As famous for his popular cooking segment on Wake Up America! as for his swank Manhattan bistro, Billy Blessing can add prime murder suspect to his impressive list of accomplishments. Because when one of the network’s top honchos ends up dead, it’s a poisoned serving of Blessing’s coq au vin that’s to blame. Billy knows he’s being framed, but proving it won’t be easy—not with his perky cohost involved in a brass-knuckles contract negotiation, a Mossad agent about to tell all on the air, and a ruthless international assassin arriving in the Big Apple. Now Billy isn’t so much concerned about staying alive in the ratings . . . as just staying alive. For the closer Billy comes to uncovering an international conspiracy, the closer he comes to being canceled—permanently.
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Review
“This is a funny, funny, very funny mystery that really gallops along and has several cool twists. Maybe Al Roker should quit his day job.”
—James Patterson
“Dazzling . . . If you like your crime with a brilliant plot, crackling dialogue, a dash of celebrity and plenty of suspense, then The Morning Show Murders is an absolute must-read.”
—Linda Fairstein
“Terrific plot, fast, funny, and full of action and adventure with even a touch of steamy romance.”—Janet Evanovich
“Required reading.”—New York Post
“Great fun! Al pulls back the curtain to reveal what really goes on when the cameras go off.” —Harlan Coben
About the Author
Al Roker is known to over thirty million viewers for his work on NBC’s Today show, a role that has earned him ten Emmy awards. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures in Fatherhood. An accomplished cook, Roker also has two bestselling cookbooks to his credit. Al Roker lives in Manhattan with his wife, ABC News and 20/20 correspondent Deborah Roberts, and has two daughters and a son.
Dick Lochte is the author of many popular crime novels including the award-winning Sleeping Dog, named one of “the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. His crime fiction column ran for nearly a decade in the Los Angeles Times and earned him the 2003 Ellen Nehr Award for Excellence in Mystery Reviewing. He lives in Southern California.
From the Hardcover edition.
Dick Lochte is the author of many popular crime novels including the award-winning Sleeping Dog, named one of “the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. His crime fiction column ran for nearly a decade in the Los Angeles Times and earned him the 2003 Ellen Nehr Award for Excellence in Mystery Reviewing. He lives in Southern California.
From the Hardcover edition.
Inside This Book
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Culinary Slant on Network Television, Classy Bistros, and International Intrigue
July 20 2010
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Bring me game and make savory food for me, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death." -- Genesis 27:7 (NKJV)
Today Show's Al Roker (author of Don't Make Me Stop This Car and two cookbooks) and Dick Lochte (author of the hilarious Sleeping Dog) team up for a breezy story about Billy Blessing, fourth banana on a morning television show who works the crowd outside and rustles up an occasional recipe inside. When not at the studio, Billy operates a bistro where he's more often called upon to sort out personality clashes than to prepare an entree. Tensions quickly rise as the story opens when the show's co-host successfully sticks the network for a mint and credits Billy, who is totally mystified by his supposed role. Not to worry, it's just an excuse to give Billy a motive when a network executive dies after eating something that looks a lot like take-out from Billy's bistro. There's also a broken romance in the background that causes Billy more than a little pain. Needless to say, Billy becomes the scapegoat while the police are investigating. To clear his name, the Billy goat does a little sleuthing. He's soon tipped off that there's an international assassin coming to New York to take out someone in the entertainment business. Could all those drawings of cats have something to do with all this?
The best thing about this book is that it doesn't take itself too seriously while having fun satirizing the Manhattan celebrity scene from the dual perspective of network television and restaurant dining. The authors take the time and trouble to concoct a plot that keeps you turning the pages while building up some decent twists and turns that make figuring who did what to whom worth chuckling your way to the end.
The book mostly relies on restrained humor, but many of the descriptions are beautifully visual so you can use your imagination to have as much more fun as you want . . . by further exaggerating the situations beyond the literal descriptions. It's the kind of laid-back humor that slides down smoothly, like a little flavoring in the antacid medicine you take after overindulging in too much good food and wine.
For foodies, you'll also enjoy the relatively robust descriptions of the dishes and beverages being prepared and consumed.
I think anyone who was at the beach would find this book to be a pleasant and refreshing read, letting them imagine colder weather in Manhattan and allow them to laugh at lots of annoying self-important people.
Today Show's Al Roker (author of Don't Make Me Stop This Car and two cookbooks) and Dick Lochte (author of the hilarious Sleeping Dog) team up for a breezy story about Billy Blessing, fourth banana on a morning television show who works the crowd outside and rustles up an occasional recipe inside. When not at the studio, Billy operates a bistro where he's more often called upon to sort out personality clashes than to prepare an entree. Tensions quickly rise as the story opens when the show's co-host successfully sticks the network for a mint and credits Billy, who is totally mystified by his supposed role. Not to worry, it's just an excuse to give Billy a motive when a network executive dies after eating something that looks a lot like take-out from Billy's bistro. There's also a broken romance in the background that causes Billy more than a little pain. Needless to say, Billy becomes the scapegoat while the police are investigating. To clear his name, the Billy goat does a little sleuthing. He's soon tipped off that there's an international assassin coming to New York to take out someone in the entertainment business. Could all those drawings of cats have something to do with all this?
