I really loved the premise of this book, but the execution of the audio fell flat. Honestly, the narrator is most likely the reason I wasn’t a huge fan of the story. The lack of inflection and the way some of the chapters ending was truly teeth grinding for me. When listening, the chapters need to end with a finality to them, and there were quite a few where the tone of the narrators voice was almost like a comma, an unfinished statement rather than closing out the chapter.

This was such a fun read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you NetGalley for the audiobook!

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery and the narrator did a fantastic job with all the voices! It took me a minute to get all the characters right as there is quite a large cast but they are all very fun and entertaining. I love the unique personality assigned to everyone and the setting of a posh cooking class was very unique.

Will be watching for the sequels!

The first installment in the Chef Delamare culinary mystery series, Knife Skills for Beginners, is a fun cozy mystery by Orlando Murrin. Chef Paul Delamare is asked by an old friend, Christian Wagner, a popular celebrity chef, to sub for him in teaching a cooking class at The Chester Square Cookery School located in a posh mansion in London, where the students stay on site. Paul reluctantly accepts the invitation, and as he makes his presentations to some very unique and interesting students, he decides to go see Christian. Unfortunately, he finds that Christian has been murdered. The students and Paul become suspects, and Paul must investigate to clear his name.

The story is well written, and reflects the culture of London. Some of the characters are well developed, especially Paul Delamare, the protagonist. He is a likeable character, and the supporting characters could be developed a bit more. There are twists and turns throughout, and suspense builds, keeping readers on the edge.

The dénouement is a surprise, and readers won’t be able to guess who-done-it until the end of the novel. As is traditional, cozies don’t contain any sex, violence, or profanity, so this is a series that can be read by mystery lovers of all ages. This is a cute culinary mystery with plenty of mouthwatering food dishes mentioned, as well as bonus recipes at the end.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Good for fans of Agatha Christie; a classic mystery tale. The story builds with plot twists and character development. Mystery fans will enjoy this book! The narration was spot on!

Great audiobook that held my attention from beginning to end. Storyline was gripping and narrator was wonderful.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The narraration, the story everything in this book was chefs kiss (no pun intended) I will definitely be reading more from this author

Knife Skills for Beginners

By Orlando Murrin

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

Paul takes on teaching cooking classes in place of his friend Christian, a celebrity chef who has broken his arm. When Christian is found dead the morning after the first class, the police focus in on Paul. He has to figure out who really did it to clear his name.

I really enjoyed Sebastian Humphreys’ voice and the different accents/voices he did for the different characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and RBMedia for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

This audiobook delivered in full on its promise of being a cozy locked room mystery for fans of cooking shows. I was hooked in from the get go and was surprised up until the very last twist.

Looking for a fun cozy mystery with a large cast of characters and some recipes thrown in? This book is for you.

The narration by Sebastian Humphreys is very good and helps to move the somewhat overly long story along.

I enjoyed it and give it 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

I enjoyed this audiobook. The story was engaging and the narrator was perfect for the story. He sounded just like I imagined the character would sound. He also had good inflection for the plot points. The story kept me on my toes and I enjoyed the mystery. The story did lose a star because it just kept going and going. Just when you thought the story ended, there was more. And we didn't need more. The mystery had been explained; we didn't need an epilougue.

Knife Skills for Beginners is a delightful mix of culinary expertise and murder mystery, set against the charming (if slightly faded) backdrop of the Chester Square Cookery School in London. Orlando Murrin serves up an intriguing whodunit with a side of mouthwatering food descriptions and a dash of dry humour.
Paul Delamare, a talented yet down-on-his-luck chef, finds himself reluctantly stepping in to teach a week-long course at the prestigious school, only to become embroiled in a murder investigation.
While the setting and premise are engaging, the pacing occasionally lags, and some characters feel more like background decorations than fully fleshed-out suspects. If you enjoy cosy mysteries with a foodie twist, Knife Skills for Beginners is worth a read—even if it won’t leave you completely full.

This book was extremely engaging. It kept the suspense all the way to the end and I didn’t pick up on who was the murder. I also enjoyed the different recipes that were sprinkled throughout the story.

3.5 stars.
I was impressed that this was a debut mystery novel for this author. It's clear his cooking experience (and writing cookbooks) came in handy when writing his main character, Paul Delamare. Paul is depressed over the death of his partner, and is convinced, grudgingly by his estranged friend Christian, a celeb cook and entrepreneur, to take on teaching classes for him as Christian has broken his arm.

Paul is an unemployed cook and food stylist, so teaching how to make the curriculum's dishes is not difficult, and he's demonstrated techniques before large audiences, so again, that's not what has him concerned. Christian glosses over important details about the assignment, such as Paul's pay for substituting, and Paul knows he's needs to nail down numbers with Christian, or the man, whose previous businesses have failed repeatedly because of Christian's boredom or messing with staff, may duck out of paying Paul.

Paul also has a vindictive stalker, who trails him, and attempts to damage his reputation and professional life by making malicious calls to his employer.

Paul takes his knife roll to class, and introduces himself; the students are understandably disappointed, as they registered so they could learn from Christian, but Paul gradually wins them over through his steady manner and expertise.

The next morning before class, Paul decides to speak to Christian again about his pay, and arrives at Christian's flat to find broken glass, an unlocked door, and most horrifying, Christian almost decapitated in his kitchen with what looks a lot like Paul's cleaver. Paul faints, and understandably, since he was first on scene, becomes the police's prime suspect.

Paul's best friend Julie (musician, food stylist, and true-crime lover) urges Paul to find evidence pointing away from him, so that the police don't focus on his years ago drug-related arrest and somewhat difficult relationship with Christian. So he begins digging into the backgrounds of the students (as he discovers some may have had a grudge against Christian) and into Christian's recent past.

