Lord of the Pies

February 26, 2018
A well-crafted plot with plenty of surprises drives Hampton’s sequel to 2017’s Kale to the Queen. American-born Carrie Ann Cole, who has been working for the duke and duchess of Cambridge for three months at London’s Kensington Palace, still feels the need to prove herself as a chef. Her task becomes harder when the body of Wentworth Uleman, a fellow staff member, is found early one morning in the Orangery kitchen lying face down in a lemon pie. It appears the pie was poisoned. The authorities know it’s her pie because the pan is inscribed with the duke and duchess’s initials. Temporarily relieved of her duties, Carrie Ann anxiously attempts to clear her name while avoiding pushy tabloid reporters and juggling two potential suitors, who may not be quite as eligible as they appear. Fans of TV’s The Crown will appreciate Hampton’s well-researched picture of the mammoth job of running a royal residence housing numerous families. This contemporary cozy is as light and delectable as one of Carrie Ann’s meringue toppings. Agent: Paige Wheeler, Creative Media Agency.

February 15, 2018
A chef to Britain's royal family is suspected of murder when a waiter succumbs to a poisoned pie.Carrie Ann Cole loves working in Kensington Palace, where she provides tasty, nutritious meals for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their two children. Will and Kate love her. But Mrs. Worth, the palace's head of staff, has her doubts about Carrie Ann's fitness for the job, partly because she doesn't think an American can be sufficiently familiar with British food culture to provide proper nourishment for the royal family and partly because Chef Cole's previous assistant, Frank Deems, was murdered at the palace (Kale to the Queen, 2017), creating a flurry of unwanted publicity. So a second murder, this time of Wentworth Uleman, waiter at the Orangery, Kensington's open-to-the public cafe, who dies after eating a slice of the lemon pie that Carrie Ann leaves as a gift for the Orangery's Chef Wright, does little to cement her relationship with her boss. Nor does it seal her friendship with DCI Garrote, who views Carrie Ann as his chief suspect. The latest death leaves Carrie Ann's best friend, Penny Nethercott, and her two handsome beaus, gardener Jasper Fedman and security chief Ian Gordon, to help her clear her name. Hampton displays an uncertain grasp of British vernacular (fellow chef Sandy Earnest hands Carrie Ann the snappy retort "So sue me") and palace protocol (Mr. Deems' replacement, Agnes Moore, arrives in the kitchen unannounced, having apparently walked through the Duke and Duchess' private quarters unescorted).Most likely to appeal to mystery-romance fans entranced by PBS's The Great British Baking Show.

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