The Morning Show Murders (Billy Blessing Series #1)

Fans will enjoy the collaboration of Al Roker & Dick Lochte as they serve to fans a gourmet murder mystery

Celebrity Chef Billy Blessing runs the popular Manhattan Lower East Side Blessings Bistro although he would be the first to admit he does not cook that often anymore. He also performs cooking segments with the joke of the day on the TV show Wake Up, America!

Chef Blessing has just begun torturous filming of Blessing's in the Kitchen with Food School 101 starring apprentices who look more like exiles from a Sci fi fast food show than cooks. Although he would like to quit, his producer Lily Conover counts the ways he cannot as Di Voss Industries is sponsoring him. His former "Knock Boots" partner Gretchen Di Voss and her fiancé Rudy Gallagher watch his every move. His nodding "advice" to morning show co-anchor Gin McCauley leads to fifteen million reasons why Billy should lose his cooking shows. Soon after a public argument with Rudy, NYPD Detectives Solomon and Butker inform Billy he is the prime suspect in the murder of Gallagher who died eating poisoned coq au vin at Blessing's Bistro which is closed as a crime scene. Realizing he is being set up like a cooked goose for the holidays, Billy investigates.

THE MORNING SHOW MURDERS is a delightful amateur sleuth mystery that works due to the strong cast who bring New York City alive with their crisp sassy discourses especially the tale's lead chef. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Billy realizes he is host of a show that will give him plenty of heartburn and that is before he is the prime stuffed turkey of NYPD. Fans will enjoy the collaboration of Al Roker & Dick Lochte as they serve to fans a gourmet murder mystery.

Harriet Klausner

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

boring

I could not get into this book. Very dull. I would not recommend to anyone.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

It's Not Rocket Science, It's A Murder Mystery!!!!!!!

Al Roker is a funny man. I think everyone will agree on that. He has created a work of fiction inside an environment that he is intimately familiar. It works!!! It's funny, it's easy to read, it's well written. Is it Rocket Science, no; but then it wasn't meant to be. I enjoyed reading the book for what it was, a murder mystery. It had twists and turns. It had some romantic liasons. It had some areas of over detailing. Oddly, I kept imagining Danny Devito in the title role as Chef Blessing--don't know why, that's just the way it read to me.

I look forward to the next Chef Blessing Mystery and hope that Al Roker continues to give us many more Chef Blessing novels.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Al Roker makes fun of himself. Can you find the line?

I looked forward to reading this book because I "know" the author. The story keeps you wondering not only who the murderer is but is it a male or female? I enjoyed the read and would buy another book if there is one.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

AL,AL,AL THE LANGUAGE IS OVER USE OF SO CALLED "FOUL LANGUAGE"

JUST OK THE SAILOR TYPE OF LANGUAGE HURTS THIS MURDER MYSTERY
WHICH AT TIMES DRAGS ON AND ON OVER 60+ CHAPTERS
AL AND HIS GHOST WRITER CUT TO THE MEAT OF THE BOOK PLEASE.....

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Great mystery/humor mix

The teaming of loveable TV weatherman Al Roker and veteran crime novelist
Dick Lochte (author of the award-winning "Sleeping Dog") has resulted in an
irresistible mystery novel about Billy Blessing, a famous chef and
restaurateur who also is one of the co-hosts on a morning news show, sort of
a combination of Emeril or Wolfgang Puck and Roker himself. When his show's
producer is murdered just days after they've had a verbal blowup - by
takeout from his restaurant - Billy becomes the NYPD's only viable suspect.
Since the police are spending all their efforts looking for evidence that
will sink him, Billy realizes it's up to him to find a better suspect before
he's put under arrest. The result is a suspenseful, at times hilarious
comedy thriller that I hope marks the beginning of a series featuring the
charming Billy.

Five stars.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

boring...

This book never got to the point...I hope his last two in the series,got better

A fun read

Yea for Al Roker. I like him alot on the Today Show and he proves that not only can he write a good mystery, but run a restaurant, too. I will defintely read his second book.

Recommended

Never realized Al had it in him to write such an enjoyable book! Not Agatha, but keeps you interested and his humor is great. Getting his Midnight Murder after finishing book I'm reading now.

