllis Richman's Murder on the Gravy Train, which provides a second outing for her restaurant reviewer-sleuth, Chas (née Charlotte Sue) Wheatley.
Richman, the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Post, is ideally suited to supply a vivid glimpse of the terrain where big-city culinary and newspaper worlds intersect, and offers a tempting brew of the pleasures and politics of both. Added to the mix is a tale of blackmail, extortion, spying, corruption, and (let's not forget) murder--several times over.
When the chef at one of Washington's most popular new restaurants disappears, Wheatley's curiosity is piqued. No one is forthcoming about his whereabouts, and, almost worse, the restaurant's food, minus the chef, is terribly off. Wheatley takes it upon herself to track down the chef and discovers a widening pool of foul play. In her search, we learn about the illicit side of the restaurant business (readers will think twice about ordering bottled water when they dine out next), and the often-nasty machinations of newsroom life (spying and story thievery). We are also exposed to the bureaucratic yet gruesome grind of a typical homicide department (decayed bodies without ID, for example).
Richman's narrative reads like a semi-autobiographical roman à clef: culinary insiders, real and would-be, will delight in her up-front-and-personal food-world asides. In fact, anyone who enjoys food and foul play--a heady combination--should relish this tale of both, nicely spun out by an author of appetite and imagination. --Arthur Boehm
Researching her new column, Chas Wheatley, a food writer with a taste for sleuthing, discovers sometning is rotten with Washington's most popular new restaurant. The head chef has gone missing, and not only is the food suffering, but no one can give her a straight answer as to his whereabouts.
It seems the chef isn't the only one who's mysteriously disappeared. Bodies begin surfacing around the nation's capital, confounding the police. But Chas has a few advantages the cops can't possibly match: a clever eye for detail, a love of good gossip, a talent for digging up the truth, and connections in the newspaper and culinary worlds.
Diving further into the ivestigation, Chas delves deep into the underbelly of the culinary business and onto a twisted trail of deceit, blackmail, and murder only she can solve--that is, if she lives long enough....
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