From Publishers Weekly
Elderly, wealthy and game, Mary Hillman catches the next plane from Boston to New Orleans when her long-time cook, Dora, vacationing there, calls to ask for help. Dora has been accused of stabbing to death her former husband while both attended a banquet for the great chefs of New Orleans. Mary enlists the aid of her nephew Michael Spraggue, an actor and private eye, license expired. Tracing the victim's life back to his multi-aliased early days, Michael visits a hoodoo practitioner, gets bounced from a sleazy bar, treks thrugh a cemetery, and unearths a few of Dora's deepest secrets, finally saving her life. He also has occasion to use his acting skills in apt and interesting fashion. Barnes's tone in her fourth Spraggue mystery (Dead Heat and Bitter Finish is as sprightly and engaging as ever, especially in relating a romance between aunt Mary and detective sergeant Rawlins. February 14
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
"Barnes builds her plot like a fine pastry, layer by layer." Chicago Sun-Times
A Michael Spraggue mystery.
When the great chefs of New Orleans stage an elegant banquet, tempers burn hotter than cayenne pepper. Up-and-coming Cajun chef Joseph Fontenot is found with a slender French cooking knife through his heart, and all the evidence points to Dora Levoyer, sublime cook to Boston's wealthhy and eccentric Mary Spraggue Hillman.
A guest at the banquet, Mary summons her nephew Michael Spraggue, actor-cum-private detective, to the scene. And soon Spraggue is investigating a murder case that will leave his mouth burning and his mind spinning. One thing is certain: the solution to the murder will make for a spicy mystery indeed!
