From Mary Higgins Clark’s Game Night Chili and Harlan Coben’s Crab Meat Dip to Scott Turow’s Innocent Frittata and Kathy Reich’s Shrimp Scampi, this cookbook offers one tasty treat after another.
Complete with a glamorous art-deco design and intriguing sidebars on the surprising—and sometimes deadly—links between food and foul play, this is the ultimate cookbook for crime aficionados. -- Quirk
As many of you know, I love mysteries! So much so that I try to feature a different one every Monday. I also love cookbooks and trying new recipes... even though I haven't exactly been writing many reviews for them lately. THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK: WICKEDLY GOOD RECIPES FROM LEE CHILD, MARY HIGGINS CLARK, HARLAN COBEN, NELSON DEMILLE, GILLIAN FLYNN, SUE GRAFTON, CHARLAINE HARRIS, JAMES PATTERSON, LOUISE PENNY, SCOTT TUROW AND OTHER ACCLAIMED PLOT STIRRERS is a newly released cookbook that is ideal for mystery and food lovers like me. I'm sure many of you will feel the same way!
The Mystery Writers of America is the "premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those devoted to the genre." They also have one of my favorite booths at BEA each year. Over the past few years, I've met so many incredible authors and received so many wonderful mysteries and thrillers. If you attend BEA, you have to stop by. You can meet up to four authors at any given time!
But back to the cookbook.... THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK is absolutely gorgeous. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but this cookbook is almost too pretty to use -- it looks like a coffee table book with the textured cover and gold text. And that's only the beginning! The inside of the book is a stunning too with full color photographs of the recipes.
I was pleasantly surprised by how many mystery authors contributed to this book. First of all, one of my favorites, Kate White, edited the book. (She has a new book coming up which I will be reviewing shortly!) In addition, there are over 100 recipes submitted by so many great writers -- all of them are listed alphabetically in the front of the book. I don't know about you, but I always appreciate recipe compilations because each person submits their very favorite or most special recipe. It's like a "best of" cookbook! I also enjoyed reading the various mystery writers bios -- I even found a new author or two to try!
I don't want to make it sound like I wasn't expecting much of this cookbook because I was told it's a beauty; however, the recipes are amazing! The very first recipe is from Alafair Burke for Ellie Hatcher's Run-Soaked Nutella French Toast -- the very first one! As soon as I started reading this book, I knew I was in for a treat. Most of the recipes have tie-ins to the author's books or famous characters too, so it's a fun read for fans. I especially got a kick out of Sue Grafton's submission for Kinsey Millhone's Famous Peanut Butter & Pickle Sandwich.
The cookbook is divided into the following sections -- Breakfast, Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Entrees, Side Dishes, Desserts, and Drinks -- much like a regular cookbook. I wondered if THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK would be a little too gimmicky, but it's so well done -- far from gimmicky. It has some amazing recipes and I honestly think it's a great cookbook with recipes that I can make on a regular basis... that just happen to be submitted by famous mystery writers!
THE MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA COOKBOOK is a great gift for mystery and/or cookbook lovers. Highly recommended!
Thanks to the publisher and Saichek Publicity for providing a review copy of this book.
What a neat idea for a cookbook!
ReplyDeleteHaaaaa!!!! We reviewed the same book. But I agree and really love this one
ReplyDeleteI've skimmed through this book and liked what I saw. I need to spend more time with it.
ReplyDelete