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  • Published: 2 March 2027
  • ISBN: 9798217179794
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

To Kill a Cook




Tender at the Bone meets Finlay Donovan is Killing It in this hilarious, fast-paced mystery about a feisty food critic in 1970s NY who finds her chef friend murdered and realizes she might be the only one to find the killer.

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER!

“I’ve never been so hungry reading a book, but it’s hard to grab a snack when you’re glued to the pages. To Kill a Cook is an expertly written, twisty mystery that’s also a love letter to food, and to old New York. If Michelin gave stars to books, this would get one for sure.” —Rob Hart, author of Assassins Anonymous

Nobody in Manhattan eats better than Bernice Black. It’s 1972, and she is the city’s busiest restaurant critic, juggling her fiance and his two young sons with demands of fine dining. Bernice talks fast, walks faster, has a razor-sharp wit and no patience for anything—or anyone—that gets in her way.

When she stops by the famed restaurant of her favorite chef and mentor, Laurent Tirel, early one morning, she stumbles across a horrific scene in the kitchen: Laurent's severed head, perfectly preserved in a flawless mold of jellied aspic.

Her meeting with the cops assigned to the case proves only one thing–they know nothing about food or the seedy underworld that BB Black has made her home. With layoffs looming, Bernice makes the gamble of her career—she promises her editor she can catch Laurent’s killer before the week is out. 

To Kill a Cook is a delicious, witty, fast-paced mystery with a lovable, unforgettable protagonist at it center.

  • Published: 2 March 2027
  • ISBN: 9798217179794
  • Imprint: Putnam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

About the author

W. M. Akers

W.M. Akers is a novelist, playwright, and game designer. H He is the author of To Kill a Cook, Critical Hit, Westside, and Westside Saints; the creator of the bestselling games Deadball: Baseball With Dice and Comrades: A Revolutionary RPG; and the curator of the history newsletter Strange Times. He lives in Philadelphia, but hasn’t traded in his Mets cap yet.

Praise for To Kill a Cook

Praise for To Kill a Cook
“I have long thought that ‘food critic’ is an amazing day job for an amateur detective; points already to W.M. Akers for discovering this, as well.” —Crime Reads

“A delectably unhinged mystery served with wit, bravado, and a generous splash of gourmet chaos.” —Kirkus

“This is pure fun.” —Publishers Weekly