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How could any self-respecting gourmet turn down a few weeks in a luxurious Swiss health spa?After all, this is no dieter`s boot camp, but an exclusive hideaway for weary elites seeking a few stolen moments for relaxation, self-indulgence-and maybe a slight reduction in their fat intakes.And who`d ever believe that a healthy meal could sound so appetizing?Zuger Kirschtorte: a rich, saffron-colored cake soaked in cherry schnapps? Duck with sliced prosciutto, wild rice, dried apricots, pistachio nuts?When not gorging themselves, guilt-free, the exclusive spa`s wealthy patrons lounge in soothing mud baths and splash around in natural springs.No aficionado of the Good Life can pass up an opportunity like this.And few boast a better understanding of good living than the world-famous Gourmet Detective.When he`s needed to fill in for a friend-sampling and evaluating the spa`s rich delicacies-the discerning sleuth can hardly say no.Every one of his assignments, consulting on menus for the world`s premiere restauranteurs, seems to end up with someone dead and someone else trying to kill him.But here, at last, is a chance to relax in the very lap of luxury.Or so the Gourmet Detective thinks...When he arrives at the resort`s seaweed massage room for a rendezvous with one of the many attractive, leggy, blonde staff members, he finds her passed out from the heat.As he reaches for her pulse, someone bludgeons him from behind.While he`s unconscious, her body disappears, along with any hope of a peaceful vacation. Then two more women-both editors at lifestyle magazines-go missing.And a lawyer shows up to inquire about the stories they were writing.The Gourmet Detective suspects they had uncovered more than the tastiest recipes.Now, as a menu specializing in relaxation turns into a recipe for disaster, the Gourmet Detective may have to sniff out a killer.
- Sales Rank: #2564576 in Books
- Published on: 2000-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 5.50" h x 8.50" w x .75" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 230 pages
From Publishers Weekly
An intriguing element of the Gourmet Detective series (Spiced to Death, etc.) is the identity of the otherwise nameless sleuth. In this fifth feast of a food mystery, he agrees to fill in for his colleague, Carver Armitage, at the sumptuous Swiss Alpine Springs Spa, where he will demonstrate the preparation of a variety of exotic dishes, including duck, lobster and cheesecake. The night of his arrival, however, a planned tryst with a food columnist, Kathleen Evans, goes awry. Just as he's about to embrace her naked body, someone knocks him out. When he revives, Kathleen is gone. Things begin to look even more suspicious when the detective is almost simmered in a mud bath. Has he been mistaken for Armitage, or is someone out for the detective's hide? His own sous-detective may have arrived in the form of Elaine Dunbar, a young attorney collecting information on the use of food in crime. When the Gourmet Detective arranges a rendezvous with Elaine, he again loses consciousness and once more the woman is later not to be found. These disappearances, combined with the secrecy surrounding Elaine and the spa kitchens, indicate that all may not be so healthy at the spa. Action and suspense are ingredients used sparingly by King, but he positively stuffs the book with useful tips on food and cookery techniques. While the author provides no specific recipes, thought for food and food for thought are abundant. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"This appealing detective serves up nuggets of culinary trivia and wry foodie humor."--People
About the Author
No Bio
David Baker attributes his fascination with wine to a chance train stop in Beaune which led to time spent working in commercial vineyards, a film, a novel and a dozen years making passable pinot noir in his garage. He holds an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and is the director of American Wine Story. He currently lives in Oregon's Willamette Valley with his wife and daughter.
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Another unsavory mystery by Mr. King
By Karina A Suarez
Reading this book is like reading a transcript from a cooking conference. It might just as well be, since this time our flat Gourmet Detective (a.k.a. The Unnamed One) takes the place of an absent friend at a Swiss spa to teach culinary secrets in a conference that lasts a week (too long). This novel develops really slow, and it only picks up the pace of a mystery in the last four chapters. Unluckily for us readers, the book comprises thirty two of them.
I found this novel in particular the one which has the most flat, underdeveloped characters of this whole series. Nothing means anything. Sure, if you read it as a cookbook or as a compilation of suggestions from a very good chef, it is an interesting piece of advice; even witty. However, this book claims to be a mystery story; and a good mystery story must have an identifiable plot, which has to be twisted and interesting at the same time. Well, I cannot really identify a good plot here.
I can certainly tell that Mr. King has travelled extensively throughout Europe and certainly knows a lot of the idiosyncrases of the different nationalities. He is also a very good expert in his field, which is that of cooking methods, ingredients, rare foods and all the other qualities that make an excellent chef. He is not, however, a good writer. Unfortunately this last part is what it takes to produce a good fiction story, be it a mystery or any other genre.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
For foodies only
By Cissa
I really can't imagine reading this series if one is not seriously into food. And even then, it's got some serious flaws.
This one is set in a Swiss spa with has All The Things; the number of "medicinal" bathing options is enormous just on its own. OK, fine, there are really rich people who can probably spend more for a week than my family earns in a year... and they'd have to.
Which makes the attendance of most of the people at this cooking conference a problem: how on earth could they afford it???
The descriptions of meals are lovely, as usual in the series. I do question whether one can get traditional French, German etc. dishes and make them "spa cuisine" merely by substituting yogurt for heavy cream (a stupid idea in the first place), and such like.
I think King made a mistake, though, to start to get into actual cooking instruction descriptions. For one thing, the conference had a lot of experiences cooks and chefs; why oh why were they all eager to learn the secrets of dishes as simple as fondue, souffle, or cheesecake? or a basic roast duck? Also, based on my own cooking experience, some of the expert advice given is just plain wrong.
