After being flung into the culinary limelight as a semifinalist 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 (shortlisted for the McDermid Debut and Crime Fiction Lover Debut Awards) and MURDER DECK BELOW.

Books by Orlando Murrin

Knife Skills for Beginners

by Orlando Murrin - Fiction, Mystery

The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. Worn out and newly broke, chef Paul Delamare would be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking. Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of "Pass the Gravy!" Despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits --- until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver he used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. Did one of his students take the lesson on knife techniques too much to heart, or was this the result of a long-simmering grudge?