A Recipe for Murder by G.S. Revel Burroughs

330 pages

Publisher: Mr. E. Entertainment

Release Date: September 5, 2024

 

Blurb

“You lot are bloody crime writers. If anyone can get away with murder, it would be one of you.”

 An invitation to Burnham Manor, home of celebrity chef, television presenter and bestselling crime writer Max Wilde, is the pinnacle of a crime novelist’s career. This year’s guests include Sanjay Chakrabati, India’s pre-eminent crime writer; Margaret Hemshaw, author of many bodice-ripping 17th Century crime tales; Sydney Fletch, a young rising star in the crime world and Gareth Sebastian Black, a self-published phenomenon. Also on the guest list is former Detective Inspector Jack Finney, famous for solving the Painswick Poisoning case.

This year’s annual gathering has an extraordinary twist….

On the menu this year will be the deliciously deadly Fugu, carefully prepared by a celebrated Japanese chef. Those who partake of this starter will be hoping that it doesn’t contain any of the poison, tetrodotoxin, one of the world's deadliest toxins.

Or perhaps the guests would enjoy a Soupçon of Suspicion or a serving of Murderous Mushrooms? Also on the menu is the deservedly entitled Poisoned Quail and a helping of Bella-doner kebab, made from some of the world’s finest ingredients, all washed down with a glass of Sparkling Cyanide.

But when Max Wilde is found dead in bed the following morning suspicion naturally falls on those present. But who slipped the inimitable Max Wilde a dose of Hemlock and why?

As the list of suspects increases the body count starts to rise…

 

Review

Max Wilde is the sort of man who seems to make a success of everything he turns his hand to. Celebrity chef, television presenter, and bestselling crime writer Max Wilde is about to hold his annual dinner party. Invited are four other successful crime writers as well as Max’s assistant and John Finney, a retired police detective-inspector. Even before they sit down to dinner it becomes clear that most guests at the dinner party have a reason to hate their host as does Gemma, Max’s assistant, and Robert, his brother.

Despite the menu on the night being murder themed with dishes named The Poisoned Quail, Red Herring, and Murderous Mushrooms accompanied by a bottle or two of Sparkling Cyanide it isn’t until the next morning that Max is found dead in his bed as a result of Hemlock poisoning. With almost everybody having both a motive and the opportunity to put the poison in the glass of water on Max’s bedside table, there are no easy answers. And while the police are on the case, the group of crime writers, led by John Finney, start their own investigation. But it won’t be until more deaths have followed that the culprit is unveiled in an action-packed finale.

This story is a bit of a slow burner. The book starts with introductions of the various characters followed by events on the night of the dinner party and it isn’t until we are about 40% into the story that Max is discovered dead in his bed and the investigation starts. In the hands of a lesser writer that relatively long introduction might have been boring, but I flew through it because all the characters are unique and interesting individuals. What’s more, as far as I can tell, this is the first book by G.S. Revel Burroughs, and I’m impressed. This is a clever, well-written, and captivating mystery. I enjoyed it from start to finish and found it difficult to put my Kindle down. The story is written from a third-person omniscient perspective, which isn’t easy to pull off but works remarkably well here. It was always clear whose head I was in and the transitions from one character to the next were smooth and flowed easily. Since among those characters is a murderer, we know that at least one of them has to be an unreliable narrator, but that only added to the reading fun for me.

Long review short: A Recipe For Murder is a special treat for anyone who enjoys a well-plotted mystery. I look forward to reading whatever G.S. Revel Burroughs may write next.