Beat Until Stiff [Paperback]

Claire M. Johnson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; proof edition (2002)
• ASIN: B000MVMK7S
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

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!