He finds lots of little negative things about the students, but the police remain focused on him, and his time as a free man may soon vanish unless he can figure out who killed Christian.

I enjoyed this much more than I expected to, and liked Paul, despite his doing and saying things that kept the police interested in him. His depression and slight smart aleckiness work against him frequently, but he's also surprisingly able to piece together the disparate clues he finds and solves the murder, though not without great danger to himself and his best friend.

I listened to this and quite liked Sebastian Humphreys' voicing of Paul. His skill at conveying Paul's emotions, whether grief, regret, anger or humour, came through well, and I liked how he differentiated each student. Humphreys' skill kept me listening for hours, eager to get to the mystery's resolution.

Thank you to Netgalley and to RBMedia for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is a cozy culinary mystery that feels very in the vein of "The Golden Spoon" by Jessa Maxwell. I did enjoy it, but I did feel that it was a bit long winded in getting to where it was going. Pacing issues aside, I thought this was a fun time. The cooking tidbits and skills were intriguing, and I do think that the author showcased his own talents and skills in that department.

Overall, this was a fun read and I'd love to continue on if this develops into a series.

Thanks to RBmedia | Recorded Books and NetGalley for my audio arc!

I wish we could do half stars! I more than merely "liked" Knife Skills for Beginners, but I didn't quite "really liked it." As far as debut cozies go, it's pretty solid. You've got characters you can see yourself investing in over a series, an interesting location, a fun theme, and maybe just a touch of romance. I thought interspersing recipes throughout was a neat touch. Even better that the recipes, while coming from a master chef, seem replicable by a casual cook at home. I was never that advanced in my culinary skills, but, after too many years making little more than ramen, I'm slowly finding myself spending more and more time fiddling around in the kitchen. So, I appreciated the explanations of various cooking techniques.

For whatever reason, it took me a moment to get into Sebastian Humphreys's narration. Once over that hump, I was all in. He did a fine job with the different voices; I could tell them apart. He knew just when to be a bit comical, too, like with Lady B. Since this is going to be a series, I think his casting was an A1 choice.

LSS, I did enjoy Knife Skills for Beginners. I would appreciate the opportunity to read a sequel, especially if I got to listen to Sebastian Humphreys narrate the audiobook version. I would like to thank RBmedia | Recorded Books for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook.

When the desire to break out of the rut he has fallen into - and some degree of financial need - drives Chef Paul Delamare to accept his friend Christian's request to fill in for him and teach a cookery class to a group of students at a one week residential course, he has no idea what he is getting himself into.

Because not only does Paul have to keep an eye on his stalker while he is out and about, he also finds himself in the middle of a murder case, when Christian's corpse is discovered a few days later!

This is a delightful story with a cast of quirky characters, a constantly deepening mystery, and a relatible protagonist. Paul's magazine colleague and best friend Suzie was one of my favourite supporting characters, this book, you really are spoiled for choice in that regard. Highly recommended to those who love humour, mystery and clever story telling, this gets 3.5 stars.

This book had a very interesting premise for a mystery. The forced interaction of a pre-paid and continuing cooking class for the characters added intrigue and suspense but was a feasible reason for them to continue to interact. It took me a moment to get used to the narrators voice while listening to the audiobook but overall, I enjoyed the story. Some parts felt a bit slow and the ‘twist’ ending was slightly underwhelming without much lead up.

I had a hard time getting through this book. I felt like none of the characters had distinctive voices so it was really hard to keep track of who was who.
I did enjoy the baking element within this book. The competition, the sabotages created a lot of fun elements to the story.
I thought the mystery had some fun elements to it, there were somethings that I was able to predict but other elements that still came as a surprise.
Overall this one wasn’t the story for me, I won’t be continuing it.

This is a fun and slightly humorous, cozy mystery set at a cooking school, Chester Square Cookery School in London. The cooking school is an old, very impressive mansion. This is somewhat of a locked door mystery with a lively cast of wealthy, predictably difficult characters in the cooking class. I loved the participants in the class and found their antics mostly hilarious.

Chef Christian has made a name for himself in the culinary world and on his cooking show, Pass the Gravy. Due to an injury, he is unable to keep this commitment at the cooking school for this exclusive class and asks Paul to teach in his place. Paul is still grieving his husband's death and dealing with his own complicated stalking situation. Normally, he wouldn't have agreed to teach a last-minute cooking class in this situation, but kinda feels like he has to accept Christian's offer for a variety of reasons. Paul and Christian have a competitive 'friendship'. Christian is also a bit of a character, as is the cooking school owner.

The story has charm, humor, and the typical cozy mystery characters. The victim felt obvious, but that's standard in cozy mysteries. I'd also say the first half of the novel had a few pacing issues. Despite that, the story was enjoyable, and I found myself rushing to get back to it. I think the narrator, Sebastian Humphreys, definitely helped with that. His voice perfectly embodied Paul's character. I think the narrator made this story as enjoyable as the author did.

Honestly, cozy mysteries tend to be somewhat one note, so I don't want to give away too many details. The character who was murdered felt obvious, but the culprit was not. This was stacked with the usual multiple suspects with multiple motives but played out quite well. I'd definitely read another novel by this author.

I didn't watch the author's season on MasterChef, but I thought he did a decent job for a first-time writing fiction. This is a cute story that doesn't take itself too seriously. I rather enjoyed Paul and hope he may get another book. I'd be interested in his further adventures at the cooking school or wherever, especially with the addition of Julie as his partner/helper.

If you like cozy mysteries and cooking shows, this unique blend of both is not to be missed. Definitely chose the audiobook for this one. It's pure perfection.

Thank you to Orlando Murrin, RBmedia/Recorded Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.