Murder Makes an Entree Book

A sumptuous dinner turns deadly in this Edwardian mystery introducing master chef and amateur detective Auguste Didier - and featuring the charismatic Prince of Wales himself. Only a dinner of first-class excellence can tempt the Prince of Wales to endure the ordeal of being president of the Society of Literary Lionizers. And he ensures this by insisting that the year's highlight, the banquet at Broadstairs, will be cooked by master chef Auguste Didier. Broadstairs is famed not only as a seaside resort but also as the holiday haunt of Charles Dickens - the author the society has chosen to lionize for the year of the prince's presidency. The banquet, attended by six Peggotys, two Betsy Trotwoods, a couple of Little Dorrits, a Scrooge, and a Mr. Pickwick - not to mention a highly emotional Miss Havisham - goes well, but the readings that follow do not. In the middle of the murder scene from Oliver Twist, the reader, Sir Thomas Throgmorton, collapses and dies. Throgmorton has been poisoned, and Inspector Naseby of the local constabulary believes Didier's banquet is to blame. Luckily, the irrepressible Didier joins forces with inspector Egbert Rose of Scotland Yard to clear his name and uncover the real culprit.