Knife Skills for Beginners

Written by Orlando Murrin

Narrated by Sebastian Humphreys

In this sharp-witted, skillfully rendered culinary mystery set in London’s exclusive Belgravia, an acclaimed chef is thrown into teaching a cookery course to a group of high-maintenance food lovers, one of whom may have an unfortunate taste for murder …

“Some people are natural dancers, others marvelous in bed, but—not wishing to boast—I’m good with a knife. Most chefs are.”

The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—afeeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking.

Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of Pass the Gravy! Thanks to a broken arm, he’s unable to teach the upcoming session himself, and recruits Paul as stand-in. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate.

Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits—until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge? In between clearing his own name and teaching his class how to perfectly poach a chicken, he’ll have to figure out who’s the killer, and avoid being the next one to get butchered …

“Delicious fun! Knife Skills for Beginners is both intriguing and mouthwatering, starring a charming hero you’ll want as your best friend.”—Tess Gerritsen, New York Times bestselling author

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798894867403

Orlando Murrin

After being flung into the culinary limelight as a semi-finalist on MasterChef, ORLANDO MURRIN edited Woman and Home and BBC Good Food and founded Olive magazine. Then he switched tracks to become a chef-hotelier in Southwest France and Somerset, England. Murrin has written six cookbooks and is president of the Guild of Food Writers. An ever-popular guest on TV and radio, he presents the BBC’s Good Food podcast with Tom Kerridge. From his grandfather, a Met detective who rose to become a crack MI5 interrogator, Murrin inherited a fascination with crime and mystery. He is the author of the cozy crime novel Knife Skills for Beginners. Orlando Murrin lives in domestic bliss in Exeter, Devon.

Reviews for Knife Skills for Beginners

[brianewilliams · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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 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.

[jetangen4571 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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 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!