The Hungry Detective

In the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco is a Chris Cosentino's restaurant, Incanto . I've eaten there once. It was yummy. I'm headed back to San Francisco in a month and will partake in Mr. Cosentino's 9th annual Head to Tail Dinner . As the tile alludes, Mr. Cosentino is a proponent of offal. Many are put off by this kind of cooking. I am less concerned with what goes into the food, and more concerned with how it tastes. Notably Mr. Cosentino has written a book on the topic that as yet has gone unpublished.  BEGINNINGS as one might surmise is all about the first course. Like most Italian cooking these days, the book will focus on simple rustic food preparation to begin a meal. I'm excited for this book, and hope it is the first of many for this charismatic Chef. The book is being published by Weldon Owen . It releases May 8th.

Michael Connelly hunted around for Micky Haller for a bit. There were a few stand-alone works, but other than THE POET and BLOOD WORK (and maybe CHASING THE DIME ) they were almost excessively exercises to keep the creative engine alive. THE FIFTH WITNESS is the fourth book in the Mickey Haller Series , and finds Connelly in a groove with this character and the larger narrative of Mickey's world. Mickey has fallen on difficult times as he is representing clients whose homes are being foreclosed. It is tedious work, but it pays the bills. Mickey is itching for something new and exciting. He gets in spades when a client is charged with murdering a bank executive. Down the path Mickey will go with his close cadre of support. For Mickey guilt or innocence has little to do with justice, and everything to do with playing every angle of the system with an unshakable belief that the prosecution is exploiting the system in the exact same way. Of ...

I remember back to Mr. Sakey's first book, THE BLADE ITSELF . It was exciting. Along with Sean Chercover , Mr Sakey was new and very good. He wrote a lean thriller that was high on actual thrills and low on preposterous male testosterone fantasies. His characters where regular guys who were caught up in circumstance. One of the reasons Mr. Sakey's books have worked for me is that simple fact. He didn't write about bitter former FBI agents with a dizzying array of ways to kill me. But for a stupid decision here or careless remark there you could be a character in a Mr. Sakey's novel.  THE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES is the latest from Mr. Sakey and it has stiff competition. His previous opus, THE AMATEUR S, ranks as one of the few books I read in one sitting. To write that THE AMATEURS was engrossing is an understatement. So how does TWO DEATHS match up? Sadly, it is the lesser, and as I look back over Mr. Sakey's three other books I have to say it comes up sh...

Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine announced their Barry Award Nominations yesterday. The awards will be handed out at this year's Cleveland B'Con . The Hungry Detective congratulates all of the nominees.   Best Novel The Keeper of Lost Causes  (aka  Mercy ) - Jussi Adler-Olsen - Dutton The Accident  -  Linwood Barclay - Bantam The Hurt Machine -   Reed Farrel Coleman - Tyrus Iron House   -   John Hart - Minotaur Hell Is Empty   -   Craig Johnson - Viking The Troubled Man   -   Henning Mankell - Knopf Best First Novel: Learning to Swim   -   Sara Henry - Crown The Devotion of Suspect X -   Keigo Higashino - Minotaur The Boy in the Suitcase -   Lene Kaaberbø l and Agnete Friis -  Soho Crime Turn of Mind -  Alice LaPlante - Atlantic Monthly The Informationist -  Taylor Stevens - Crown Before I Go to Sleep -  S.J. Watson - Harper Best British Novel: Now You See Me -...

Just a quick review of BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE that has been hanging around for a bit. I enjoyed the book in spite of myself its seems. So there is a photo stolen from the scene of a brutal murder, and there is also a portentous meeting between bitter rivals. That pretty much signals all that you need to know to figure out the who and why behind the mystery of BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE . After this Bruno spends his time explaining why he is powerless to investigate the murder, he plays a couple tennis matches and attends three dinner party's, as well as a picnic. Plus he picks up an attractive lady friend in that way that unattractive French men tend to do. Eventually with 50 pages to go, Bruno finds a reason to sort out the murder in almost the exact way you have been waiting for him to do since chapter three. You would think that this aimless wandering around, and paint by numbers mystery plotting would signal doom for BRUNO, CHIEF OF POLICE. It doesn't though and mayb...

About a year ago, nearly to the day, a friend of my walked me to the rather unassuming outpost of   Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream in the city of San Francisco. When I am in Shake Town I eat, a lot. Sadly what flavor of ice cream I chose is now lost to time. However, I remember being taken by the wonderfully fanciful concoctions , and thankful that I was not lactose intolerant.   So there is some excitement that a cookbook  is in the offing from these Bay Area iced milk purveyors. There is a nice little write up and a recipe to boot over at Wired . A bunch of years ago a few other friends gave me the money to by a Cuisnart ice cream maker. Hmmm...

I know you are tired of hearing about it, but I assure you that I am just as tired, if not more so, of dealing with my crime fiction malaise. In an effort to rebuild my confidence in a genre that I love I decided to focus on the authors that have provided steady companionship through the years. If you are keeping score at home...and there is no reason to think that you are.... Steve Hockensmith has proven pretty reliable for The Hungry Detective. THE WORLD'S GREATEST SLEUTH is Steve's latest effort following cowpoke investigators Gustav and Otto Amlingmeyer. Our fearless duo find themselves in Chicago during the waning days of the Colombian Exposition. The reason is a contest to determine who in fact, now that Sherlock Holmes is dead, is the world's greatest sleuth. Along with a handful of other amateurs Gustav and Otto traipse around the White City trying to solve riddles that will lead them to golden eggs, and eventual victory...

Cover for Lucky Peach Three showed up yesterday . Issue 2 was kind of 'Meh'. That issue's concentration on the topic of the 'sweet spot' was far too intangible to build any kind of critical mass. It was more hodgepodge than anything else. Still it is a fun magazine, and one that you should check out if you have an interest in food, or food related matters, or swearing in print.

It is the good fortune of The Hungry Detective to now and again receive books from authors, publishers or their associated marketing agencies. These books were received in the month of January 2012 ON BORROWED TIME - David Rosenfelt - Minotaur Books EYES OF THE INNOCENT - Brad Parks - Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books THE JANSON COMMAND - Paul Garrison - Grand Central Publishing A PARLIAMENT OF SPIES - Cassandra Clark - Minotaur Books DYING IN THE WOOL - Frances Brody - Minotaur Thomas Dunne Books HEART OF A KILLER - David Rosenfelt - Minotaur Books