Beat Until Stiff [Paperback]

Claire M Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Experienced pastry chef Claire Johnson whips up an insiders look at San Francisco's cutthroat restaurant trade. Cranky Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the in-vogue American Fare, the town's hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. At work very early one morning, she steps on a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The investigation soon exposes all the dirty secrets that the food business would like to keep secret: the philandering chefs, the silly whims of the dining public, the hiring and illegal aliens, and the subsistence-living pay scale. Events begin to spiral that, in time, take out the restaurant's celebrity chef and force Mary to use her unique skills to uncover a poisonous scheme. Hard-edged, filled richly with restaurant lore and murder galore, this is a mystery debut to savor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mary Ryan, feisty pastry chef at American Fare, a trendy San Francisco restaurant, finds murder on the menu in Johnson's delicious debut, which mixes an unglamorized, behind-the-scenes view of the upscale restaurant trade with a plot replete with well-timed shocks. Horrified to discover the battered body of one of her El Salvadoran employees stuffed in a laundry bag on arriving for work early one morning, Mary debates whether to call her ex-husband, Jim, a homicide detective with SFPD. As it turns out, Jim's former partner, Inspector O'Connor, takes on the case. Lonely and emotionally fragile in the wake of Jim's leaving her, Mary comes to rely on the tough, bullying O'Connor, whose job is on the line, as more than just a friend, while innate curiosity and love of justice propel her to investigate the crime and into grave danger. The down-to-earth Mary, with her keen sense of humor, casts a sharp eye on the novel's flashier characters: American Fare's showman of an owner, an egotistical chef, the suave maitre 'd in charge of the wine, the designer-clad, social-climbing manager. Assorted wives and mistresses, immigrants and a high-profile lawyer fill out the bill of fare. The restaurant business-its food, financing and philosophy-is here in all its complexity for discriminating mystery palates.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"The restaurant business--its food, financing and philosophy--is here in all its complexity for discriminating mystery palates."--Publishers Weekly

"Claire M. Johnson’s Beat Until Stiff deserves enthusiastic mention as a very special title which offers an unusually frank view of the cooking and restaurant scene in San Francisco.  Herself a professional and experienced pastry chef, Claire Johnson presents the reader with a lively style that mixes autobiography with culinary and social insights.  Highly recommended!"    --Midwest Book Review

 

"Willy nilly, Johnson takes you there in a fast and furious place, often reminiscent of the theatrical ditto, complete with Hamlets and Greek choruses and magicians who don’t quite get it right. Not only is this a treat; I read it through twice to make sure it was as good as I thought." -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier-Gazette

 

"Great plot with good characters and you’ll learn a lot about the restaurant business, since author Johnson is also a pastry cook." –Culinary Mystery

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590585003
• ISBN-13: 978-1590585009
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,766,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Claire M. Johnson completed the California Culinary Academy's program for professional chefs in 1983 and worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco and Oakland for eight years. Set in the restaurant world, Ms. Johnson's first novel, Beat Until Stiff, won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writer's Grant, was a BookSense pick for Winter 2002, and was nominated for the 2003 Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Her second novel in this series, Roux Morgue, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. She lives in Lafayette, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not typical of "light mystery", January 5, 2004

By 

N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beat Until Stiff (Mass Market Paperback)

I gave this book a five star rating because I am a big fan of light mysteries, the characters being thrown into a homicide investigation, the books with cooks, store owners, moms.....but this one I felt was really different. It was actually a little darker than most, a light mystery with an edge. Everything wasn't so wrapped up, no pat ending.
I look forward to the next in the series.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous first mystery -- culinary too!, February 10, 2003

By 

Dawn Dowdle "Mystery Lovers Corner reviewer" (Lynchburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beat Until Stiff (Hardcover)

Mary Ryan, pastry chef at American Fare -- the hottest restaurant on the West Coast, is 34, recently divorced from Jim, a San Francisco homicide inspector, and cranky.

Getting a chef's jacket and apron from the laundry room of the deserted restaurant, she steps on a laundry bag. It feels hard, not spongy like a bag of dirty laundry. She opens the bag with her chef's knife and finds Carlos Perez, one of her pastry assistants, beaten to death and neatly folded into the laundry bag. After she throws up and hides in the bathroom to make sure whoever killed him has left, she calls 911.

O'Connor, Jim's partner and a friend, is assigned to this case. Mary disobeys O'Connor and puts herself in danger time and time again. But she also helps uncover what has been going on under her nose. Many secrets of the food business at American Fare are uncovered.

I found Mary Ryan to be a likeable character even though her life is dysfunctional at best.

If you like food and mysteries, you will like this debut novel. I am looking forward to reading future books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a charming book!, February 17, 2003

By 

R. Anderson "Robin A." (Los Altos Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beat Until Stiff (Hardcover)

I am truly surprised that this was the author's first book. I read a lot and can usually tell when its a first try. I really enjoyed this book and read it in one sitting. I hope she writes more!