Murder on the Gravy Train — Phyllis Richman

Researching her new column, Chas Wheatley, a food writer with a taste for sleuthing, discovers something is rotten with Washington's most popular new restaurant. The head chef has gone missing, and not only is the food suffering, but no one can give her a straight answer as to his whereabouts.

It seems the chef isn't the only one who's mysteriously disappeared. Bodies begin surfacing around the nation's capital, confounding the police. But Chas has a few advantages the cops can't possibly match: a clever eye for detail, a love of good gossip, a talent for digging up the truth, and connections in the newspaper and culinary worlds.

Diving further into the investigation, Chas delves deep into the underbelly of the culinary business and onto a twisted trail of deceit, blackmail, and murder only she can solve--that is, if she lives long enough....