'An irresistibly delicious mix of cooking and murder' Trisha AshleyWhen famous TV chef Matteo McLeish turns up at the Old Forge Café and offers chef Charlie Hunter a place in his kitchen for the duration of Hampden Green's local opera festival, she thinks it's because he rates her cooking skills.In fact it's because he's heard she's good in a crisis. The wholesome star of Nonna's Kitchen is being blackmailed by one of his team.Tempted by an improbably large pay cheque and the boost to her CV, Charlie accepts his offer.Does the threat lie close to home, or back in Italy with Matteo's culinary roots?And can Charlie find the blackmailer before she's swept up in an avalanche of death and scandal?

­Alex Coombs was born in Lambeth in South London and studied Arabic at Oxford and Edinburgh Universities. Murder on the Menu was his first book in the new series: the Old Forge Café Mysteries. Alex lives in the Chilterns.