{"title":"Claire M Johnson","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"roux-morgue-book-claire-m-johnson-9781590584873","title":"Roux Morgue","description":"San Francisco pastry chef Mary Ryan is back teaching at her old alma mater, trying to straddle the worlds of both her original mentors and her contemporaries. To make matters worse, Homicide Detective O'Connor has enrolled as a student, claiming to be on disability from the San Francisco Police Department. In the middle of this turf war, Mary is confronted by the dean Robert Benson, who tells Mary she must either force Coolie Martin to leave the school or lose her job. Why would Coolie's father, a member of the Board of Directors, allow this? But when faculty and staff begin dying, Mary thinks that Coolie's forced exit might only be part of a larger, more sinister plot. Acting on a hint from O'Connor, Mary contacts the only person who can help her: her nemesis, Thom Woods. Will Mary and Thom uncover the truth before another chef bakes his last pie?","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49909611462929,"sku":"CIN1590584872G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1590584872.jpg?v=1750926929"},{"product_id":"beat-until-stiff-book-claire-m-johnson-9781590580400","title":"Beat Until Stiff","description":"Experienced pastry chef Johnson whips up an insider look at San Francisco's cut-throat restaurant trade. Cranky Mary Ryan has sunk a lot of time and talent into the in-vogue American Fare, the town's hottest spot, while grieving over her broken marriage. At work very early one morning, she steps on a laundry bag stuffed with the dead body of one of her employees. The investigation soon exposes all the dirty secrets that the food business would like to keep secret: the philandering chefs, the silly whims of the dining public, the hiring of illegal aliens, and the subsistence-living pay scale. Events begin to spiral that in time take out the restaurant's celebrity chef and force Mary to use her unique skills to uncover a poisonous scheme.\u003cbr\u003eBeat Until Stiff gives a frank view of the cooking\/restaurant scene and explores why food has become theater, with all the waiters, the busboys, the chefs, and the dining public on stage, each with their own parts to learn and perform. Dessert is the last word, the amen of a meal. And Mary Ryan always has to have the last word. Hard edged, filled richly with restaurant lore, sharply characterized, this is a debut to savor.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50576352510225,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50576355066129,"sku":"CIN1590580400VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51688414675217,"sku":"CIN1590580400G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1590580400.jpg?v=1751309575"},{"product_id":"fog-city-book-claire-m-johnson-9781685126803","title":"Fog City","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51046781878545,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51046784434449,"sku":"NIN9781685126803","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51838378574097,"sku":"GOR014420551","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52630360293649,"sku":"NLS9781685126803","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1685126804.jpg?v=1767348046"},{"product_id":"city-lights-book-claire-m-johnson-9798898200077","title":"City Lights","description":"\u003cp\u003eWord spreads that Nick Moore has left San Francisco for good, leaving Maggie Laurent struggling to keep the Moore Detective Agency afloat. Cops, the D.A., and the other private detectives in town all predict she'll be out of business by Christmas, and she's not sure they aren't right. Then one day, her silent partner, Dickie Vance, invites her to lunch. He has a job for her. Find out what's going on with Herman Peters, Dickie's favorite cab driver and one of the Nob Hill Irregulars that feeds him gossip on the city's elite. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring their weekly boxing lesson, Maggie learns that Herman's fianc e, Vera Kowalski, has dumped him and tasks Maggie with finding out why. This simple request leads Maggie deep into the world of labor unrest, the IWW, the Sedition Act, and into the arms of one of Herman's friends, a charming-as-hell Irishman. As the state gubernatorial election draws near, the city brass will pull out the stops to ensure that San Francisco remains peaceful for the next few months, even as the aftermath of the stock market crash begins to bite-and bite hard. Banks start foreclosing on homes, families sleep in their cars, men sleep on the sidewalks, soup lines begin to form, and the rumblings of union busting get louder. When this powder keg of unrest explodes with the arrival of Pinkerton operatives, the chain reaction of murder and violence threatens the lives of union members, cops-and Maggie herself. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53636256334097,"sku":"NLS9798898200077","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53666214150417,"sku":"NIN9798898200077","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9798898200077.jpg?v=1780999938"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-claire-m-johnson.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}