Murder on the Menu [Hardcover]

Peter Haining (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The house specialty is murder in this substantial, unsurprising collection of classic short mysteries by such master practitioners as Washington Irving, Gaston Leroux, Georges Simenon, Damon Runyon and P. D. James. Roger Zelazny's "Final Dining" is a gothic tale of greed with a twist, featuring a painting of the Last Supper; in Ruth Rendell's "Bribery and Corruption," a ruthless, philandering executive meets the son of a man he wronged in a London restaurant and later receives his just deserts. Paul Gallico serves up a gourmand's delight in the charming "Chef d'Oeuvre," blending suspense and a happy ending with attentive descriptions of a wondrous meal as prepared by a chef in the Loire Valley. Well-known trencherman and detective Nero Wolfe must solve a dinner-party dilemma after a man is fatally poisoned at a banquet prepared by Wolfe's chef Fritz Brenner in Rex Stout's "Poison a la Carte." Agatha Christie's sleuth Hercule Poirot resolves an intricate case of mistaken identity and murder by paying close attention to the victim's dining habits. TV viewers of a certain age will recognize Roald Dahl's "Lamb to the Slaughter" as the basis of a famous prime-time mystery starring Barbara Bel Geddes. These offerings, many previously collected, will delight the palates of readers who have a taste for traditional tales.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 415 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 088184859X
• ISBN-13: 978-0881848595
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,448,965 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than "food for thought"!, August 24, 2001

By 

Billy J. Hobbs "Bill Hobbs" (Tyler, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder on the Menu (Hardcover)

This compendium of gastronomic tales spiced with murder on the menu promises not only to tantalize but to satisfy the reader’s tastes! In “Murder on the Menu,” Peter Haining has edited a delectable collection of food for thought, especially if you like murder mysteries served in full fare! The publishers call this “the very cream of crime writers,” although I prefer it as the “dessert course,” as full-length novels are more succulent! That said, however, this smorgasbord of delicacies (27 courses in all) is designed to fit anyone’s tastes! Subtitled the “Cordon Bleu Stories of Crime and Mystery,” this anthology certainly offers gournet-strength authors, ranging from P.D. James and Ruth Rendell to Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith--with lots of other excellent writers in between. The book is divided into three sections, “Specialites de la Maison,” Entrees Historiiques,” and “Just Desserts.” Clever, that. In ‘Under the Hammer,” Inspector Maigret does what he does best (but in a short story) and author Georges Simonon doesn’t miss a beat, even if the story is abbreviated. In the historical section, a surprising Washington Irving (“Guests from Gibbet Island”) adds his uniquely American l9th century touch quite effectively in a little known story (where this one comes from is a mystery, that’s for sure!). But, for my bet, the best is Dame James’ “A Very Commonplace Murder”--proving once more that, indeed, a well-written short story is a work of art in itself. This is a good collection to have at hand! As Bacon wrote much earlier, “some books are for digesting,” and this is one of them!