Written by Donald McKenzie on February 26, 2018

More Crime and Cuisine is the post I referred to in my last entry. It is another one I really liked and decided to dig up and post here. I’ve added a few paragraphs of new material at the bottom of this post.

I’m taking a bit of a break from the series I just started, to do an addition to another topic that I beg a while ago. A couple of months ago, i wrote a post on some of my favourite fictional detective figures where food plays a significant roles in either the stories or character development.

On a whim, when I tweeted the post I tagged Ian Rankin, creator of Rebus, my favourite detective, lack of food narrative notwithstanding, Surprisingly, he answered back my tweet, and even included a couple of other notes. One was making note of Hamish Macbeth, and Agatha Raisin, by MC Beation, and the other was that there exists a whole sub-genre of, largely American, writers whose mysteries include recipes at the end of each chapter. So, here is some more crime and cuisine.

When Ian Rankin recommends a mystery writer, there is no choice but to take the time to check that writer out.

bruno chief of police

One of the writers that came up in the comments to the last post was Martin Walker, and his Bruno Chief of Police series. I have started reading that series and I will be writing about him, but I intend to give Bruno his own post, which I’m going to connect to the idea of French Cuisine.

I don’t have the complete Bruno post. However Bruno is definitely one of my very favourite detectives. No matter how much more crime he has to fight, he always has to cook, and more importantly enjoy, meals with all his friends.

Adam Gopnik – The Table Comes First

For now, all I’ll say is, if you can get your hand on the Bruno books make sure you do.
One character I left off the list is Jim Qwilleran, from Lillian Jackson Braun’s The Cat Who series. Although the cats are the main focus of the series, Qwilleran proves himself to be quite adept in the kitchen.

Baking, Catering, and Crime Solving

It was reading Diane Mott Davidson’s Catering to Nobody, that got me started on this crime and cuisine jag. I don’t know if she is the start of the genre, but she is clearly marked out as one of the best in the genre. Joanne Fluke is another author who has achieved a great deal of success in this genre.

Koshersoul – Michael W. Twitty

The basic theme of this sub-genre, is that the amateur detective uses their cooking/baking skills to insinuate themselves into the lives of the victims or suspects. Apparently, the promise of free baking is all it takes for most people to spill their deepest, darkest secrets. On the whole though, the part of these stories that’s hardest to deal with is the idea, is that protagonists are able to run a small business and still have time to solve the crimes.

One way this is overcome is that each of these characters has at least one employee who is devoted to them. Usually this is because the employee is trying to escape a bad marriage or is a single parent. Along with that the police force in the case of both Davidson land Fluke happen to be headed by males, who like the heroines are damaged but available.

Still, these novels tend to be a nice bit of escapist reading. Plus, the recipes included in these books tend to be of the fairly simple sort that the reader should be able to replicate fairly successfully.  I don’t have any covers to show here.

Pepe Carvalho

I mentioned in my previous post that my familiarity with the Inspector Montalbano series was primarily through the fine RAI series. However, I decided I’d like to give the books a try, and the library happened to have the first three books together in one volume. So, I decided to read my way through them.

The first three novels in the Montalbano series gathered together under the title Death in Sicily.

The novels are slightly out of order with the TV series, however that wasn’t too much of a difficulty. One of the things that I like about the books is that they describe the food Montalbano eats in a more thorough fashion.

The other thing that this book featured was a bit of commentary from Andrea Camilleri, the series author. Among the things I learned was that Camilleri had been involved in the production of the Bruno Kremer Maigret series. Also, I learned that Montalbano’s name had in part been inspired by Manuel Vázquez-Montalbán.

Vázaquez-Montalbán was a Spanish writer whose main period of writing was from the 1970s to the 1990s. Pepe Carvalho is his detective creation. Like Montalbano Carvalho is a gourmand. Unlike Montalbano is also a gourment cook. In this he’s more like Bruno than Montablbano.
As a character, Carvalho is a rather coarse inidividual, who despite his elevated appreciation of food, I find difficult to like.

However, I did enjoy the way in which the book brings to life the world of the Spain of Franco. The stories are based in my childhood years, when my only knowledge of Franco was that he appeared on all the Spanish stamps in my stamp collection. I will definitely though, take the time to read more of these books

Hamish Macbeth, Agatha Raisin

Hamish Macbeth and Agatha Raisin are two characters created by MC Beaton. Beaton, whose real name is Marion Chesney, has written a great many detective stories, but started here career writing what are known as Regency Novels. This doesn’t have a whole lot of bearing on her detective fiction, but I found it interesting, because in the Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen novels, a Regency reading group features on a recurring basis.