The best thing about this book is that it doesn't take itself too seriously while having fun satirizing the Manhattan celebrity scene from the dual perspective of network television and restaurant dining. The authors take the time and trouble to concoct a plot that keeps you turning the pages while building up some decent twists and turns that make figuring who did what to whom worth chuckling your way to the end.
The book mostly relies on restrained humor, but many of the descriptions are beautifully visual so you can use your imagination to have as much more fun as you want . . . by further exaggerating the situations beyond the literal descriptions. It's the kind of laid-back humor that slides down smoothly, like a little flavoring in the antacid medicine you take after overindulging in too much good food and wine.
For foodies, you'll also enjoy the relatively robust descriptions of the dishes and beverages being prepared and consumed.
I think anyone who was at the beach would find this book to be a pleasant and refreshing read, letting them imagine colder weather in Manhattan and allow them to laugh at lots of annoying self-important people.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars
82 reviews
25 of 27 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light and funny...and easily forgotten
Nov 19 2009
By a
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
Reading this book felt, for me, like reading a novelization of a made-for-TV murder mystery circa 1986. In style, tone, and characterization--really everything except the rather persistent pop culture references--Al Roker's "The Morning Show Murders" harkens back to Murder She Wrote, Matlock, Father Dowling, and other classic TV fare: a bit of murder and intrigue, all handled fairly comically, with a large cast of unique personalities in a pretty unrealistic situation.
Who can protest a cast of major and minor characters which includes a celebrity chef, an all-business TV executive, a security guard named after Andy Warhol, a mysterious all-knowing Yoda-like figure in a track suit, an obnoxious restaurant hostess, a lesbian comic book artist, a couple gruff and clueless cops, an ex-terrorist-turned-bestselling-author, and, of course, a faceless and legendary international assassin who leaves drawings behind at murder scenes? Yes, they're all packed in here pretty tightly, and I give this novel four big stars for sheer zany fun, even though, in the end, it's a bit like a cross-country road trip: plenty to see along the way, but nothing really matters much till you reach your destination. Clues, and characters, are introduced and come and go, and in the end, as usual, an amateurish detective finds a single, subtle clue that wraps everything up with a neat little bow. But, you know, I expected nothing less. This would be a great read on the beach or on an airplane. Just don't expect to remember any of it once you close the book.
Who can protest a cast of major and minor characters which includes a celebrity chef, an all-business TV executive, a security guard named after Andy Warhol, a mysterious all-knowing Yoda-like figure in a track suit, an obnoxious restaurant hostess, a lesbian comic book artist, a couple gruff and clueless cops, an ex-terrorist-turned-bestselling-author, and, of course, a faceless and legendary international assassin who leaves drawings behind at murder scenes? Yes, they're all packed in here pretty tightly, and I give this novel four big stars for sheer zany fun, even though, in the end, it's a bit like a cross-country road trip: plenty to see along the way, but nothing really matters much till you reach your destination. Clues, and characters, are introduced and come and go, and in the end, as usual, an amateurish detective finds a single, subtle clue that wraps everything up with a neat little bow. But, you know, I expected nothing less. This would be a great read on the beach or on an airplane. Just don't expect to remember any of it once you close the book.
24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's okay, but about as deep as a made-for-TV movie
Nov 20 2009
By Esther Schindler
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
I've read dozens, maybe hundreds of mystery novels. I've certainly reviewed my fair share of cookbooks, too. So how could I _not_ be interested in a mystery novel featuring a celebrity chef who finds himself the chief suspect when his TV producer is killed? When I saw the book among my Amazon Vine options, I grabbed it.
It's easy to write a review for a 5-star book; there's plenty to gush about. It's also easy to write a 1-star review because the faults are so many. But the 3-star reviews are painful. This isn't a bad book. Not at all. If you read it, I expect that you will finish it, and the story will keep your attention all the way through. You might even chuckle a few times. But Al Roker's foray into fiction isn't at all wonderful, not in any way. It's just... okay. The mystery is a bit contrived, but I can forgive that. This is meant to be a fun mystery, not deep literature. (Though I sure laughed more at Marshall Karp's Flipping Out.)
Foodies be warned: this isn't a mystery novel where food or even eating is a major part of the story. For the most part, the chef-ingredients are just set dressing. Chef Billy Blessing (our hero) does cook a few meals here and there, but they are no more detailed than you'd find on a restaurant menu. Such as, the music had finished "...by the time I laid out the lamb en croute on the dinner table along with potato-leek soup, hot dinner rolls, and to slosh it all down, a tasty, Bordeaux-styled Corbieres." If you're looking for cooking techniques or recipes befitting a celebrity chef, you're out of luck. That's a minor disappointment -- but not a big problem. (There's far more actual cooking in Cleo Coyle's NY coffeehouse mysteries, starting with On What Grounds.)
