Insufferable
food critic J.Hamilton Goodfellow visits the top restaurant in Los
Angles, the French bistro Chez Pierre, ownmed by bon vivant Pierre
Cerdan. Pierre delivers a oversized cloche that Pierre says
Goodfellow had delivered earlier in the day. Goodfellow has no idea what
he's talking about. The cover is lifted to reveal a large orange gelatin
mold enveloping the severed head of Goodfellow's partner
Roger Marsden.
Suspicion immediately falls on Prince Sergei
Polansky, a thinly disguised take on Hollywood's legendary restaurateur
Prince Michael Romanoff. Polansky was the top restarant until Goodfellow
and Marsden panned his menu. He is further implicated when Lt. Novelli
finds an old Russian gelatin mold in Polansky's kitchen, still with
traces of orange gelatin. The Prince is an old family friend of Matt
Houston, who sets out to find the real killer and clear Polansky's name.
Houston narrows down the suspects to
Marsden's bitter ex-wife Kate Riley and her brother who has a record,
who is the director and producer of Goodfellow's TV food show,
Goodfellow's over-protective assistant Terri or Pierre Cerdan himself. |
On Houston's ranch, Matt
gathers the suspects and announces that the murderer was Pierre! Marsden
was taking kickbacks from restaurants in return for good reviews and was
reaping 30% of Chez Pierre's profits. As the realization dawns on Cerdan
that he has been caught, he escapes. With Matt in hot pursuit, the
fugitive's flight leads across the range as Pierre leads Matt on a high
speed ATV chase, culminating in a bloody fist fight before Pierre is
finally subdued and brought to justice. |