The last thing that the still-grieving chef Paul Delamare wants to do is take on a gig teaching an introductory cooking course at the posh Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London. But when his old friend Christian Wagner comes calling, Paul can’t say no, especially considering the cast on Christian’s arm. He’s only recently broken it, but the course that he’s supposed to be teaching has long been booked and is non-refundable. Would Paul do him a huge favor by acting as his stand-in?

Despite knowing perfectly well that most of the students will have signed up more to bask in Christian’s handsome, celebrity company than in actually learning how to cook, Paul says yes. He’s unsurprised at the motley crew – mostly female – in attendance, though the rather down-at-heel circumstances of the rest of the school’s staff do take him somewhat aback. Even so, he soon finds himself relishing the task of taking his students on a week-long journey through the basics of European cooking. The only thing that really irks Paul is Christian’s spotty attendance, despite the latter’s prior assurances that he would be on hand to answer the many questions the students would definitely have of him. That aside, Paul finds the overall experience not unenjoyable.

Everything changes when someone seemingly takes Paul’s lesson on basic butchery to murderous heart. Paul himself stumbles across the corpse of one of the residential school’s inhabitants, slaughtered with the very cleaver Paul had been using in class. Our hero quickly becomes the police’s prime suspect. His flippant, almost confrontational attitude when they interview him doesn’t do him any favors either. Will he be able to figure out who the real killer is, not only to save himself but to protect the rest of the innocent people associated with the school?

This culinary mystery debut from Masterchef semi-finalist and cookbook author Orlando Murrin is filled with terrific cooking school anecdotes, as well as a delightful sense of place. Paul’s on-going grief over the death of his partner, alongside his firm friendships, fill him out as a protagonist whose attention to detail believably helps him solve the case before the police do. Knife Skills For Beginners is a promising debut that has the added bonus of coming with six recipes, ostensibly from the personal notes of Christian Wagner himself. None of the recipes lay out the ingredients list ahead of the instructions, but they’re not too difficult to separate out, in my opinion.

Of the six, I decided to try this one, as I’ve very much been in the mood for chocolate recently:

Death by Rocky Road

Gently melt together 1 ¼ cups butter, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 ½ tablespoons light treacle.

Stir in ¾ cup Graham Crackers or Animal Crackers, broken into crumbs, then 1 cup mini-marshmallows.

Turn into a 6 inch square shallow baking pan lined with baking parchment. Chill for 2 hours or longer. Cut into squares or rectangles–depending on size, anything from 12 to 20.

Specially for Suzie, I’m pushing the boat out with a coating of melted dark chocolate, more marshmallows, swirls of white chocolate and crushed crystallized violets.

I’m used to Rocky Road recipes coming with nuts, so was really pleased that this one omitted those and included crackers instead. I chose the graham crackers in order to emphasize the smores-like quality of the dessert, and threw in some extra marshmallows, too. I would recommend (for perhaps the first time ever) using unsalted butter for this recipe though, as I felt that even the mild saltiness of the butter I used actually detracted from the flavor here.

Overall, this was a very easy dessert to make, which was useful as my children would not stop pestering me in order to “help” while I was making this. They were quite disappointed when I told them that it had to chill in the fridge for two hours after assembly. It was definitely worth the wait, however. The finished dessert barely lasted twenty-four hours in my household, and was a tasty snack for the entire family.

Next week, we travel to the USA’s West Coast to bake up some scrumptious treats while investigating an opening weekend gone terribly awry. Do join me!