Jeremy Papier is a
Vancouver chef and restaurateur who owns a
bistro called The Monkey's Paw. The novel uses a "
Bloods vs.
Crips" metaphor for the philosophical conflict between chefs such as Papier, who favour local ingredients and menus, and those such as his nemesis Dante Beale, who favour a hip,
globalized, "post-national"
fusion cuisine. Papier also endures conflict with his father, an anthropologist studying
homelessness in Vancouver's
Stanley Park, who draws him into investigating the
death of two children in the park. ==Awards and nominations==