Murder on the Gravy Train (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Just coffee, please..." (more)
Key Phrases: cigar room, restaurant critic, New York, Ottavio Rossi, Chas Wheatley (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Add to the burgeoning cohort of culinary-themed mysteries Phyllis Richman's Murder on the Gravy Train, which provides a second outing for her restaurant reviewer-sleuth, Chas (née Charlotte Sue) Wheatley.

Richman, the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Post, is ideally suited to supply a vivid glimpse of the terrain where big-city culinary and newspaper worlds intersect, and offers a tempting brew of the pleasures and politics of both. Added to the mix is a tale of blackmail, extortion, spying, corruption, and (let's not forget) murder--several times over.

When the chef at one of Washington's most popular new restaurants disappears, Wheatley's curiosity is piqued. No one is forthcoming about his whereabouts, and, almost worse, the restaurant's food, minus the chef, is terribly off. Wheatley takes it upon herself to track down the chef and discovers a widening pool of foul play. In her search, we learn about the illicit side of the restaurant business (readers will think twice about ordering bottled water when they dine out next), and the often-nasty machinations of newsroom life (spying and story thievery). We are also exposed to the bureaucratic yet gruesome grind of a typical homicide department (decayed bodies without ID, for example).

Richman's narrative reads like a semi-autobiographical roman à clef: culinary insiders, real and would-be, will delight in her up-front-and-personal food-world asides. In fact, anyone who enjoys food and foul play--a heady combination--should relish this tale of both, nicely spun out by an author of appetite and imagination. --Arthur Boehm --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Washington, D.C., restaurant reviewer Chas Wheatley (The Butter Did It) returns in this eye-opening expos? of price-gouging in the dining industry. After a disastrous blind date with a waiter who hints that he knows secrets about restaurant corruption, Chas's luck turns when her editor offers her a syndicated food column. Inspired by her date, she plans her inaugural piece as an investigation of the nefarious practices some restaurants use to bilk their customers. What she uncovers will make readers who regularly dine out more cautious: the scams range from well-publicized credit card ploys to little-known pressure tactics taught to waiters during special classes. As she goes about collecting information, Chas hears that a chef whose dishes she admires has been fired for beating up a female co-worker. Soon afterward, the woman's body is found in the Tidal Basin, and Chas's friend, homicide detective Homer Jones, takes up the case, arresting the chef for murder. Chas isn't convinced he's guilty, however, especially when she realizes that the morgue also holds the body of her blind dateAthe waiter had been strangled and left without ID. Despite the distractions of her brief romance with a younger man and her dinners with Homer and his girlfriend, Chas finds time to sleuth to a successful conclusion. Blending mouth-watering descriptions of foods galore, subtle clues and a serious look at the responsibilities of restaurants, Richman whips up a frothy confection that, despite a bit of stiff writing here and there, should satiate most connoisseurs of food-oriented crime. Agent, Bob Barnett. Author tour. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Avon (July 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061097837
• ISBN-13: 978-0061097836
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,049,633 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart and intriguing peek into seemier side of fine dining, July 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder on the Gravy Train (Hardcover)

In her second mystery novel, Washington Post food critic Phyllis Richman's story and characters shine and soar. It starts out with a bang and just never lets up. It's a treat to be allowed to peek into the world of a newspaper restaurant critic (a job "to die for" in more ways than one) and go behind the scenes to discover the seemier side of fine dining. Readers who liked "The Butter Did It," will be thrilled with "Murder on the Gravy Train." Those who missed "Butter" should just hop right on the "Gravy Train" for a terrific ride.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars So-so Mystery, and One Truly Disastrous Character, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder on the Gravy Train (Hardcover)

I've read better, and I've read worse. This book begins in a very appealing way, and I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes stuff about restaurants and newsrooms, but I nearly stopped reading when the character Robert appeared on page 70. He just did not work for me. Richman jumps through preposterous hoops to make him socially acceptable while keeping him driving that taxicab. Moreover, what Chas Wheatley found romantic about him, I found slimy. There is no way I would want to rest my head on that guy's shoulder. I did eventually finish the book, but my pleasure in it increased or diminished depending on whether Robert was on the scene.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 5 stars for insider's tidbits, 3 stars for writing and plot, June 14, 2001

By	Carol Peterson Hennekens (Colorado Springs, CO United States) - See all my reviews

The real fun of Phyllis Richman's series about Chas Wheatley is all of the insider tips about the restaurant business. For that alone, this book is worth the time it takes to read. In this book Chas is working on a series of columns about how restaurants manipulate (if not plain cheat) their customers to spend much more money than planned.

The problem with this book stems from this same subject. At times, Richman loses sight of her fiction writing and writes with a lecturer's tone. It's a mixed blessing as the information is often fascinating. Still, it disturbs the pacing of the fictional plot. The plot/mystery in this book is a bit far-fetched but the book is set in Washington D.C. It's being to appear that almost anything can happen there.

Bottom-line: A fun read for anyone who engages in recreational restauranting. Reading of her first book "The Butter Did It" would be helpful but isn't critical.