After chronicling Civil War–era New York City in The Spice Box
(2005), Temple brings revolutionary Paris to life in her winning second culinary historical. In the summer of 1790, Fanny Delarue, happily employed as an assistant cook in a wealthy household in the Place Royale, is focused on her chores and cooking lessons from Etienne de la Porte, the chef of a neighboring household. Fanny has little interest in the stormy atmosphere hovering over the city since the destruction of the Bastille and the removal of the king and queen from their sumptuous residence at Versailles. When someone stabs Etienne to death, Fanny finds herself in the middle of revolutionary turmoil and a mystery she's determined to solve. A well-constructed plot, an unpredictable ending, authentic historical details and period recipes will please any reader's palate. Temple is also the author of Death by Rhubarb
and other titles in her Heaven Lee culinary series. (Mar.)
