"May Contain Murder"

After being flung into the culinary limelight as a semi-finalist on Masterchef, Orlando Murrin edited Woman and Home, BBC Good Food and founded Olive magazine; then he switched track to become a chef-hotelier in SW France and Somerset.

He has written six cookbooks and received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Guild of Food Writers, its highest accolade. A popular guest on TV and radio, and at food and literary festivals, he is also a regular podcaster and podcast host.

From his grandfather, a Met detective who rose to become a crack MI5 interrogator, he inherited a fascination with crime and mystery. He lives in domestic bliss in Exeter, Devon, and has written two culinary crime novels: Knife Skills For Beginners and Murder Below Deck (published as May Contain Murder in Canada and the US). Knife Skills was shortlisted for McDermid Debut Award, Crime Fiction Lover Debut Award, CrimeFest Last Laugh Award and Fingerprint Debut Award.

Murrin applied the Page 69 Test to May Contain Murder and shared the following:

On page 69 our narrator Paul Delamare finds himself at dinner aboard the magnificent superyacht Maldemer, on the second night of her cruise from the London’s Tower Bridge to the Caribbean.

Paul is a waspish character – even slightly cruel – and here we find him criticising one of his dining companions, a vegetarian called Karol-Kate, for ‘chewing in a circular motion’. He expands on this: ‘I remember a geography lesson in which we learned the different ways ruminants eat: cows by pulling up tufts of grass with great long tongues; sheep with their teeth, nibble-nibble-nibble. I half expect her to moo.’

The Page 69 Test works well for my book – it gives a flavour of the banter and social comedy for which the chef Paul Delamare mysteries are known.

I would have loved it even more if page 69 had also landed the browser with some of the book’s other fun elements: for instance, the reproductions of actual tarot cards, or the email exchanges between Paul and his best friend Julie, stuck back in London, which add a hilarious extra dimension to the book.

I’d also like the reader to flip to the epilogue, which contains an imaginary magazine article written by Paul Delamare with six delicious recipes. These are real, working recipes, in American cup measures, including the Poseidon Adventure Cocktail and a devilishly delicious chocolate cake based on Julia Child’s immortal Gâteau Reine de Saba.

I’m not sure if readers realise what a fantastically complicated book this was to write! Whenever Paul sends an email he gives his coordinates in the Atlantic Ocean, which I wanted to be accurate. This involved plotting a course to an imaginary island, while the boat was being blown off-course by a terrible storm. On top of that, the yacht kept crossing time-zones. By the time I’d finished writing it, I felt I’d done a Masters in navigation. Plus don’t start me on international maritime law…

Visit Orlando Murrin's website.

The Page 69 Test: Knife Skills for Beginners.

Q&A with Orlando Murrin.

--Marshal Zeringue