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Claire M. Johnson completed the California Culinary Academy's program for professional chefs in 1983 and worked as a pastry chef in San Francisco and Oakland for eight years. Set in the restaurant world, Ms. Johnson's first novel, Beat Until Stiff, won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writer's Grant. She lives in Lafayette, California, with her husband, two children, and numerous animals.
The restaurant business--its food, financing and philosophy--is here in all its complexity for discriminating mystery palates. -- Publishers Weekly Claire M. Johnson s Beat Until Stiff deserves enthusiastic mention as a very special title which offers an unusually frank view of the cooking and restaurant scene in San Francisco. Herself a professional and experienced pastry chef, Claire Johnson presents the reader with a lively style that mixes autobiography with culinary and social insights. Highly recommended! -- Midwest Book Review Willy nilly, Johnson takes you there in a fast and furious place, often reminiscent of the theatrical ditto, complete with Hamlets and Greek choruses and magicians who don t quite get it right. Not only is this a treat; I read it through twice to make sure it was as good as I thought. -- Marilis Hornidge, The Courier-Gazette Great plot with good characters and you ll learn a lot about the restaurant business, since author Johnson is also a pastry cook. Culinary Mystery Review
