Parmesan, Poison And Picadilly

Lots of reading here over the past week - and it is holiday time so neither of us feels in the least bit guilty about indulging in hours of happy page turning. Here are three of the novels I have borrowed from the library

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl. I saw this mentioned on someone's blog - [my greatest apologies, I cannot find the original recommendation - but thank you so much] This is a tale of love, war and cake - set in contemporary New York, at the HQ of a Food Magazine - but with links back to both the Second World War, and the Underground Railroad/Anti-Slavery Movement. Lots of plotlines, but I think [with some simplifications] it might make a good film. Wonderful food descriptions, enough to make you want to go and get a sandwich whilst reading [but a gourmet one - crayfish tails and crisp lettuce with Marie Rose Sauce on granary bread - not  a slathering of Nutella on white sliced...] . If you enjoy Joanne Harris' Chocolat  I think you may like this too.****

Another Man's Poison by Ann Cleeves. I have watched Vera [with Brenda Blethyn] and Shetland [with Dougie Henshall] on TV and really enjoyed reading the Shetland series of books. This one is not about a 'professional' copper- but a husband and wife team. Rather more like Christie's 'Tommy and Tuppence' - but older! The cover picture is confusing- didn't spot a lighthouse anywhere in the book. It is the 5th in the series - I shall check out the others, as they may become more interesting once I get into them. It was OK - but I have to admit, I prefer Jimmy Perez on his wild Scottish Islands to this motherly retired social worker and her dapper husband. ***

Murder In Picadilly is another of those reissued 1930s Crime Classics. However this is no exquisitely written Wimsey-cal piece by Ms Sayers. I found it incredibly hard going. At page 42, I declared "I don't really care who died or whodunnit, I have other things to read!" I thought the prose turgid, and the storyline confusing. Dorothy Parker is supposed to have said of another novel "This is not a book to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force" I don't feel that strongly - and furthermore, I do not throw library books, or any other books for that matter [especially if reading them on a Kindle] but this one didn't do it for me at all, sorry ** [it gets 2 stars simply because I rather like the cover designs in this series, nothing to do with content]