Hope he writes more of these.

Good book for travel.

Enjoyed the read, light and funny. Will try next book

The Morning Show Murders

I picked this book up because I love Al Roker, and find him hysterical on Today, so I was interested to see how his humor would show itself in fiction. Full of pop culture references, including a few self-deprecating references to Roker himself, there was a lot of unexpected humor for a murder mystery. The characters were very eclectic in personalities and backstories, which gave the story a lot of texture, depth, and interest. It was a fun mystery that brought you in and kept you there. The twists and turns kept me guessing and, until the end, I was completely wrong on the "whodunit" aspect. My only real negative was the main character, Billy Blessing. I sometimes felt that he was almost a bystander in is own life and story, rather than really being an active participant. I would definately recommend this read!

Absolutely LOVED it!

I read a lot of the "fun" murder mysteries, and absolutely loved this one! It kept me in suspense until the very end. For once, I didn't even know for sure who the murderer was! Definitely read this one if you like ones that are just a fun read and not deep. I loved it!

A fun read

Admittedly, I purchased this book because I found the title ironic coming from Al Roker. But the characters are interesting and I enjoyed reading the book. I didn't find the book predictable at all and enjoyed following the main character through the story. My usual favorites are John Sanford, James Patterson and Vince Flynn. I wouldn't compare this Roker/Lochte collaboration to any of them in style, except to say I found it equally as enjoyable overall.

Easy Reading

Good quick-reading story that is less than complex but still challenges the imagination.

A fun read

For the most part, I enjoyed the book. My biggest complaint was that I had trouble remembering who some of the characters were from one reading session to the next. And the ending was definitely a surprise.

INSIDER QUIPS AND ENTERTAINING MYSTERY

Very few are as familiar with the ins, outs, and roundabouts of morning TV as is popular weatherman Al Roker. What few knew until recently was that he's not only engaging on camera but also an accomplished author ( Don't Make Me Stop This Car!: Adventures In Fatherhood, and several cookbooks.) Add to that description a smart fellow because when he decided to turn his pen to a mystery he wrote about what he knew - choosing as his protagonist Chef Billy Blessing who tantalizes viewers tastebuds each morning on Wake Up America!

It's a delicious treat to read Roker's book because of his ingenious use of and references to real people, places and programs. This gambit leaves readers wondering what is fact and what is fiction while enjoying every page. Don't know whether or not American Idol, Charles Gibson, Clint Eastwood, etc. enjoy their mentions, but readers surely will.

How's this for an opening line, "The big guy lumbered toward me, waving the cleaver. Weeping like a baby."? Roker pulls us in on page 1 and keeps us guessing until page 312.

Between his gigs on Wake Up America and running a vaunted NYC restaurant Chef Billy Blessing has been in tall cotton. Ooops, when the show's producer is murdered and his untimely departure is found to have been caused by coq au vin from Billy's restaurant, who is the prime suspect? None other than charming Billy. Producer Gallagher left behind a little black book filled with names and had recently been to Afghanistan, Kabul "to oversee a week of live evening news broadcasts." While there a man sharing a dinner table was murdered, his throat cut. Unwittingly Gallagher had become privy to dangerous, tightly guarded information. Worth murdering to keep secret?

Whatever the case, it's not long before some very unfriendly fellows are circling and it seems another death is in the offing. In order to clear himself Billy must not only find the killer but stay alive while doing it.

Roker has created a likable hero, spiced his story with insider quips, and woven an entertaining mystery - enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Sleep In

Billy Blessing, the celebrated, restaurant owning, chef on the Morning Show, finds himself in trouble. One of his coworkers from the show has been murdered. Chef Blessing is immediately tagged for suspicion by the police. Thus we have the beginnings of an all too familiar plot set in the environs of a television Morning Show. Writers are often advised to write what they know about, but Al Roker's story, with the help of mystery author, Dick Lochte, has stayed to close to home. There are even cute references to that weather guy from the Today Show. Most of the story is average detective, mystery book fare. The action is rather slow paced until the last third of the book, when the search for the unknown killer, starts to get interesting. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

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