Eat, Drink, and Be Buried: A Gourmet Detective Mystery - Softcover

King, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312980132 ISBN 13: 9780312980139

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2002

Synopsis

When the world's finest restaurateurs need assistance, they know they can rely on the Gourmet Detective's discriminating palate to get the job done. After a family of eccentrically dysfunctional British aristocrats hires the sleuth to design a menu for their medieval-theme castle resort, he anticipates a great opportunity to explore a forgotten but nonetheless mouth-watering cuisine. A cake walk? Maybe not, but with the bloodshed of the Middle Ages centuries past, it should at least be safe . . .

Wrong again. Exploring new variations on succulent recipes for fresh venison with traditional frumenty-a pudding made from wholewheat grains, chopped almonds, egg yolk and saffron-the discerning sleuth finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation! It seems that a professional joust re-enactor's goose was cooked after he finished one of the investigator's feasts, and authorities have determined the cause of death: poisoning. To make matters worse, the dead actor had stood in at the last minute for the scion of the infighting noble family . . . had the poison been meant for him? And why would someone want to kill him?

Before he can answer these questions, the intrepid Gourmet Detective will have to dodge stray arrows, escape a flooding dungeon, avoid the authorities' suspicion, and nab the crooks-all while finding a way to get four-and-twenty live blackbirds under the crust of a pot-pie already filled with chicken, bacon, mushrooms, raisins, and cloves. Can the Gourmet Detective solve the crime, save his skin, and design an authentic assortment of medieval Europe's most prized delicacies in the meantime?

One way or the other, it won't be a banquet.

About this title

About the Author

PETER KING is a full-time writer who lives in Florida. EAT, DRINK AND BE BURIED is his sixth Gourmet Detective mystery.

From Publishers Weekly

A surfeit of menu descriptions, both medieval and modern, an overloaded plot and a large cast of characters can't disguise the essential thinness of this sixth book in King's Gourmet Detective series (after 2000's A Healthy Place to Die). King's nameless "food-finder" narrator is hired to prepare medieval banquets for guests who pay to watch jousting, deer hunting and even a battle at Harlington Castle, a 16th-century English manor house now staging "Medieval Days" pageants. The novel opens with a vivid joust in which one participant appears to be beheaded. Soon after one combatant dies of poisoning, the food-finder once again turns private detective. At the behest of Lord Gerald Harlington, he spends several long days at the manor and in London, investigating too many Harlington family members and food purveyors, all of whom are suspect. Among the more memorable are an insufferably snobbish Harlington cousin, Neville Woodward; Gontier, the castle's resentful chef; and Sir Gerald's flirtatious daughters, Angela and Felicity. Unfortunately, rather than develop his characters, the author tends simply to repeat their roles and identities. A rousing final scene in the castle's dungeon takes us back to the Middle Ages, where this convoluted adventure began. Like other books in the series, this one has an appealing jacket design, which may fool some readers into thinking they're getting more than the literary equivalent of fast food.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0312980132
• ISBN 13: 9780312980139
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240