The Cornbread Killer

Chef Heaven Lee is up to her ears in work as she juggles running her restaurant, Cafe Heaven, and the food committee for Kansas City's Eighteenth and Vine Historical District dedication and jazz festival. The area's revitalization is cause for a celebration intended to bring together many diverse groups from the city and beyond in a long-overdue tribute to the area's musicians and their music. But planner Evelyn Edwards, brought in from outside, has ruffled a lot of local feathers, as has Miss Ella Jackson, elbowing into K.C. with her Harlem-launched Miss Ella's Soul Food chain. With her daughter studying abroad and her current love off in Houston for two months, Heaven turns to her friends Mona Kirk and Detective Bonnie Weber when the situation gets dicey. More than the food begins to heat up with Evelyn's electrocution onstage at the Ruby Theater, and the arrival of a documentary film crew and a Russian piano prodigy. Mix in the theft of a painting and the disappearance of Charley Parker's plastic sax from the new Jazz Museum, and matters reach the boiling point. Preservation, recognition and reconciliation are among Temple's (Death by Rhubarb; Bread on Arrival) themes this time around; when local restaurants refuse to supply the festival's soul food, Heaven calls upon the ladies of the city's black social clubs to take charge and work their magic. At the start of each chapter, Temple whets the appetite with instructions for dishes such as Escargot with Pernod, Greens with Leeks and Apples, Hoppin' John, Kansas City Chili and Banana Pudding Trifle, all of which are served during the festivities--making this a pleasure for anyone who likes their mysteries served with recipes on the side. Author tour. (Dec.)