Knife Skills

Trudi never wanted to solve murder cases, either — but sometimes, you just don’t have much of a choice. After a stupid (but funny) editing mistake, Trudi is reassigned to her struggling newspaper’s food desk, forced to write feature stories about restaurants and recipes.

Smart-mouthed Trudi is definitely no foodie: she knows nothing about fine dining. But the murder of the most famous chef in town — killed with a cooking knife — presents an opportunity: if Trudi can prove her skills as a reporter, she can return to the news desk where she belongs.

In a tight-knit California foothill community of cooks, caterers and wine snobs, how can an impulsive girl like Trudi make her way through a completely unknown world of delicious food and drink? Somehow she’ll have to figure it out… because just when she starts to piece together the puzzle, the murderer sets his sights on Trudi.

“Knife Skills” is the first mystery starring Trudi Wells. It is followed by “Murder and Pestle.”