The mystery was not foreshadowed enough. I could see some of the twists referenced but obscured, which is great; others just arose out of nowhere.
At least Our Hero here is not as much of a lady-magnet as he has been in previous books, because James Bond he ain't.
In short- if you like descriptions of delicious-sounding meals in reasonable detail- it's fun; if you're looking for a good mystery- or accurate details- it's not so great.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Sexist author, poor mystery writing, awesome food trivia and food descriptions!
By LovetoCook
This is the last book I am interested in reading in the series. I love mysteries and suspense novels, and the plots in these novels are very thin. I am not a writer so I can't properly analyze why, but when I read these novels, I don't care about "who done it" (I have never felt that way about a mystery novel before). Perhaps a writers group could help with this aspect. This particular book in the series is so unrealistic. After the first nearly dead or dead woman is found by our protagonist at the spa treatment area where they had made plans to meet, he is immediately knocked out and wakes up to find the body gone. Does he call the police? No, he bizarrely notes that "a low profile was the best approach until I learned more of what was happening. Switzerland was a peaceful, law-abiding country, but maybe it stayed that way by having a vigorous police force." This same strategy continues without further explanation when he is almost killed again, and then later when he finds another apparently dead aquaintance that is then whisked away when he returns to save her. Considering that he makes it quite clear that he is not actually a detective, merely a food detective for restaurants ears and party planners, this seems beyond unrealistic. The chef and the author also talk in the exact same manner when describing how to cook, which suggests that this is how the author describes/teaches...these should be two different styles of talking! And every time that our protagonist mentions a movie to the former movie star character that she starred in, he gives a really bizarre narrative to her (she starred in it!) that makes the character sound like a total bore. This happens repeatedly throughout the novel. For example, page 15: "'The ending's too sad for me,' I said. 'You think Victor is dead and you go into a convent. He comes looking for you, can't find you, and thinks YOU are dead. He goes on one last dangerous mission and is killed. His body is brought to your convent." Page 65: "'This must remind you of Shanghai Nights, I told her. 'You ran an establishment with a very doubtful reputation. You fell in love with the chief of police, who had to put you out of business or the politicians would get him fired. He stood up to them, they had him hit on the head and thrown into the Pacific and you saved him -you had been standing on the pier where you were going to drown yourself.'" Who talks like that to someone about a film that they started in?
In the first book in the series, the author's constant physical description and appraisal of women made some sense, as I assumed that he had a crush on the main female character and that they might develop a romance as is common in cozy mystery series. Unfortunately, I soon learned that the main character views every single woman through their physical attributes, and they (up to this book, where it is a bit toned down) all respond to the main character with flirtation and semi-sexual interest. Multiple female characters (a new round of which appear in each new book) are all described mostly by their looks, and all flirt back with the main character. As there is no reference of this issue given by anyone at any time in the series, it is my guess that the author himself sees women through this lens. Some examples:
Nurse, page 1: "She smiled, a beautiful smile that made full use of her generous red lips, glistening white teeth, and slightly smoky blue Reyes....my eyes involuntarily followed her motion, and it was hard to tear them away for the badge was attached to that part of her trim uniform that molded two of her most prominent features. I looked at the badge - it confirmed that she was 'Julia' just as she said, but I kept on looking anyway."
Nurses, page 2: "I had seen only half a dozen of them so far, but all were blond, buxom, and beautiful. None of them was more than an inch below six feet...."
Nurse, page 3: "Norma, a clone of Julia but even more voluptuous if that was possible"
Nurse, page 4: "Her big smoky eyes widened, and she treated me to a mini version of that delicious pout."
Nurse, page 5: "She took her hand away and gently smoothed her uniform back into place. The effect was as erotic as a stripper on Bourbon Street......She looked coy -or at least as coy as a six-foot buxom blonde built like a brick outbuilding can look. She did an awfully good job of it too."
Director, page 6: "Raven-black hair (did she select blondes for staff as deliberate contrast? I wondered), statuesque, cool as ice, and capable of charming a hungry cobra."
Nurse, page 6: "...she nodded and walked away with that swinging long-legged stride that strained the seams of her tight uniform."
How is the first man described? "A ruddy-faced man". The next man to be introduced is not physically described at all, though of course his career and background are. The third man to appear in the novel is "white haired....he had put on weight since his glory days, and his face was showing a slight puffiness that suggested not only good food and drink but plenty of it." Our fourth man is not described, the fifth is "short and roly-poly", the sixth is "big and jolly."
I noticed on pages 14-15 that the male guests are always described first by personality and profession, then looks, and that the female guests are always described first by looks and then by personality and profession. The women include "a fluffy blonde", "a slim, fair haired young woman", "a New Yorker but with all the looks and characteristics of an Italian background, a "demure and pretty" sous chef, and a former actress with "her luminous, wide-set eyes...high cheekbones and generous mouth...." It just gets old, this constant focus on women's looks in their descriptions, the author's constant focus on them, and the lack of similar description of the males... It starts to feel a bit like that is the main focus of any woman's existence, and that our author is constantly surrounded by gorgeous women who want to bed him (and for the first time EVER it appears that he finally does, though it is only suggested). It also feels really unrealistic to me.
Food descriptions and trivia are awesome!!!! I love reading about the fancy spa treatments, which is why I am finishing this book. Perhaps with some small changes and a writing group, these books could be amazing. Or if the above example don't bother you, enjoy! This will be the last book in this series that I read (I skipped the few before it because I couldn't get into them, but the spa subject sounded interesting).
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