Dying For A Blue Plate Special — Beth Kalikoff

New Jersey expatriate Jewel Feynmann finds herself up to her kugel in aggro when her fledgling business, Blue Plate Catering, does dinner for Commencement Bay University, aka Zoo U. Keeping dreamy employee Del Troutman and runaway student waiters in line is hard enough. Then Zoo U Dean Matthew Mulcahy dies of poison at Blue Plate's dinner while hundreds of poorly dressed academics watch in horror. Chocolate-eyed homicide detective Ben Hartsock works the case in a quiet, capable, good-looking way-damn good-looking, not that Jewel cares-but too methodically for her East coast taste. Everyone from the Brown and Hailey candy factory to the Museum of Glass will think Blue Plate killed Mulcahy unless Jewel finds out who did. And yesterday. Jewel dives in among the college people, including foul-mouthed playwright Leo Wallinsky; puppy-like Ace Birney, fraternity boy; and watchful Helena Moore, in charge of student grievances and a lot more. Del pitches in. Together, they find out enough about Mulcahy and his women students to gag a mule. Ben's-no, Detective Hartsock's-official investigation gets close enough to lift Jewel's pulse to code red. Surely it's unethical for a cop to have sex with a suspect? When Jewel's e-mail box fills with death threats and Courtney Mitznick cancels her son's Bar Mitzvah buffet supper, Jewel really gets mad. Hair flying, she finally finds the answer with the murderer in Blue Plate's deserted kitchen, late at night. Maybe too late.

Beth Kalikoff grew up in New Jersey and Connecticut. Her poetry and nonfiction have won national awards. Currently, she teaches writing at the University of Washington's Tacoma campus.