The Gourmet Detective Mysteries
8 primary works • 10 total works
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Book 4
Book 5
Book 6
Book 7
Book 8
Known as "the Celestial Spice, " Ko Feng was the most treasured of all of the spices in the ancient world for its extraordinary taste and its purported qualities as an aphrodisiac. Ko Feng has been lost for centuries, so when it is rediscovered, the demand is overwhelming and the price astronomical. The Gourmet Detective, called to New York by an old friend to authenticate the shipment of Ko Feng, is bewildered when the spice is stolen from right under his nose. When a culinary colleague is murdered and a sinister stranger tries to push the Gourmet Detective in front of a speeding subway train, he realizes that someone is willing to do anything to keep the Ko Feng to himself. The Gourmet Detective fears for his own life as he embarks upon an extensive search through the ethnic eateries of New York City, sampling exotic dishes from Doro Wat (Ethiopian chicken stew) to swordfish kebabs in his pursuit of the killer.
Investigating a shadowy business deal between two vineyards, the Gourmet Detective samples the delights of Provencal cuisine: Pate de Grives on triangles of hot, crisp toast -- or fresh local fish cooked in butter, meuniere style, covered with mushrooms. But thoughts of food vanish when the Gourmet Detective discovers the bloodstained corpse of a stranger draped over a cart in a vineyard. Could he really have been gored to death by sangliers, wild boars rumored to live in the abandoned caves surrounding the village? And what is the secret the local gendarme seems determined to hide? Provence is a land filled with suspicious people and myths that die hard. The Gourmet Detective finds himself in mortal danger when a villager standing next to him is killed by a crossbow and he himself is nearly drowned in a suspicious accident.