The Plucked Hen

De: Val M Karren, V M Karren

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

A chef of unprecedented imagination is discovered. How will he fare under public scrutiny?

Chef Maurice Le Coq is found dead in his burned-out brasserie in France. The police are calling it a ‘tragic accident’ but the villagers of Les Andelys speculate that the fire was set intentionally. There is only one man who knows the whole truth.
The latest battleground in France’s ongoing “guerres de cuisines”, The Plucked Hen is discovered by the country’s foremost restaurant critic, but Chef Le Coq remains a secretive figure who refuses to step into the spotlight, spurning the critics and their toxic version of culinary cancel-culture.

Desperate to protect the family’s recipes from the ‘vultures’ that descend on The Plucked Hen, Chef Le Coq must find a way to give the critics just enough of what they want and shield his mother’s cooking secrets at the same time. Doing both and avoiding the public scorn of the critics pen proves to be a perilous balance.

This third short story in V M Karren’s new series of cultural fiction immerses the armchair traveler in a provincial French town, where succulent foods, tradition and relationships are mixed in equal measure to recreate the ‘joie de vivre’ that France is world famous for. This story will leave you asking for seconds.

(Note: This story is included in the short anthology Armchair Travel: Cultural Fiction for the Restless Wanderer, also available in paperback format.)