In her eagerly awaited fiction debut, the Washington Post's best-loved, award-winning food writer, Phyllis Richman, has cooked up a tempting tale of mousse, mayhem, and murder: a tautly woven insider's look at the food and newspaper worlds.

Laurence Levain was a culinary superstar, and the high-profile owner and chef of Chez Laurence, an internationally renowned restaurant in Washington, DC. When Levain collapses in his clogs the night before a star-studded black-tie benefit dinner, all bets are on his soaring cholesterol level. But one person has her doubts—Chas Wheatley, the Washington Examiner's saber-penned restaurant critic. Still carrying a torch for Levain after an affair they had years before, she breaks out all her investigative resources to find the culprit. But the big-city newspaper and food communities are deadly competitive.