Roker (Al Roker's Big Bad Book of Barbecue
) teams with Lochte (Sleeping Dog
) on a solid, exciting crime novel that revolves around a fictional TV program much like NBC's The Today Show
. Billy Blessing, a New York City celebrity chef who owns a restaurant and does a variety of segments on Wake Up, America!
, has just begun filming a reality food show when he becomes a suspect in a murder case after Rudy Gallagher, Blessing's executive producer on the show with whom he has clashed, dies after eating some poisoned coq au vin from Blessing's restaurant. When the Manhattan DA shut downs the restaurant and Gallagher's replacement suspends him from his main television gig, Blessing turns sleuth. The gold standard for investigating network TV skullduggery is still the late William DeAndrea's Matt Cobb series (Killed in the Ratings
, etc.), but snappy prose and well-developed characters will leave readers wanting to see more of Blessing. (Dec.)
