A Taste of Death: The gripping new murder mystery that will keep you guessing

A Taste of Death: The gripping new murder mystery that will keep you guessing
H.V. Coombs

The first murder happened while I was making meringues…When Ben Hunter moves to become head chef at the Old Forge Café in the quiet village of Hampden Green, a tricky recipe for egg-based desserts isn’t the only thing he gets embroiled in. As he struggles with a whisk in his first week, he gets an unexpected visit from DI Slattery – there’s been a murder and he’s a suspect. Ben resolves to get to the bottom of the mystery, and he soon discovers that this sleepy Chilterns village is covering up a whole lot more than an appetite for sweet treats…

A Taste of Death

The Old Forge Café

H. V. COOMBS

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2017

Copyright © H.V. Coombs 2017

Cover illustration © Head Design

H.V. Coombs asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © July 2017 ISBN: 9780008235796

Version 2017-11-14

To J.A.W. xx H.V.C

Table of Contents

Cover (#uae8a6c82-7a89-5295-b143-a31634f568a1)

Title Page (#u57fdea00-d18d-5a73-b9db-458a0e1fa384)

Copyright (#ub36c1031-bc91-5e82-af4d-dde4e980b9c4)

Dedication (#u375a0ad9-c9fa-5426-ac3a-b87a3b3ef292)

Prologue: Friday, 15 January (#ua9efaf54-ef6e-53e1-8896-7452d3523c28)

Part One (#uc369ca19-856e-5e2d-9805-b194c74ff7cc)

Chapter One: Thursday, 7 January (#u614528df-b0aa-5f92-bf73-1427d7d246ea)

Chapter Two (#u3e96ef2e-20d3-502a-b377-37180c28062a)

Chapter Three: Friday, 8 January (#u47daabfc-4414-5d46-a9de-70de48adf93d)

Chapter Four: Friday, 8 January, early afternoon (#u996d84ba-59fa-5bdc-b192-12afff09ae26)

Chapter Five (#ub21ac7e9-008f-5dc4-b956-62eae684cb03)

Chapter Six: Monday, 11 January, lunch (#u990fdc29-71b3-5b5a-a8de-26233c3f659f)

Chapter Seven: Monday, 11 January, evening (#u79bc55d2-6861-5b1f-96ca-02d935f32825)

Chapter Eight: Tuesday, 12 January (#u5fba389d-03fe-5c27-b2fa-eb51ebc2e49a)

Chapter Nine: Wednesday, 13 January (#ud77a4226-71ba-5986-8af8-d17ebba02cd2)

Chapter Ten: Thursday, 14 January (#u34cf216f-2ea9-594a-9955-010953d8863b)

Part Two (#u5386dceb-2bf9-5225-b1c3-ed18fa5d2d37)

Chapter Eleven: Friday, 15 January, 9.30 a.m. (#u43fa6414-deca-5b9d-9f60-b9e55c4ccd89)

Chapter Twelve: Friday, 15 January, 6 a.m. (#u56115bea-aea8-53e4-a14d-90fc58e33570)

Chapter Thirteen: Monday, 18 January (#u1e737add-ffe3-5449-b9c6-da77a3c2fafe)

Chapter Fourteen: Tuesday, 19 January (#u45ea83f8-dc12-5ff7-b5ad-cec10b61504e)

Chapter Fifteen: Wednesday, 20 January, early evening (#u5a52a7de-c464-53b0-a369-97f49d191019)

Chapter Sixteen: Thursday, 21 January, afternoon (#ua67be7fe-1fbb-56d0-b157-7bfb0c5d9b88)

Chapter Seventeen: Thursday, 21 January, late afternoon (#u5fbd1de7-686a-5e4a-93ff-3abd8f6eaa44)

Chapter Eighteen: Friday, 22 January (#u6824b57f-295e-5db6-a19f-c8b3f5cd08c8)

Chapter Nineteen: Friday, 22 January, lunchtime (#u86ae2e5f-5a2f-58a1-9306-990b2b34e313)

Chapter Twenty: Friday, 22 January, afternoon (#u00757a43-5647-5def-92dc-cd1df67963a8)

Chapter Twenty-One: Friday, 22 January, late afternoon (#uad8a7fa0-a827-51fa-b375-f584fee6e04d)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Saturday, 23 January, midday (#u81bbe8db-4e92-5b0f-a97f-f9f56c5211ec)

Chapter Twenty-Three: Saturday, 23 January afternoon (#ufed4db50-a267-5f59-9df9-73b1657784d1)

Chapter Twenty-Four: Saturday, 23 January, night (#u3f13c1f5-3137-562c-b2d1-a4e17247076b)

Chapter Twenty-Five (#ufd0073e5-e759-59c1-a173-04b1b6f827f0)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Monday, 25 January (#u2a9d9697-76ec-52f5-a284-194869125322)

Chapter Twenty-Seven (#u7456f851-7093-529a-833f-670ca9a05d53)

Chapter Twenty-Eight (#ua59dc0fe-4403-50f2-be8a-f59fbfd3e651)

Chapter Twenty-Nine (#ucb8b7f6f-ef7b-5192-ac2f-4b9e8963445f)

Chapter Thirty (#uef3d6721-7164-528d-94af-682d40ba9284)