Mary Ryan, San Francisco pastry chef, is happy to be teaching at her alma mater. But she soon realizes that the teaching staff are at loggerheads with each other. Adding to her dismay, her ex-lover, Homicide Detective O'Connor, has enrolled as a student on disability from the San Francisco Police Department. In the middle of this turf war, Mary is confronted by dean Robert Benson. Mary must either force student Coolie Martin to leave the school or lose her job. Why would Coolie's father, a member of the Board of Directors, allow this to happen? But when faculty and staff begin dying, Mary thinks that Coolie's forced exit might only be part of a larger, more sinister plot.... Claire M. Johnson was a professional pastry chef in San Francisco and Oakland for eight years. Roux Morgue is second in her Mary Ryan series following Beat Until Stiff. Claire lives in Lafayette, California, with her family. www.rouxmorgue.com