What did bother me was that... I never really cared about Billy. Although some of the background characters are appealing, it felt to me as though Billy was a bit-player in his own life. The story has plenty of action and derring-do, but I never felt as though any of it mattered. With a good book, you don't read it, you *inhabit* it, and The Morning Show Murders never achieved that goal.
It's easy to write a review for a 5-star book; there's plenty to gush about. It's also easy to write a 1-star review because the faults are so many. But the 3-star reviews are painful. This isn't a bad book. Not at all. If you read it, I expect that you will finish it, and the story will keep your attention all the way through. You might even chuckle a few times. But Al Roker's foray into fiction isn't at all wonderful, not in any way. It's just... okay. The mystery is a bit contrived, but I can forgive that. This is meant to be a fun mystery, not deep literature. (Though I sure laughed more at Marshall Karp's Flipping Out.)
Foodies be warned: this isn't a mystery novel where food or even eating is a major part of the story. For the most part, the chef-ingredients are just set dressing. Chef Billy Blessing (our hero) does cook a few meals here and there, but they are no more detailed than you'd find on a restaurant menu. Such as, the music had finished "...by the time I laid out the lamb en croute on the dinner table along with potato-leek soup, hot dinner rolls, and to slosh it all down, a tasty, Bordeaux-styled Corbieres." If you're looking for cooking techniques or recipes befitting a celebrity chef, you're out of luck. That's a minor disappointment -- but not a big problem. (There's far more actual cooking in Cleo Coyle's NY coffeehouse mysteries, starting with On What Grounds.)
What did bother me was that... I never really cared about Billy. Although some of the background characters are appealing, it felt to me as though Billy was a bit-player in his own life. The story has plenty of action and derring-do, but I never felt as though any of it mattered. With a good book, you don't read it, you *inhabit* it, and The Morning Show Murders never achieved that goal.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
INSIDER QUIPS AND AN ENTERTAINING MYSTERY
Dec 12 2009
By Gail Cooke
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Very few are as familiar with the ins, outs, and roundabouts of morning TV as is popular weatherman Al Roker. What few knew until recently was that he's not only engaging on camera but also an accomplished author ( Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures In Fatherhood, and several cookbooks.) Add to that description a smart fellow because when he decided to turn his pen to a mystery he wrote about what he knew - choosing as his protagonist Chef Billy Blessing who tantalizes viewers tastebuds each morning on Wake Up America!
It's a delicious treat to read Roker's book because of his ingenious use of and references to real people, places and programs. This gambit leaves readers wondering what is fact and what is fiction while enjoying every page. Don't know whether or not American Idol, Charles Gibson, Clint Eastwood, etc. enjoy their mentions, but readers surely will.
How's this for an opening line, "The big guy lumbered toward me, waving the cleaver. Weeping like a baby."? Roker pulls us in on page 1 and keeps us guessing until page 312.
Between his gigs on Wake Up America and running a vaunted NYC restaurant Chef Billy Blessing has been in tall cotton. Ooops, when the show's producer is murdered and his untimely departure is found to have been caused by coq au vin from Billy's restaurant, who is the prime suspect? None other than charming Billy. Producer Gallagher left behind a little black book filled with names and had recently been to Afghanistan, Kabul "to oversee a week of live evening news broadcasts." While there a man sharing a dinner table was murdered, his throat cut. Unwittingly Gallagher had become privy to dangerous, tightly guarded information. Worth murdering to keep secret?
Whatever the case, it's not long before some very unfriendly fellows are circling and it seems another death is in the offing. In order to clear himself Billy must not only find the killer but stay alive while doing it.
Roker has created a likable hero, spiced his story with insider quips, and woven an entertaining mystery - enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
It's a delicious treat to read Roker's book because of his ingenious use of and references to real people, places and programs. This gambit leaves readers wondering what is fact and what is fiction while enjoying every page. Don't know whether or not American Idol, Charles Gibson, Clint Eastwood, etc. enjoy their mentions, but readers surely will.
How's this for an opening line, "The big guy lumbered toward me, waving the cleaver. Weeping like a baby."? Roker pulls us in on page 1 and keeps us guessing until page 312.
Between his gigs on Wake Up America and running a vaunted NYC restaurant Chef Billy Blessing has been in tall cotton. Ooops, when the show's producer is murdered and his untimely departure is found to have been caused by coq au vin from Billy's restaurant, who is the prime suspect? None other than charming Billy. Producer Gallagher left behind a little black book filled with names and had recently been to Afghanistan, Kabul "to oversee a week of live evening news broadcasts." While there a man sharing a dinner table was murdered, his throat cut. Unwittingly Gallagher had become privy to dangerous, tightly guarded information. Worth murdering to keep secret?
Whatever the case, it's not long before some very unfriendly fellows are circling and it seems another death is in the offing. In order to clear himself Billy must not only find the killer but stay alive while doing it.
Roker has created a likable hero, spiced his story with insider quips, and woven an entertaining mystery - enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
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3.6 out of 5 stars
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