Customer Reviews

Roux the Day: A Gourmet Detective Mystery

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Homicide is the furthest thing from the Gourmet Detective's mind when he is invited to New Orleans to authenticate a cook book that is going up for auction. When he arrives at the place where the book is supposed to be, he discovers that a bookseller bought it before auction even started.

He traces the bookseller back to his store only to find the man shot dead and the book is missing. He is asked to continue looking for the book by his original client and a group of female chefs who promise to pay him as well as feed him. That is an offer he can't resist but in between five meals he finds another corpse, this one a man who tried to sell him a counterfeit edition of the book. The Gourmet Detective doesn't know why there is so much interest in a cookbook but he intends to find out because his reputation is on the line.

ROUX THE DAY is a delightful mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously. The Gourmet Detective is a likable hero whose fascination with food is a sensual experience, one that the readers can experience by reading the mouth-watering descriptions of his meals. Peter Kings latest installment in his long-running series is a treat that readers will devour.

Harriet Klausner

I am a fan of the Gourmet Detective series. I love the descriptions of food and the different locales and predicaments that the Gourmet Detective somehow stumbles onto. Sure, this isn't a perfectly written mystery but its entertaining and delightful for food lovers all over! Having been to New Orleans, reading this book made me consider all the restaurants I didn't get to try on my last visit! Read this for the enjoyment of food entertainment!

As soon as I finished reading the very first Gourmet Detective novel (published in 1994 but read last week), I leapt right into 'Roux the Day,' the latest in the series. This latest is dramatically better than the first, and so I am interested now in reading the rest of the titles in the series to see how the improvement progressed.

In this one, our nameless hero is in New Orleans on what should be a relatively straightforward affair: to verify whether an historic restaurant's chef's book (as distinct from a cookbook) being offered up for auction is the real deal. But someone else purchases the book before he can even see it, and the chase is on. This leads quickly to murder, and then to another murder, as well as to many, many lovingly described New Orleans meals and lots of coffee with chicory.

Many of the faults and idiosyncrasies I noted in 'The Gourmet Detective' have been weeded out of this title. Our hero is no longer comparing himself to every fictional detective ever published -- he has much more self-confidence now -- nor is he making us sit through long, descriptive passages detailing his every lunch and dinner (this doesn't contradict what I said in the last paragraph: here, the meals described have relevance to the story; before they felt more like space-filler intended to establish the hero's credentials as a gourmet). Most importantly, it's the detective's own skills that solve the mystery -- just what we'd expect in a mystery novel.

This isn't to say the story is perfect. There are still a few dots I'm not certain how he connected, even though I read the relevant passages several times over. On the whole, I still prefer Rick Riordan's atmospheric Tres Navarre series, set in San Antonio (one of the few American cities as interesting as New Orleans). But this one is growing on me, and I'm fairly certain I'll be looking up the other books in the Gourmet Detective series.

I'm tempted to call this a romp but it's more like a graceful glide, through the New Orleans of lore and legend, the Big Easy.

A first-time visitor, The Gourmet Detective (who is never named) eats and drinks his way through the city. Between meals he trips over dead bodies, dodges someone who continues to tail him on his taxi rides, takes in the tourist sights, appears on TV and meets a long string of interesting characters. I can picture the author smiling as he writes this book.

The mystery turns on a missing chef's cookbook from the closed Restaurant Belvedere, presumed to contain the top-secret recipe for the famous oysters Belvedere. Everyone wants the book, for various reasons, and at least one person is willing to kill for it.

The Gourmet Detective is hired to buy the cookbook at an auction but someone buys it ahead of time and the chase is on. The reluctant sleuth's interesting contacts include Delancey, a homicide detective who reads classic mysteries, and a group of attractive restaurant owners who call themselves the WITCHES - Women in the Catering, Hotel and Eating Services.

The Gourmet Detective's visit to each of their eating places is his chance to pick up gossip and learn the city's history while enjoying gourmet meals. I almost lost my mind over oven-fried chicken. You marinate the chicken overnight in milk, onions and hot sauce. Drain off the marinade and roll chicken in crushed potato chips and cornflakes seasoned with garlic, thyme, basil and oregano. Bake 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Serve with creamed potatoes and green peas. But I digress.

While the mystery is cleverly done, this book is about food. No recipes, just instructions. I don't know how accurate the descriptions are but they strike the right note of simplicity. Whether a dish is Creole or Cajun, it requires fresh ingredients, plenty of spices and the patience to assemble everything in the right order.

The Gourmet Detective spends so much time eating, drinking and enjoying the sights that I went to [...] and read How To Become A Detective. It says: "Detectives gather evidence, sort through facts and examine details to solve crimes. For people who thrive on solving problems and who possess good observational skills, becoming a detective is one career to consider pursuing."

That fits The Gourmet Detective perfectly. The man's observational skills are phenomenal. He hears everything and says nothing. He knows that "innuendo loaded silence could sometimes be more effective than more words." To say more about the plot and the unusual ending would be an enormous spoiler.

This book won't be everyone's Ramos Gin Fizz but I enjoyed it. The characters are fascinating and the tourist's tour of New Orleans is fun.