Billy Blessing is riding high. He's good-looking, successful and
free to play the field. He's also the regular host of a cooking
segment, Blessing's in the Kitchen, on the popular morning
show “Wake Up, America!” and the owner of a profitable
Manhattan bistro. Everything is most definitely going his way.
However, there exists a thorn in his side by the name of Rudy
Gallagher, his executive producer and general nemesis. Billy has
plenty of reasons to dislike Rudy: at the moment, Rudy is dating
Billy's ex-girlfriend and forces him to appear on a nonsensical
reality show. The man loves to make Billy’s life miserable.
So it is, when Rudy ends up dead, all signs point to Billy as the
culprit.

While Rudy was a general pain, he was certainly not enough of
one to inspire murder in Billy. Unfortunately, after a run-in that
morning over a new cooking reality show, “Food School
101,” Rudy dies from eating poisoned coq au vin from
Billy's restaurant. Now, the police are closing down the
establishment and rooting through every aspect of Billy’s
life. Fortunately for Billy, he is not the only one who might have
wanted Rudy dead. Such that he was, Rudy made enemies wherever he
went, and there were any number of people in the cut-throat world
of morning television who might have had enough of his high-handed
ways.

However, the people who might have held a grudge against Rudy
extend beyond the circle of morning television. Any number of women
who are listed in his little black book and rated according to
their looks and sexual prowess may have had a problem with Rudy. He
has also just come back from an investigative reporting trip to
Afghanistan, bringing back much international intrigue with him.
How do you begin when there are more people who wanted the victim
dead than those who didn't?

Rudy isn't the only victim, though. When the killer strikes
again, it is obvious that someone is setting up Billy to take the
fall. If he wants to hold on to everything that is near and dear to
him --- particularly his freedom --- Billy better switch his oven
up to high heat and get to the bottom of the mysteries and scandals
that are swirling around him. But as Billy gets closer and closer
to the truth behind Rudy's murder, he moves from the scary realm of
viable suspects to the even scarier world of moving target. Someone
wants him out of the way --- and they aren't playing around.

THE MORNING SHOW MURDERS takes us behind the scenes of the
cheery world of morning television where we learn that appearances
can be deceiving and the biggest television personalities also have
big egos to match. It would be interesting to know how much of this
book is fact and how much is fiction. Al Roker is obviously
eminently qualified to give us the picture of what goes on behind
the cameras as well as in front of them after all his years in the
business, and he works superbly with Dick Lochte, author of
SLEEPING DOG, in this thrilling tale of lights, cameras and
murder.