Title: Death Dines In
Edited by: Claudia Bishop and Dean James
Genre: Mystery
Description: Sixteen short murder mysteries that all include lethal food/drink.
One of my favorite mysteries in this book was called Lethal Luncheon by Parnell Hall. I've never been a good mystery solver. I usually wait for the other, smarter detectives to lay it all out for me. Then I have a little 'Aha!' moment. But this mystery really taught me how to solve a mystery. The main character explains to an audience, after a murder occurs in their midst, how to find the culprit. The secret, ask your MOM. The murderer must have a Motive, the Opportunity, and the Means. M-O-M. At the end in the story, she asks the audience to point to the murderer. Before the answer was revealed, I went back and used the MOM method to make a guess. I turned out to be right, and was very happy with myself. Of course, I was still anxious the finish the story and didn't quite understand why the murderer was found out, but after a few rereads I was able to understand and pick up all the clues. But I was really impacted by this story when a funny thing happened when I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Sea Salt on a Thursday night. In the story, the main character brings a dish to the luncheon called Cioppino, a fish stew. After waiting in a long line at the restaurant, I finally was able to see the menu board. My eyes lingered on the choice of fish tacos until I saw the specials. There, a few rows down, was Cioppino!! I was instantly interested and ordered it for dinner. It was delicious. The broth was tomato-ey and a bit spicy. The mussels and fish went along with it splendidly. The calamari was interesting, though maybe not my favorite. And along with some ciabatta bread, it was a perfect meal. During the meal, I realized that I was only able to have this taste experience through reading Lethal Luncheon, and without reading it, I would never have paid attention to the Cioppino on the specials menu, and I would still have been ignorant to the texture and flavor of calamari. I also felt connected to the story. I had a literature and culinary experience, which, as I read in the introduction, was the point of this collection. I was so pleased that I came across that story and ordered that dish. It just goes to show how reading relally relates and influences my life.
Edited by: Claudia Bishop and Dean James
Genre: Mystery
Description: Sixteen short murder mysteries that all include lethal food/drink.
One of my favorite mysteries in this book was called Lethal Luncheon by Parnell Hall. I've never been a good mystery solver. I usually wait for the other, smarter detectives to lay it all out for me. Then I have a little 'Aha!' moment. But this mystery really taught me how to solve a mystery. The main character explains to an audience, after a murder occurs in their midst, how to find the culprit. The secret, ask your MOM. The murderer must have a Motive, the Opportunity, and the Means. M-O-M. At the end in the story, she asks the audience to point to the murderer. Before the answer was revealed, I went back and used the MOM method to make a guess. I turned out to be right, and was very happy with myself. Of course, I was still anxious the finish the story and didn't quite understand why the murderer was found out, but after a few rereads I was able to understand and pick up all the clues. But I was really impacted by this story when a funny thing happened when I went out to dinner at a restaurant called Sea Salt on a Thursday night. In the story, the main character brings a dish to the luncheon called Cioppino, a fish stew. After waiting in a long line at the restaurant, I finally was able to see the menu board. My eyes lingered on the choice of fish tacos until I saw the specials. There, a few rows down, was Cioppino!! I was instantly interested and ordered it for dinner. It was delicious. The broth was tomato-ey and a bit spicy. The mussels and fish went along with it splendidly. The calamari was interesting, though maybe not my favorite. And along with some ciabatta bread, it was a perfect meal. During the meal, I realized that I was only able to have this taste experience through reading Lethal Luncheon, and without reading it, I would never have paid attention to the Cioppino on the specials menu, and I would still have been ignorant to the texture and flavor of calamari. I also felt connected to the story. I had a literature and culinary experience, which, as I read in the introduction, was the point of this collection. I was so pleased that I came across that story and ordered that dish. It just goes to show how reading relally relates and influences my life.
There are recipes of food eaten in the story at the end of each tale, which is a nice touch and contributes to the literature/culinary experience. I can't wait to make my own tipsy pudding and Cioppino!!
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