Hi, I’m Carrie Ann Cole. I’m a personal chef by profession and the most amazing thing happened to me. I was contacted by Kensington Palace and asked to be the personal chef to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I leapt on this chance of a lifetime. I mean, London, a royal palace, my own kitchen what could possibly go wrong?

Things are a little bumpy as I try to fit in. Some people are welcoming, others are out right put out that the family would bring an American in to feed the future kings of England. But I’ve studied hard and mastered traditional British cooking as well as fresh American fare. The best part is that the Duchess wants to continue the tradition of exposing the children to dishes from around the world. I love learning new cuisines.

As usual, I’m up early and out of my small quarters inside the palace and down to my personal kitchen. I make coffee and go out to pick some fresh kale for a frittata when I discover the dead body of one of my two assistants. What do I do? I haven’t even gone through orientation yet. I’m not really up on the emergency procedures. I do the only thing I can think of and that is use the house phone in the kitchen to call security.

Next thing I know, Ian Gordon, the head of palace security and his men are storming in and my little kitchen will never be the same. The worst part is he kicked me out! How was I supposed to make the family breakfast if I didn’t have a kitchen?

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Ian sends me off to cook in the Palace’s main kitchen run by Chef Butterbottom. Now I don’t know the man, yet, but the word in the household is that Chef Butterbottom doesn’t like other cooks in his kitchen and especially doesn’t like the idea of an American in the mix.

With my kitchen taken over, my second assistant accused of murdering my first assistant, Chef Butterbottom trying to prove my lack of talent, and my love life in tatters, I find my dream job turning into a nightmare. I might be a fish out of water, but I’m not a quitter. Wish me luck as I try to adapt to British ways and find a killer before the killer finds me.

You can read more about Carrie Ann in Kale to the Queen, the first book in the NEW “Kensington Palace Chef” mystery series.

Chef Carrie Ann Cole is about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime–an assignment as the new Personal Chef to the Royal Family at Kensington Palace. But no sooner has Carrie Ann touched down across the pond and donned her apron than a dead body crops up beneath the royal kale beds.

With one assistant dead and the other soon under suspicion for his murder, Carrie Ann is scrambling to keep her kitchen up and running. Not to mention she gets off to an immediate bad start with the tempestuous Royal Chef Butterbottom, who has a bitter taste in his mouth since the prestigious position in the Royal Family’s kitchen was given to an “over-privileged, under-educated American chef.”

But the Royal Family’s appetites wait for no one, and Carrie Ann must solve the murder and still get supper on the table on time–even with the annoyingly handsome Head of Security Ian Gordon tracking her every move like an MI6 agent. Suspects abound as an American chef adds a bit of spice to the traditional royal household in the first in Nell Hampton’s charming and tasty Kensington Palace Chef Mystery series, Kale to the Queen.

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About the author
“Kale to the Queen” is Nell Hampton’s debut cozy. Nell aka Nancy J Parra loves a good British Mystery and imagines it would be a dream job to work for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Nancy has a BS in Journalism and an MA in Genre Fiction. You can see her other titles at www.nancyjparra.com.

All comments are welcomed.

Kale to the Queen is available at retail and online booksellers or you can ask your local library to get it for you.