TURN UP THE HEAT

Something’s fishy at Simmer, that trendy new Boston restaurant, and it’s up to a graduate student in social work to sniff out the truth.

Though Chloe Carter is studying for her finals, she’s never too busy to spend time with overworked executive chef Josh Driscoll, the love of her life and provider of endless free meals. She forges a new connection to Josh’s restaurant when she discovers Simmer server Leandra dead in the back of the fish delivery truck driven by Owen, the boyfriend of Chloe’s best friend Adrianna, whose pregnancy had already been making her nervous. Leandra was such a nasty piece of work that when Simmer owner Gavin asks Chloe to arrange a memorial service, she has to make up nice things to say. Just about everyone working at Simmer is stealing something: salt and pepper shakers, food, liquor, kitchen equipment. Could the thefts be a motive for murder, or does the answer lie in Leandra’s private life? Applying her social-work training, Chloe tries to figure out which member of the staff, all of whom despised Leandra, had the opportunity to do the deed. But only her own near-fatal ride in the fish truck reveals the truth.

Chloe’s third outing (Simmer Down, 2007, etc.), spiced with mystery, romance and recipes, is an insider’s look at life in a restaurant kitchen.