Out of the Frying Pan

In Allen’s engaging third culinary cop mystery (after 2012’s Stick a Fork in It), Dana White, the new president of Friends of the Farm (a community-sponsored agricultural farm outside Austin, Tex.) and guest chef for the farm’s fundraising dinner, expires after drinking what she thinks is a glass of champagne. That it’s actually concentrated hydrogen peroxide clearly shows Dana’s death is no accident. Poppy Markham, an endearingly sincere investigator, uses her position as a public health inspector to work behind the scenes and find out who wanted to do Dana in. The presence of two suitors—Drew Cooper, general manager of her family’s restaurant, and Jamie Sherwood, a food writer who she’s still forgiving after an infidelity—provides romantic distraction. Allen presents the social politics of the restaurant industry without lingering on descriptions of dishes or kitchen sex. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (July)