OK, I admit it. I’ve cooked some recipes from culinary mysteries. Back when Robert Parker’s Spenser was fresh and appealing (umm, about the time of the Godwulf Manuscript?), he was an inspiration in the kitchen. Now, he seems to be eating out a lot. At expensive Boston restaurants probably not on my budget. Or he sits at home with Susan engaged and pompous and monosyllabic utterances of no interest whatsoever about their relationship. How does he afford those upscale addresses for home and office? He doesn’t seem to bill a lot. Anyway, I digress.
My favorite culinary mystery writer is Diane Mott Davidson, and I actually 
have zeroxed some recipes and put them in the disorganized notebook filled with clippings and index cards of recipes which mostly I never use. I do bake her “Lethal Layers” cookies (easy and dense with pecans, chocolate chips, and brown sugar), and, at least once, have baked her “Monster Cinnamon Rolls,” “Strawberry Super Pie,” and “Castle Scones.” I liked her books better when the recipes appeared within the text of the story, rather than in an appendix, (and before I’d had enough information about the main character Goldie’s husband Tom, her son Arch, Arch’s school, and Goldie’s church. Strangely, Goldie’s best friend Marla still appeals.) Some of the recipes are well-named, like “Dark Torte” in a book featuring lots of lawyers. They’re not exactly haute cuisine, and some may have a step or two extra or a bit too much narrative, but they’re fun to read and, apparently, kitchen-tested. The only ones I hated where the ones in the book where Marla had had a heart attack and had to eat healthy. Please, that is not appropriate in fiction.
It was sort of a shock to me, therefore, when I picked up a Joann Fluke mystery. I like Christmas mysteries (so cozy, so improbable), so naturally I started with Sugar Cookie Murder. It was down-homey and fun. Really down-homey. The main character, whose name has already escaped me, and her sisters solve a murder at the local Christmas buffet and taste-testing for a new cookbook at the local community center. In Minnesota. Very snowy Minnesota. In a blizzard. There are pages and pages of recipes at the end, mostly the kind you’d see in a church-fundraiser cookbook. All of them are mentioned in the book. Lots of them seem to feature canned soup or jello as ingredients. It’s not upscale cooking; it’s comfort food with a local flavor (umm). My favorite recipe might be the one for bait. Yep. Bait.
I know there are a lot of other culinary mysteries out there. I don’t think I’ve read any of them.
I’d love to read the first three novels of Ken Bruen’s Inspector Brant trilogy, but it seems they’re out of print. I’ve enjoyed Ammunition, Calibre, Vixen, and Blitz when I “discovered” Bruen recently. I’ve read one or two of the Jack Taylor novels, too, and they’re good, but somewhat more depressing than jaded, a tone I seem to prefer. I’d like to finish up reading the Brant books before I move on to other Bruen fare. Anal, I know. I mean, most authors don’t write a series with all one character, break free entirely, then begin with a new character. There’s usually some overlap. And then a collaborator. Or, I guess, a ghostwriter? 
