"Lord of the Pies"

An avid foodie and writer, Nell Hampton (AKA Nancy J. Parra) decided to finally combine her two loves. She lives in Richmond, VA.

She applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Lord of the Pies, and reported the following:

From page 69:

“But I thought they ate lemon pie,” Agnes scrolled through several pictures. “See? Here’s a lovely piece with sky-high meringue.”

“Wait, yes, that is my pie. There’s two pieces missing out of it.” I frowned. “How was there a whole lemon pie left? I thought it was in one of our pie plates. It looked like my pie. Well, I assumed it was mine since mine were the only pies in the kitchen when I arrived.”

“Do you think someone slipped a poison pie in with yours?”

“Why?”

“Well, if people got sick they would certainly say that on their social media.”

“And everyone would get the impression that I’m a terrible cook,” I said. “If that’s the case, we’re lucky no one else ate that pie.”

“Did you count all the pie plates when you got back?”

“No,” I said. “Why would I? Mine were the only pies served. I didn’t think I needed to check the inventory.”

“You should count them,” she said.

“I’ll do it after lunch service. I have to assume one is missing because CID identified the pie as being in a pie pan from my kitchen.”

Lunch for the family consisted of several courses, to teach the children about official dining. We kept it simple with stuffed mushroom appetizers, potato and chive soup, roasted chicken, and rice pilaf, then pudding for dessert. Well, in England dessert was pudding so they had pudding for pudding. The thought made me smile.

By the time Agnes got back from taking lunch up to the family, I had done a quick inventory of my pie pans. Two seemed to be missing.

Page 69 has our sleuth wondering how one of her pies had become poisoned and why someone might be trying to frame her. It’s a great little peek into daily life and gives a hint of what it’s like for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s children. Carrie Ann is an American in the royal kitchen and takes delight in the things that are different from life as an American chef. Things like pudding for pudding.

That was a fun exercise as I had never looked at a random page to see how it fit into the theme of the book.

Visit Nell Hampton / Nancy J. Parra's website, Facebook page, and Twitter perch.

Coffee with a Canine: Nancy J. Parra and Little Dog.

--Marshal Zeringue