Wendy Church's "Knife Skills"

Wendy Church is the author of the Jesse O’Hara and Shadows of Chicago Mysteries series. The first book in the Jesse O’Hara series, Murder on the Spanish Seas, was named one of Booklist’s Top Ten Debut Mystery/Thriller novels of 2023, and received a starred review.

Church's newest books are Murder Beyond the Pale, the second Jesse O’Hara mystery, and Knife Skills, the first Shadows of Chicago mystery.

Here Church dreamcasts an adaptation of Knife Skills:

The main protagonist in Knife Skills is Sagarine Pfister, a chef who finds herself at the beginning of the book in a restaurant walk-in freezer, looking at the body of her dead boss, head chef Louis Ferrar. Sagarine is a driven, exceedingly talented woman in her late twenties who’s underemployed because of her family. I imagine her being played in a movie by Rose Leslie, although she’d have to drop her beautiful accent as Sagarine is from Chicago. Another actress who could play her would be Jennifer Lawrence. I know I named JL as being cast as the lead in my previous book with a completely different protagonist, but she’s so skilled at changing her look. Both of these women have a little bit of an edge that I’d want to see in Sagarine.

Sagarine’s best friend and roommate, Maude, I envision being played by Kristen Stewart, as I think she could pull off the smart, nerd/goth look and personality of Maude.

Whoever directed this would need experience with suspense and humor, as well as be comfortable filming in a kitchen, and dealing with food, as that’s a central piece of the book. Maybe Christopher Storer, who directs The Bear, as this book has been compared to the show, partnered with Kathryn Bigelow who did Point Break, to bring in the suspense and action elements.

Visit Wendy Church's website.

The Page 69 Test: Murder on the Spanish Seas.

Q&A with Wendy Church.

My Book, The Movie: Murder on the Spanish Seas.

The Page 69 Test: Murder Beyond the Pale.

The Page 69 Test: Knife Skills.

--Marshal Zeringue