Hot Stuff: A Novel [Hardcover]

An attractive sous chef at the famous restaurant L’ Elfe is murdered and half the employees are suspect.

Lacking confidence in the police to solve the murder, Chef Jean Bouvier seeks a quicker solution. He hires private eyes James Lessor and Skip Moore to go undercover and discreetly investigate his restaurant staff.

But their investigation turns up far more than they bargained for. Skip’ s charming girlfriend, Emily, confesses that the murder victim and she had been close friends at one point in their lives and had shared a very dark secret.

But Emily refuses to elaborate, building a wall of defense between herself and the two young detectives. The more Skip and James investigate the background of the victim and the people she knew, the more they are convinced that this shared secret has far-reaching implications that may lead to the motive for the murder.

The closer they get to the answer, the more desperate someone is to stop them."The best thing about this book, apart from the food of course, is its eccentric characters, whether they own the place, or they cook, or they simply investigate the case. They are angry, they are funny, they are obnoxious or lovely, and they all have something to add to the plot. In the end all we have to say is that Hot Stuff is a delicious mystery." – Criminal Element

“…Such deductive leaps are what makes this book such fun to read. This is the least well-qualified pair of PIs I can recall meeting and, as a measure of their success, driving a used box truck in need of repair says it all. Hot Stuff is a good puzzle, solved with wit and style.” – Sacramento Book ReviewUSA Todaybest-selling author Don Bruns is a musician and songwriter, a painter, a cook, an advertising guru, a traveler, and a stand-up comic. He is the award-winning author of three mysló)