Flambé, Revenge of the stars

When, a month later, the Michelen Guide announces its verdicts, the restaurant has lost all three stars, and the famous chef disappears, leaving his wife and son in excessive debt and great shame. 

Twenty-eight years later, all the other participants in that fatal game of stud poker die in mysterious random accidents, while taking part as tasters/judges in a minor National Wine Competition in Cyprus. 

A serious food poisoning, a drunk driver falling into the sea and drowning in his car, a successful attempted suicide in a hotel room and a heart patient’s heart attack after using viagra could all have been accidental, except that the deceased were once friends and had jointly woven a conspiracy in order to deprive a great chef of his Michelen stars. 

To investigate the four deaths, Cyprus Police Chief Andreas Lixis, together with his friend, Greek Police Marshal Filippos Georgiou, spin the yarn of time backwards to that fatal game of stud poker. 

But there are many aspects to the truth, and each man holds on to the version he can handle. Has someone never forgotten, or did something happen that brought the memory back years later? Is it the chef, missing but not dead, his son, or another, relative or friend, the one doing the killing, and is he seeking revenge, or just dealing out punishment? 

A journey into the glamorous world of gastronomy when stars go out and praises fade away. A route from Limassol to Lyon, the capital of gastronomy, and from Sierre to the enchanting vineland of Valais in Geneva, full of flavors and aromas, intrigue and psychological drama, love and guilt. 

Chefs and sommeliers, journalists and tasters/judges, everyday people whom nobody would recognize if they weren’t sprinkled with the glitter of fame. Full of vice and pettiness, but also grandeur and bravery, they lead extravagant lives and make a great impression for a short while, just like the flambé preparations in the kitchen which once the alcohol burns out lose their flame, sinking back into obscurity.