Simmer Down

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
    Published by the Penguin Group Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
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    Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
    This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

    PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book are to be followed exactly as written. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require medical supervision. The publisher is not responsible for any adverse reactions to the recipes contained in this book.

    Copyright © 2007 by Susan Conant and Jessica Conant-Park.
    Cover art by Alana Machnicki.
    Cover design by Rita Frangie.
    Cover logo by axb group.
    Text design by Kristin del Rosario.

    All rights reserved.
    No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
    The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

    First edition: March 2007

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Conant-Park, Jessica.
    Simmer down / Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant.—1st. ed.
    p. cm.—(Gourmet girl mysteries)
    ISBN 978-0-425-21385-8 1. Restaurants—Fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Conant, Susan, 1946- II. Title.
    PS3603.0525S56 2007 813'.6—dc22
    2006036152

    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Meg and Kristen

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

    Endless thanks to Alexa Lewis and David Grumblatt for their tremendous help with proofreading and to Bill Park for his wonderful recipes. We are also grateful to our wonderful editor, Natalee Rosenstein, and to Michelle Vega.



ONE

    I hate the week after Christmas.
    Or I used to, anyway. When I was growing up, I kept trying to convince my Protestant family that we were Jewish and consequently had to celebrate Hanukkah for a full week instead of Christmas for one short evening and a single all-too-brief day. But this year, I, Chloe Carter, have an actual boyfriend, and everything has changed for the better— even my post-Christmas blues. Now, on December 27,1 was not, for once, bemoaning the end of carol singing, and it didn’t bother me at all that I’d have to wait almost twelve months to tear through my presents like a six-year-old and then finish off every Christmas cookie in sight. On the contrary, I was brimming with excitement at the prospect of spending New Year’s Eve with my boyfriend.
    So, in the midafternoon, I was seated at my kitchen table pretending to concentrate on work for my social work school internship while actually being distracted by my gorgeous Josh, who was busy cooking. How I got lucky enough to find a chef as the love of my life, I don’t know. What could be better than good food and good sex all rolled into one? Well, not “rolled into one” in the sense that we were smearing food all over each other as foreplay. I mean, ewww! How gross. If I have to watch one more B movie with couples seducing each other with strawberries and whipped cream, or licking champagne off each other, or wagging their tongues in the air to