Spiced to Death [Hardcover]

Peter King (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1997

In a second installment of the Gourmet Detective series, the disappearance of an extremely valuable spice leads to murder, and the Gourmet Detective must once again put his epicurean and investigative skills to work."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Though known only as the Gourmet Detective (The Gourmet Detective, St. Martin's, 1996), this otherwise unnamed English sleuth mainly searches for rare food ingredients. Summoned by a friend to New York, he authenticates a secretive shipment of Ko Feng, a newly rediscovered spice supposedly unknown for 500 years. Someone steals the Ko Feng, however, and kills the friend. The police?in the form of a most attractive Italian female sergeant?request the Gourmet Detective's assistance, which he renders with charming aplomb. A convenient international food fair and several more beautiful women spur him on. Recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

The Gourmet Detective's second adventure (The Gourmet Detective, 1996) brings the eponymous muncher/sipper/snooper to New York Harbor from London to identify a shipment of Ko Feng, a spice believed extinct for the past 500 years. When the Ko Feng disappears and the American friend/employer of our foodie hero is killed, the latter cheerfully tells the widow to ``keep busy'' as he himself plunges into a round of Big Apple bashes to locate the bad guy who's making a killing on the gourmet black market. Lt. Gaines of Unusual Crimes grumpily permits him fellow-traveler status with the cops (even procuring some King's Balm for his indigestion), and the Detective makes canap‚ contact with several women--among them ``attractive'' Italian-American Sgt. Gabriella Rossini, whose family owns a restaurant, and ``attractive'' Ayesha Rifkin, who caters ancient cuisines. Pity poor, ``attractive'' Gloria Branson, then, who merely investigates insurance fraud. (Or does she?) There are interviews with Turkish and Chinese culinary kingpins, and the reader is also titillated by an illegal sale of deep-discount goods under a devastated Bronx church--a sale to which the whole city seems privy. But the greater appeal here is to shoppers rather than eaters or lovers. Oh, yes, there's another killing. The author tries again to sell satire (without humor) and a thoroughly effete character on the strength of pro forma sexual pretenses and glorified gustatory lusts. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312156618
• ISBN-13: 978-0312156619
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,882,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Factual errors spoil clever mystery, January 13, 1999

By 

Kiwi Carlisle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiced To Death: A Culinary Mystery (Culinary Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is aimed at "foodies", those of us who love good food, good wine, and good dining. Unfortunately for Mr. King, foodies also love authenticity. He calls Hunan Province an island, thinks hot rice cake soup is uncommon and new, (we've eaten in for years in St. Louis as Sizzling Rice soup), and thinks that an American serving a prison sentence could run for President of the U.S.

Mr. King's writing is pleasant, but he needs an editor!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent read, but enough already with the hormones!, June 2, 1998

By 

Elena Murphy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spiced To Death: A Culinary Mystery (Culinary Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed Peter King's first installment of this series, The Gourmet Detective, and thought little of our hero's seemingly misplaced flirtations during the course of that mystery, but in Spiced to Death it appears that the Gourmet Detective's libido is in overdrive. In the midst of an interesting case, our detective seems to be unable to resist coming on to every female that crosses his path - and he seems terribly confident that each one will be pleased with his overtures and respond in kind. Maybe I'm annoyed that we still don't have a name for this detective, a writing device that's more bothersome than compelling. Truthfully, I enjoy reading culinary mysteries a great deal, and I'm very impressed with King's series so far as it give a lot of detail and he is able to create an atmosphere in each scene. I'm just not as sympathetic to our hero as I feel I should be. Overall, Spiced to Death is a fairly good book. I love the food references and descriptions; I'm amazed, too, that the characters can function after so much wine and liquor with each meal. It's not a page turner, though. And, if you don't like self-involved people, you may have little tolerance for the Gourmet Detective (hey, Peter King! Give this guy a name!).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Very Slow Read, November 14, 2001

By 

Susan R. Cakars "sanpablos" (San Pablo, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spiced To Death: A Culinary Mystery (Culinary Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I had read the first book in this series and found it likeable. This one however, was very slow to read. I got tired of the unnamed detective coming on to every women he met. Some of the food descriptions were quite interesting.

The visit to Dr. Li seemed almost paranormal. By the time I got to the end of this book I couldn't remember reading about the murderer until near the end of the book. I decided to go back & read the book again to see if this was the case. However, it was so slow to read, I decided it wasn't worth it. I just didn't care. I wouldn't read another book in this series.