The irresistible debut novel from celebrity TV chef Rosemary Shrager where cosy crime and cookery collide!

When an old television rival, Deirdre Shaw, is found dead at the Cotswolds manor house where she was catering for a prestigious shooting weekend, Prudence is asked to step into the breach. Prudence is only too happy to take up the position and soon she is working in the kitchens of Farleigh Manor.

But Farleigh Manor is the home to secrets, both old and new. The site of a famous unsolved murder from the nineteenth century, Farleigh Manor has never quite shaken off its sensationalist past. It’s about to get a sensational present too. Because, the more she scratches beneath the surface of this manor and its guests, the more Prudence becomes certain that Deirdre Shaw’s death was no accident. She’s staring in the face of a very modern murder. . 

My Review

It’s all a bit too cosy for me – I prefer my crime to be really dark and grisly – but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Probably more so because I was reading with my online book club and we had a laugh exchanging comments. Nothing really original here, but entertaining nonetheless.

First the negatives and then I’ll move on to the positives and there were a lot. As a vegetarian, I found the food they were serving at the manor really stomach-churning. Sorry, but that’s just me and I know many people who would love to chomp down on raw venison and hung pheasant, accompanied by heart-attack inducing sauces. But I’ll have the raspberry roulade for dessert please. And the recipe.

Then there is Prudence herself. I hate it when sixty-somethings are always made out to be IT dinosaurs. I’m slightly younger than Rosemary and older than Prudence and I can still give many of my colleagues a run for their money on the computers at work. ‘Ask Veronika to show you how to use the new software – she’s the expert,’ my colleague was told by the 30-year old in support. How refreshing it would be for Prudence to say to Suki, ‘move over, let the ‘expert’ check it out on the iPad, mobile phone (why is it always an overpriced iPhone?). We all became experts when we found out many years ago that we could order shoes online.

Then there’s granddaughter Suki, giving the reader the impression that all teenagers do is get drunk and stay in bed till lunchtime….OK, maybe I’ll park that one for now.

And Numbers. Irritating name, irritating way of speaking – just irritating all round. In fact I probably preferred the guests and that’s really saying something.

So to the positives. it’s fun, it’s entertaining, it had some clever twists and some ghastly, well-written characters amongst the guests. It’s set in the beautiful Cotswolds, where I live (though a reference or two to a town I recognise is always fun). It’s a great choice for a book club or to read on the plane. It’s a quick read and not taxing on the brain. It’s just a bit formulaic. Would I read the next book in the series? Maybe. Would I watch it on TV? Definitely. Just get Prudence to do a crash course in computers at a local community centre first.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

National treasure Rosemary Shrager endeared herself to the nation when she took part in I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! where she proved she could cook just about anything, anywhere. Her most recent tv appearances have been equally well received – Netflix’s Best Leftovers Ever!, Cooking with the Stars, where Rosemary mentored Johnny Vegas throughout the series , and Fishing Scotland’s Lochs and Rivers for Channel 5.

First and foremost Rosemary is a talented and versatile chef who loves talking about food almost as much as she loves cooking. During lockdown she began her own online demonstrations on Facebook and YouTube, and she has now begun her own virtual cookery school, details for which are on http://www.rosemaryshrager.com.

When not teaching and cooking, Rosemary avidly reads and watches crime fiction, so much so that she wondered whether she had it in her to write a book in which crime and cookery collide… and The Last Supper is the winning result, introducing Rosemary to a new crime readership who in turn will be treated to several more outings with retired celebrity chef Prudence Bulstrode over the coming years.