Murder on the menu, de Jeanine Larmoth ; amb receptes de Charlotte Turgeon

 

Larmoth, Jeanine. Murder on the menu. New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, [1972]

What the butler saw may never be told but what he served before and after the murder is no secret. Food and drink play important – sometimes fatal – parts in English detective novels and buffs know just what menus to expect in any well-regulated English household. Classic English crime fiction, no matter how original the plot, contains certain essential elements, of which food is one. The characters fit neatly into pigeonholes – the Vicar, the Elderly Spinster, and the dry-as-dust Lawyer – and the crime itself, if not committed in London (never in Liverpool or Leeds), takes place in a Country House or a Village. No matter who meets a violent end, the characters’ – and the reader’s – appetites are never disturbed by tragedy. Tea is served on the lawn, dinner in and oak-paneled room, snacks with a nightcap in the library, and there probably will be a substantial Post-Funeral Lunch preceding the Reading of the Will. Now you can cook the identical dishes served on these occasions. Jeanine Larmoth, well steeped in the literature, has written an impish but affectionate analysis of the genre, citing such authors as Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Carter Dickson, Margery Allingham, to name only a few. Charlotte Turgeon provides 160 authentic recipes ranging from potted shrimps to gooseberry foo. Bon appetite – but mind the arsenic!

Tuit:

S'han fet estudis de la relació entre novel·la negra i la gastronomia, però menys sobre la relació amb la novel·la policíaca. Charlotte Turgeon recull 160 receptes reals que apareixen entre les seves pàgines.