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Rating: 
Summary: Swiss murderers?
Review: Of all the Gourmet Detective books up to this one, this is the worst of them. However, Peter King still manages to write a captivating story about murders in the food industry. This time, giving classes in a Swiss health spa, the Detective leaves behind him an unusually coincidental trail of murder attempts. Filled with quips about the Swiss culture, this particular novel is your best choice of King's if you want to learn about food in any way. But, be warned of a sharp and anomalous ending.
Rating:
Summary: Swiss murderers?
Review: Of all the Gourmet Detective books up to this one, this is the worst of them. However, Peter King still manages to write a captivating story about murders in the food industry. This time, giving classes in a Swiss health spa, the Detective leaves behind him an unusually coincidental trail of murder attempts. Filled with quips about the Swiss culture, this particular novel is your best choice of King's if you want to learn about food in any way. But, be warned of a sharp and anomalous ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Another unsavory mystery by Mr. King
Review: Reading this book is like reading a transcript from a cooking conference. It might just as well be, since this time our flat Gourmet Detective (a.k.a. The Unnamed One) takes the place of an absent friend at a Swiss spa to teach culinary secrets in a conference that lasts a week (too long). This novel develops really slow, and it only picks up the pace of a mystery in the last four chapters. Unluckily for us readers, the book comprises thirty two of them. I found this novel in particular the one which has the most flat, underdeveloped characters of this whole series. Nothing means anything. Sure, if you read it as a cookbook or as a compilation of suggestions from a very good chef, it is an interesting piece of advice; even witty. However, this book claims to be a mystery story; and a good mystery story must have an identifiable plot, which has to be twisted and interesting at the same time. Well, I cannot really identify a good plot here. I can certainly tell that Mr. King has travelled extensively throughout Europe and certainly knows a lot of the idiosyncrases of the different nationalities. He is also a very good expert in his field, which is that of cooking methods, ingredients, rare foods and all the other qualities that make an excellent chef. He is not, however, a good writer. Unfortunately this last part is what it takes to produce a good fiction story, be it a mystery or any other genre.
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