Mrs Mackerel and the Poisoned Pasty Puzzle

1958. Cookbook writer and television personality Mary Mackerel must leave London in a hurry when public affection for her curdles. Her publisher advises her to go deep into the British countryside and write a cookbook that will reestablish her reputation. Reluctantly, Mary sells up and endeavours to brush off being exiled to what she thinks is the edge of the world: Penzance, Cornwall. There she buys a run-down tea shoppe with hopes of turning it into a bakery and restaurant. To ingratiate herself with the locals, Mary bakes her adapted version of Cornish-ish Pasties and gives the tasty treats away. After one of the locals dies of poisoning moments afterwards, the whole town points the finger at Mary as a murderer. Soon, the local and then national press have gleefully picked up on the story. Mary must turn chef-detective to clear her name and save her fledgling business.



Craig Melvin holds an MA in Creative Writing from Sussex University and works as a sometime restaurant consultant and ghostwriter. He spends every new year in Cornwall and has been cooking up Mary Mackerel's food and story for many years. Fay Maschler said his debut novel, The Belle Hotel, 'gets to the soul of a restaurant'.