The two characters are quite different both in character and in their approach to food. Raisin falls into the category of city fish out of  water in the British countryside, while Macbeth is a child of the land, highland born and bred.

Both series contain romance. In the case of Raisin it’s her neighbour across the road, and for MacBeth it’s the daughter of the local Laird. She returns his affection, but station keeps them apart.

The Hunger for Home, Croasmun & Volf

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4jlAieV5vE%5D

While Agatha Raisin is a city-dweller trying to adjust to the country and do some amateur sleuthing along the way. Hamish Macbeth is a member of the constabulary, although one who skirts the law in his off-duty life. Sometimes he seems to commit more crime than he prevents. He’s notoriously soft on poachers, because he’s one himself. The term lovable rogue seems to have been invented for MacBeth.

Despite having an acerbic tongue, a quality he shares with Ms. Raisin. He reminds me of an old line that I read in one of Allan Fotheringham’s books. Although I don’t remember who the line was written about, it went like this. “He was unfailingly kind to his subordinates, barely tolerated his peers, and was openly contemptuous of his superiors.” This is a good thing as most of Macbeth’s superiors are as incompetent as they are smug.

Even a Highlander like Macbeth can be viewed as an outsider, especially when he’s investigating the “Death of an Outsider.”

However he always gets his man or woman. Along the way he enjoys many good meals. He’s a bit of a mooch, which puts him in the bad books of his true love’s parents, but his kindness means he usually gets a little something because most of the servants like him.

He also keeps a few animals and a garden in behind the police station. As a result when his love visits, or unexpected guests drop by he can rustle up a decent meal in just a matter of minutes.
A couple of other things in relationship to food. One I like and one I don’t. The thing I like, is that while Macbeth’s a mooch he is generally a generous host. In particular, when he wants to get cooperation from some of the lower ranked police officers, he’s not afraid to ply them with good quality scotch

The bad thing is that he believes that a steak should be served well-done. When I read that for the first time I almost threw the book away. I prefer my steak as close to rare as possible. and overcooked really annoys me. However, I’m glad I stick with the books, because this is one of the more entertaining series I’ve read.

Stay tuned to this blog, for more writings on Detective Fiction, particularly Bruno.

Detective Irene Hüss – Helene Tursten

I don’t have a picture for this one. I checked this series out, because it kept showing up in video previews for other detective series.

I’m not a big fan of Scandinavian crime novels. Largely because I’m not a big fan of gore, and there tends to be a lot of it in Scandinavian crime fiction. That being said, I generally enjoyed the movies.

How We Eat, Paco Underhill, Review

The food in this series comes courtesy of Irene’s husband, Krister, who is a chef. Once in a while the meals are elaborate, but generally they are simple, but well prepared. That’s the sort of thing I like out of my meals.

Even more crime and cuisine

In the last few years since my original post, I’ve come across a few more crime and cuisine type shows. Three of these come via Acorn TV. The first is My Life is Murder, which stars Lucy Lawless of Xena, Warrior Princess, fame. The second is Recipes for Love and Murder. The third is Mrs. Sidhu Investigates.

All three share main characters who are in middle-age, and are dealing with grief and loss in their lives. Of three Recipes for Love and Murder features more of a romantic sub-plot than the other two.

Each handles the food a little bit differently. In My Life is Murder, the baking is more a matter of therapy than a major source of income. In Recipes for Love and Murder, the cooking is part of the main characters job as an Agony Aunt. Finally, Mrs. Sidhu has a son who assists, albeit reluctantly, in helping run the catering business.

I enjoy all three of those shows, and eagerly anticipate each new season.

A couple of more crime and cuisine shows

The last two shows I am adding here are Whistable Pearl and Beyond Paradise. Both of these shows feature food, but it feels to me like it has a more secondary role. In Whistable Pearl, the main character runs a restaurant. However, she seems to spend more time doing front of house, as opposed to kitchen work.

In Beyond Paradise, it is the detective’s romantic partner running a restaurant. This provides a background to their relationship, but no a lot to the crime solving.

the thursday murder club

This is a relatively new series from Richard Osman. Osman is a tv show developer, host, and general all round talent. This series centers around four friends living in a luxury retirement village. The four friends: Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim, and Ron, all have backgrounds that help form them into a formidable crime fighting team.

Joyce, in particular, is a wizard of a baker, whose concoctions help loosen up many a tongue. The retirement village also offers fine dining, and there are lots of visits to various pubs and restaurants.

My Favourite Food Book – The Supper of the Lamb

In addition to all the food in the stories, I really appreciate the way in which the stories are also reflections on aging, illness, death, and dying.

Osman is taking a hiatus from this series, to do other writing. That means we may have a bit of a wait before the Thursday Murder Club gets back to dealing with more crime.