Neil Flambé and the Crusader's Curse
World-class chef—and royal pain in the neck—Neil Flambé is used to serving his dishes to resounding applause and overwhelming approval. And Neil’s super-sensitive nose does more than enable him to cook sophisticated meals and run his own restaurant; it also allows him to help local police solve mysteries in his spare time.
Then things start going wrong. His plates are returned. A group of critics visit the restaurant and leave completely dissatisfied. Worse yet, Chez Flambé is closed by an order of the Department of Health!
Suddenly, Neil finds himself amid the cook-off of his life—and his entire reputation is at stake. Then he discovers the root of all his problems: a dark curse that has plagued Flambé chefs for centuries. Has Neil finally met a mess he can’t smell his way out of?
Choose a format:
Book details:
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers |
- 304 pages |
- ISBN 9781442442863 |
- May 2012 |
- Grades 3 - 7
Teaching Resources
To download a file to your computer right-click on the link and choose 'save file as'
Activity Sheets
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Neil Flambé and the Crusader's Curse
Paper Over Board 9781442442863(2.1 MB)
- Author Photo (jpg): Kevin Sylvester
Photograph © Kevin Sylvester(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
Read an Excerpt
Four and Twenty Thousand
Black Birds
Every night, around dinnertime, all the crows in Vancouver fly east, abandoning downtown for the surrounding suburbs and their hills. It’s an amazing sight, a sky filled with cawing black birds, moving over the houses and parks like an enormous living storm cloud. No one knows for sure why they do this. Some believe they sense night is coming on, and bad things happen in the city at night.
Neil Flambé, on his fifteenth birthday, burst out of the back door of his kitchen and into the alleyway behind his...
see moreGet updates on new releases, awards news, materials for course adoption and conference information

Learn How to Draw Neil Flambé