Claire M. Johnson completed the California Culinary Academyrsquo;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. Johnsonrsquo;s first novel,Beat Until Stiff, won the 1999 Malice Domestic Writerrsquo;s Grant. She lives in Lafayette, California, with her husband, two children, and numerous animals.