Food in fiction

I’ve recently been reading a series of detective novels which tick lots of boxes re my interests.
Written by Martin Walker, they feature Bruno, a community police officer in a small town in the Dordogne in France.
What appeals to me, apart from being well written, is the background and character development.
So there are historical references from prehistoric (particularly referencing the ancient cave paintings which are an important feature of the area),revolutionary, WW II (French resistance and its influence long after the end of the war) , Algeria, and contemporary themes like terrorism, far right politics and cyber attacks.
Our hero and his friends are also into food and wine (we are talking France after all) and there are delightful descriptions of dinners, including details of preparation. I prefer gratuitous food to gratuitous sex in my reading The specific wines they serve also get a bit of air time and googling several I found that they are genuine wines.
Oh and the good guys get the bad guys mostly.
I’m enjoying the books and they might appeal to others here.
Worth a look.
NB whilst the detective elements are complete in each novel I think they are best read in sequence for character introduction and development.

[Robin Garr]

Sounds good, Barb! I don't read mysteries much, but my wife Mary does. She loves a series by Donna Leon about an Italian detective in Venice, and he apparently goes home to lunch every day to enjoy a fantastic Italian meal.

I've been reading the Bruno books in between others. I, too, found them well written and enough details that make we want to visit that part of France.

I had a co-worker who used to hold Nero Wolfe dinners where he duplicated the menus described in the books.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Thanks for the tip, Barb, I'm unfamiliar with those books. Food does seem to be increasingly be a broader topic of interest than it used to be. Hence, no doubt, the description we read of a film (looking for something to watch) that went, "A caterer teams up with a detective to uncover the story behind a Real Estate agent's murder." Hard to imagine the pitch at the movie studio for that one!

I enjoy Donna Leon's Guido Brunetti books and always read a new one when it comes out. She tends to publish about one a year.

I’ll have to look out for Brunnetti when I’m done with Bruno.

I’d forgotten about Nero Wolfe, very early food in fiction. If I remember correctly he and his cook spent a lot of time devising meals. A quick search revealed the existence of a Nero Wolfe cookbook.

I've read a lot of Wolfe and the TV series was very good too (the one with Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton).

Picked up some Bruno at the library and so far I'm enjoying it, thanks for the recco!

I read the first couple Bruno books, enjoyed, haven't thought of in a while. Will try to pick up where I stopped.
Yes, pretty much every NW book has several food digressions. While Wolfe doesn't cook much himself, he consults with Fritz on most meals.
Maigret appreciated food as well
And usually when a new Donna Leon comes out I read the lunch passages out loud to Betsy.,

The nice thing for me about the Bruno books is that we have spent a bunch of time in the Dordogne and know the area well enough to appreciate the locale, and the foods and wines.

I am a murder mystery/detective/gumshoe type of reader. This year I decided to try Audible, though I've had a subscription for years as a Prime member. I am thoroughly enjoying all things John Grisham. But my love of his writing came to life with an early work called "The Last Juror". In the hands of the narrator, Michael Beck, the characters were vivid and rich. But the thing that brought me most joy was the diet of the Mississippi residents with their rich accents (Beck has a different voice for every character) and heavy, fat and sugar laden meals that the protagonist takes advantage of with relish as often as he's invited. Highly recommended.

I always make lists of series I want to read. The Bruno book list is available here

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/mart ... of-police/

So I just read "So Shall You Reap," the new Guido Brunetti book by Donna Leon. It took 30 pages till he had a meal- baked zucchini and red peppers stuffed with quinoa, feta etc (vegetarian daughter gets to choose one meal a week). But then after dinner a Sardinian friend had sent 4 balls of Pecorino, aged between 8 and 20 months, the family blind tasted and voted (sounds like us). Then home for lunch- fusilli with yellow peppers and peas, with grilled rombo (I had to look up, turbot) . Another day insalade caprese with proscuitto (daughter gets beet). Etc.
Murderer/motive mostly obvious, but the writing, musings on morality and human nature, literature and art., etc made me enjoy as always.

I always make lists of series I want to read. The Bruno book list is available here

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/mart ... of-police/

I keep a list of books I've read and books I want to read on my iPhone. The Bruno books have given me trouble. Amazon usually does a good job of listing them in "order" (whatever that might be) but not these. The link helps to sort things out (line the x.5 sequence numbers) but they don't assign numbers to a few books - what's up with that? (Rhetorical question)