The Art of Killing Well: A Pellegrino Artusi Mystery

Description

Nothing could please a chef more than a chance to learn the secrets of a Baron's castle kitchen. Having travelled the length and breadth of the country compiling his masterpiece, The Science of Cooking and The Art of Eating Well, Pellegrino Artusi relishes the prospect of a few quiet days and a boar hunt in the Tuscan hills. But his peace is short-lived. A body is found in the castle cellar, and the local inspector finds himself baffled by an eccentric array of aristocratic suspects. When the baron himself becomes the target of a second murder attempt, Artusi realises he may need to follow his infallible nose to help find the culprit. Marco Malvaldi serves up an irresistible dish spiced with mischief and intrigue, and sweetened with classical elegance and wit. His stroke of genius is to bring Italy's first cookery writer to life in this most entertaining of murder mysteries.

Marco Malvaldi was born in Pisa in 1974, and is both a crime novelist and a chemist. He is best known for his BarLume series set on the Tuscan Coast, and also for The Art of Killing Well, for which he was awarded both the Isola d'Elba Award and the Castiglioncello Prize. Howard Curtis is a prolific translator of Italian, French and Spanish fiction. He has won several awards, and has been twice nominated for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.

Like a cross between The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared and the slyest, cleverest of Christie novels, The Art of Killing Well is one of those rare books that will keep you grinning from beginning to end - Sunday Herald Camilleri's heir apparent . . . lingers on your literary palate - Daily Telegraph Ideal holiday reading, funny, compelling, unpredictable and immensely satisfying - Irish Examiner Malvaldi has cooked up a gentle, atmospheric Agatha Christie-esque number with plenty of tongue-in-cheek wit and period detail in a mystery that finishes with a cute and clever twist . . . A tasty Michelin three-star book! - Weekend Sport