Chef Angie Turner of The County Seat — Idaho's finest farm-to-table restaurant — is preparing a private dinner in the mountains during ski season, but the trip's about to go downhill....
It's a rockin' New Year for Angie and her crew as they cater a bash for a famous band-and as a bonus, they'll get to stay at the singer's Sun Valley house for a whole week once the party's over. But there are hints of discord, and the event hits a sour note when one of the musicians is found with a drumstick in his chest.
Is this a case of creative differences turned lethal or is there another motive at play? Angie's jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire as she and her fellow foodies try to solve the case before the killer comes out for an encore.
Release date:
December 3, 2019
Publisher:
Lyrical Press
Print pages:
112
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Sunlight streamed into the oversized kitchen and sparkled on the marble floor. Angie Turner, owner of the County Seat, watched as Hope Anderson, County Seat’s dishwasher—and soon-to-be newest chef, starting next summer—took in the over-the-top room. Angie had to admit, it felt a little intimidating for her as well. Her home kitchen was the size of this place’s pantry. And she could have fit two of the County Seat kitchen in the opulent space. The rich were different. And once the party was over tonight, this would be their kitchen for a week.
Felicia Williams, Angie’s partner, had set up this catering job with one of her old boarding school buddies. Not only were they getting paid, they got use of the cabin for a week after the event. Angie had all kinds of projects planned for her kitchen staff. She just wished all of her cooks had been able to attend. Nancy Gowan had her kids this week and had bowed out of the job. Which Angie understood. Nancy worked so much it wasn’t easy for her to find quality time to spend with her kids. But it would have been nice.
“Who did you say owned this place? The Kardashians?” Hope bounced over to Felicia, who was sitting at the table planning out the setup of dinner service. “I can’t believe you went to school with this guy. What are you? Wealthy?”
Felicia didn’t look up from the notebook where she was writing. “My parents are. I’m not. And Cliff wasn’t either until his band took off. Look, you can’t go all starstruck when you meet people tonight. They’re just normal everyday people who have a band.”
“And live in places like this. My parents’ house could fit in this kitchen.” Hope held out her arms. Then she saw Felicia’s glower. “Fine, I’ll stop being such a peasant and ogling. What’s the name of the band? Do I know them?”
“Probably not. They were really popular a few years ago.” This time Felicia did look up and met Angie’s gaze. She sighed. “Fine. Cliff’s the lead singer for Postal Mutiny.”
Hope’s eyes widened even more, and she sank into a chair. “OMG. Cliff Henry? That Cliff? He’s like a rock legend. I thought Postal Mutiny broke up?”
“They did. Now they’re going to do another album. This dinner is to celebrate their signing the contract in the California studios on Monday. They’ll leave here for L.A. first thing in the morning, and we’ll have the house to ourselves for a week.” Felicia looked around as they sat in stunned silence. “Come on, guys, don’t tell me you’re all starstruck.”
Estebe looked up from his tablet. “I am not struck by the stars. I do not know this band.”
“Well, I do.” Matt Young sank into a chair by Felicia. “This is going to be an amazing way to kick off the new year. Well, actually, end this year, since they’ll be gone by the time the new year arrives. Is this why you took away our cell phones in the van? So we can’t take pictures?”
“Exactly. You’ll get them back on Monday after everyone’s left. Cliff doesn’t mind if we say we were in his house or that we catered the dinner, but no announcing the address or pictures of the band.” Felicia made eye contact with each of them. “This is important, guys, I gave Cliff my word that we’d be discreet.”
“Then we’ll honor that, right?” Angie went to stand next to Felicia. “Matt’s right, this is an awesome way to end our year. I’ve been excited about how well the restaurant has been doing, so part of our brainstorming is going to be about monthly themes. We get a week to live in this house. Just don’t break anything. My umbrella policy isn’t that large.”
“So no using Ming vases for football practice?” Matt grinned but pointed to Dom, who was sleeping in the corner of the kitchen on the bed Angie had brought with them. “What about him? Does he know the rules too?”
Angie worried about Dom’s ability to be careful in the expensive rooms. But she had a plan to keep him away from the really delicate items and close by her side. Maybe they’d leave with the house unharmed. At least she hoped that was what would happen. “Keep an eye out for him, will you? And if he seems to be somewhere he shouldn’t be, bring him back to the kitchen.”
“We will watch out for Dom. He’s one of us,” Estebe said as he closed his tablet.
Dom lifted his head, huffed, and lay back down. Apparently, he agreed.
“Are we ready to start cooking? Dinner’s at five thirty.” Angie reviewed the menu for the evening. They were going all out for their guests. An opening salad, then a garden gazpacho soup. A caviar-topped scallop appetizer. Beef tenderloin in a Wellington preparation for the main course along with potato/turnip mash, and one of Felicia’s chocolate-on-chocolate desserts.
Tomorrow they’d start to work on a winter menu plan for the County Seat. She wanted some new ideas to spark more complex dishes to serve to their customers. But today, they had customers to feed. She wanted to have a good showing on the dishes. One, for the sake of the County Seat, and two, to show Felicia’s old schoolmate what an amazing woman she’d turned out to be. Angie had a few high school naysayers she’d like to show what kind of person she turned out to be. But maybe that was just her. “Then let’s get going.”
The serving staff that Felicia had hired from the local temp agency showed up at five fifteen. Felicia left her spot where she’d been watching the chocolate souffle in the oven. Angie hadn’t seen her friend so wound up about a service. Maybe there was more to this Cliff guy than just an old friend. Maybe they’d dated. The staff started getting ready to serve. With three of them, the food would go out to the formal dining room quickly and in one fell swoop.
Felicia had just come in from setting up the dining room with the servers when Cliff Henry breezed through the door.
He glanced around the room, his gaze falling on Felicia. “There you are. I wanted to get here earlier to greet you, but Bailey and I went shopping. I forgot to pack a jacket. Can you believe it? One of our crew members loaned me his for the trip into town. It’s terribly out of fashion, but as the saying goes, beggars can’t be choosers.”
“The jacket looks fine, Cliff. Man, it’s good to see you. It’s been too long.” Felicia fell into the rock star’s arms. “You always promise you’re going to come in a day or two early or fly back late when you’re playing a local venue. But it never comes to be. What happened this time?”
“I guess I stopped in early this time, poppet.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Introduce me to your lovely friends.”
Matt ran to the guy’s side. He pumped his hand with a maniacal look. “I’m Matt Young, sir. Thank you for coming to the end of the earth for your getaway.”
“That’s what getaway means. If I’m here, no one will look for Cliff Henry, the rock star. I’m just C. . .
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