The Reluctant Food Columnist Series
with Quincy Lazzaro and Mary Ticarelli
Book One
Diet of Death
Betty Ann Green is a beloved culinary icon…who doesn’t exist. She is the brilliant, beautiful illusion created by two unlikely collaborators. Behind the façade is Quincy Lazzaro, a culinarily challenged writer whose witty, sharp prose is the public face of Betty, while those flawless, genius recipes are all thanks to his octogenarian neighbor, Mary Ticarelli.
When the arrogant diet guru, Dr. Alan Tolzer, inventor of the Westport Diet, demands a face-to-face interview, Quincy reluctantly steps in as Betty’s frontman, only for Tolzer to drop dead. The police call it natural causes, but Quincy knows better. He sees it as the investigative break he’s been waiting for.
Now, caught between a crime-solving grandma, a no-nonsense detective girlfriend, and a killer who may be one step ahead, Quincy must unravel the mystery before the killer strikes again.
Book Two
Simmering Secrets
When celebrity chef Connie Langston announces she's moving her prestigious culinary academy from Connecticut to New York, she ignites a firestorm of controversy. Before the evening is over, she's dead. Everyone assumes it was a tragic heart attack. But food columnist Quincy Lazzaro suspects it was murder.
By day, Quincy secretly writes the wildly popular Cooking with Betty food column with the help of his irrepressible octogenarian neighbor, Mary Ticarelli. With his loyal cocker mix, Dexter, never far from his side, Quincy wants more than recipes and restaurant reviews. Determined to reinvent himself as an investigative journalist, he starts asking questions that make powerful people increasingly uncomfortable.
His girlfriend, Detective Nina Esteves, wishes he'd leave murder investigations to the police. Quincy has no intention of listening. As he digs deeper into Connie's death, Quincy uncovers simmering rivalries, hidden motives, and dangerous secrets surrounding the academy's future. When a second murder proves Connie's death was anything but natural, Quincy and Nina race to catch the killer,
each following a very different path.
In the high stakes world of fine dining, where the rich and privileged guard their reputations as fiercely as their fortunes, some secrets are worth killing for.
The Blue Palmetto Detective Agency Series
with Al DeLuca and Maxine Brophy
Book One
Agatha Award Finalist
When It's Time For Leaving
Book Two
Blood Ties
and
Deadly Lies
