A great yarn - Shrager knows her food and she's cooked up a storm. . . Rosie can write and Prudence Bulstrode is here to stay.' Miriam Margolyes A great yarn - Shrager knows her food and she's cooked up a storm. . . Rosie can write and Prudence Bulstrode is here to stay' Miriam Margolyes'Think bolshy Mrs Beeton meets Miss Marple, our rambunctious heroine, Prudence, hilariously stomps her way through a riotous and unpredictable plot. I love her spirit as I love her cooking. Now, I have to admire her writing too' Pierre KoffmanThe irresistible debut novel from celebrity TV chef Rosemary Shrager where cosy crime and cookery collide!When an old television rival, Deirdre Shaw, is found dead at the Cotswolds manor house where she was catering for a prestigious shooting weekend, Prudence is asked to step into the breach. Rosemary Shrager has created a welcome addition to the ranks of female amateur sleuths. The Last Supper is a witty, light-hearted mystery, in which the author has served up a tasty treat' Simon Brett

The Last Supper is a witty, light-hearted mystery, in which the author has served up a tasty treat' Simon Brett'The Last Supper is a charming, hugely entertaining book. In those days, you did not intervene. From the outside world, we had an incredibly privileged life; from the inside world, it was really unhappy.’ Now, I’m going to say one thing to you. My understanding of not having anything; you understand how scary Christmas is,’ she says, unseasonally but poignantly.

Multibuys

Suspecting that Deirdre's death was suspicious, she and her granddaughter Suki, set about uncovering the truth of what was really going on at the manor.

I just hadn't realized that writing is one of them. The Last Supper has pace and style and a very interesting cast of characters' Richard Vines'Rosemary Shrager has created a welcome addition to the ranks of female amateur sleuths.I enjoyed the personality traits of no-nonsense Prudence though she could be snippy and waspish. Suki played a good part, too as did her friend, known as "Numbers". The mystery was lively and funny with surprises and I will be watching out for book two. That – though her novels are beautifully light-of-touch – any murder story by default has to flirt with the fragility of life; the resilience of human beings left behind. The knowledge that, out of the blue, one event can change a life in the blink of an eye. It's about to get a sensational present too. Because, the more she scratches beneath the surface of this manor and its guests, the more Prudence becomes certain that Deirdre Shaw's death was no accident. Life; just life. All about her and her boyfriend and how she feels about life. She loves films – she’s very creative. She absolutely is the most remarkable young lady. The Last Supper is a charming, hugely entertaining book. Retired chef Prudence Bulstrode is cranky, stubborn and insightful; an utterly brilliant creation. I can’t wait to see what she gets up to next’ M W Craven

Rosemary Shrager has created a welcome addition to the ranks of female amateur sleuths. The Last Supper is a witty, light-hearted mystery, in which the author has served up a tasty treat’ Simon Brett On the other hand, I thought: I am so fortunate. I’ve got friends; I’ve got friends with houses; spare rooms; they all took me in. And, for me, that was the best time in the fact that people looked after me for about three years. I would go off and sleep in people’s… I know it was Cadogan Square; I know it was Fulham; I know it was Highgate and I know these are very posh places! Suki and I are so close. We talk for hours; we talk for hours in real life. Yesterday morning, she came and got into bed with me. It was so cosy. We chatted; we chatted for – I don’t even know for how long.’Then there’s granddaughter Suki, giving the reader the impression that all teenagers do is get drunk and stay in bed till lunchtime….OK, maybe I’ll park that one for now. A Golden Age classic for the modern era - Rosemary Shrager has come up with a recipe to die for' Anton Du Beke Books by celebrity authors can be something of a hit and miss affair leaving you either pleasantly surprised or wildly disappointed. It would appear everybody is jumping on this particular bandwagon from game show hosts, ballroom dancers and radio presenters to reverends and chefs. This cozy crime is Rosemary Shrager’s fictional debut featuring amateur sleuthing duo Prudence Bulstrode, acclaimed tv chef and her granddaughter Suki. Their catering services are required at Farleigh Manor when Deidre Shaw, Prudence’s former arch rival is mysteriously found dead. As a fan of this popular genre, what would I make of Rosemary’s attempts to combine her knowledge of all things culinary with a (hopefully) well hatched crime to challenge even the very best armchair detectives amongst us?? Well, as they say the proof is in the pudding or in this particular instance maybe it’s in another item taking pride of place on the menu as old acquaintances gather for a shooting weekend. Present day murder becomes entangled with a tragedy from the past as Prudence and Suki endeavour to dish up a sumptuous feast, solve the crime and serve justice for dessert.

Her mother, already with three children of her own, adopted a fourth child. ‘There was something wrong with her. She needed the adulation. She had a challenging mental problem. She was born with it; genuinely born with it. I don’t know where it came from. Everybody knew what was going on in our home but nobody could do anything about it. Nobody intervened. Because her experiences have given her a compassion she might not otherwise have had. An understanding that so many of us are a few salary cheques away from a food bank. A Golden Age classic for the modern era – Rosemary Shrager has come up with a recipe to die for’ Anton Du Beke No - because, well, it was very simple. I mean, I didn't gues who did it. I was thinking hard together with Prudence and I think that actually I've accused every single character in this book, but in the end I didn't guess, as there was no right motivation to this whole murder thing. A lot of things were falling perfectly into places, people appearing at the right moments, great ideas coming out of the blue. The way it was written and explained, well, I wouldn't guess it in a million year. The other thing is, would I want to guess it? Every single characters has been taken to the table and thoroughly analyzed, only so that we would suspect all of them. But I am 100 percent with Miriam Margolyes (‘Rosie…has cooked up a storm’) and Alan Titchmarsh (ditto cooking-metaphor praise), who are big fans of her books. The stories are huge fun; very inventive. And – like Rosemary herself – incredibly comforting, warm and loveable. Honestly, from the second she begins speaking, I take to her enormously.

Diaries & Calendars

No, no. It was circumstances. And so it was almost like a cry for help. Nothing to do with suicide, in a way. It was to do with crying for help. Prudence is the Prue Leith I suppose to Deirdre’s Mary Berry, Deirdre got the good telly shows and Prudence got the ones that she did not want but Prudence doesn’t seem to mind as she has made a good life for herself while Deirdre is not very well liked.