Death is a Dish Best Served Cold (c)
by Perri Nash
To be release in late 2008.
Death is a Dish Best Served Cold
Book Excerpt
in PDF format
The second book, in the Cassie Doolin Mystery Series, Death is a Dish Best Served Cold, is scheduled for release soon.
The second book, in the Cassie Doolin Mystery Series, begins as the sous chef for Creative Cuisine a Washington, D.C. catering company is feverishly working to prepare for a cocktail reception at the Embassy of St. Denis. Stephen Matthews, the chef/owner is nervous and edgy as the plans for the event unfold. Just before the party Cassie notices a mysterious stranger speaking with some of the catering staff but she assumes him to be part of the Embassy personnel.
The Vice President of the United States is the highest ranking of the many guests from the U.S. government and foreign diplomatic corps who attend the party. At the beginning of his remarks, there is a sudden clap of noise, sounding like a gunshot, which momentarily diverts the guests’ attention. During the night following the reception, almost four-dozen people are taken ill with what is assumed at first to be either flu or food poisoning.
As Washington area hospitals fill with the sick and dying, speculation as to the cause begins to fuel the media regarding the investigation. Some patients die from massive internal hemorrhagic-like symptoms, while others report a variety of symptoms not associated with food poisoning. When the Vice President is stricken, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention is called to investigate as well as various government agencies like the D.C. Health Department, and the Secret Service.
Creative Cuisine is being thoroughly examined for possible contaminants as Cassie’s husband, District of Columbia Metropolitan police detective, John Doolin, is assigned to a possible homicide outside the gates of the Russian Embassy where a female body has been discovered with no identification and most importantly – no fingerprints on her fingertips. She appears to have been beaten but that does not seem to be the cause of her death.
Cassie helps her husband peel back the intricacies of this mystery to reveal diplomatic intimidation, blackmail, theft of classified information and murder. She identifies the catering employee who set the scheme in motion which leads on a trail from Washington to the tiny Caribbean island of St. Denis and far beyond its beaches.