While there may seem to be a contradiction in terms of our title, a look at the novels reviewed will showcase how fiction subtly draws from both the mundane and very real, to fantasy and beyond, to create gripping reads. And we have two suspenseful novels that are food-related, in murderous ways. Happy reading!
‘The Day Tripper’ by James Goodhand
The time travel genre is a familiar trope, and some would say that anything and everything has already been written in the genre. The Groundhog Day-effect, and its concept of each morning you awaken to is the same day in a loop has been done in many variations. So I’ll hand it to Goodhand for taking that conceit but making it random, and not the same day looped. When we first meet Alex, it’s 1990, he’s 20 years old, and in love with Holly. He’s a musician/busker, but a smart one who’s just been offered a Cambridge University place. She’s a year older and a promising med student. There is an incident at the riverside pub, and Alex gets beaten up, and wakes up to 2010. It’s the same Alex, but it would seem he’s gotten the short end of the stick in life.
The next time he falls asleep, he wakes up to 2019, then 1999, and so on—the randomness having no discernible pattern. In 2012, he learns that Holly passed away in 2007. And there’s a mysterious figure named Paul who has popped up in one of these episodes, leaving him with a cryptic message. Alex never knows what will come next; but slowly, he’s piecing together his life. Saving the people he loves, and saving himself; then become the priority, and if it can mean actual changes in this life can occur, as long as it’s for the better, Alex is ready to make this his quest. This time traveling and jumping from one time period to another may seem like old hat to many of us regular readers of speculative fiction; but I will give credit to Goodhand for somehow conjuring up an optimistic new twist to the genre.
‘Jumpnauts’ by Hao Jingfang
This novel imagines a far future where tensions exist between the Pacific League and the Atlantic Alliance. Three young scientists within the Pacific League are our main protagonists. One is a hedonistic astronomer, Jiang Lui, whose family heads a dubious business empire. Yun Fan, hails from Mainland China, works at a heritage mausoleum, and it’s her belief in historic extraterrestrial visits to our world that starts out this adventure. Then there’s Qi Fei, her old boyfriend, now a science researcher and intel head. Yun Fan believes that recent activity observed by astronomers signal the imminent arrival of these super-intelligent periodic visitors, and she’s desirous of making first contact. She convinces the two there’s merit in her conviction, and the adventure begins.
They pick up one more friend, a retired pilot friend of Qi Fei; and they’re off to encounter the extraterrestrial craft, with Yun Fan convinced that the last time they visited was during some ancient dynastic period. There’s also the real situation of two boys after one girl, and she’s not interested (or so she says), plus social and political issues against the backdrop of this space mission. The magic in the writing here is the heady mix of the real and mundane with the fantastic and hard science. Even when we’re talking first contact, Chinese philosophies, and civilizations of the past and future spread over galaxies, the next paragraph will be about parental pressure, feelings of inadequacy, or preparing the best home-cooked meal. It’s this juggling act that helps make this a pleasurable, resonant read, even with all the sci-fi.
‘The Tainted Cup’ by Robert Jackson Bennett
Here we have an excellent blending of fantasy world-building, with an unconventional “Holmes & Watson” teaming up to solve a very bizarre death/murder. An imperial officer lies dead in a Daretana mansion owned by the Hazas clan, the Hazas being the gentryfolk who pass as royalty in this Khanum kingdom. It would seem that a tree erupted from within his body, a case of contagion that baffles those sent to investigate the matter. It’s here that we meet Dinios Kol, magically altered to be an engraver—one who can with exactitude remember every detail of what he observed or studied, and with a triggering mechanism, repeat all that he witnessed. Dinios is the assistant of the chief inspector for the region, Ana Dolabra. Ana is a true eccentric, solving cases while blindfolded, and taking leaps of deduction that are often correct, and astound everyone.
But Ana does have her detractors, thanks to a stubborn and outspoken penchant to deal out, and utter, the uncomfortable truth. The Hazas are a pet peeve of Ana, so when all leads of the murder investigation point to the most powerful Hazas family in the region, we know an equivalent of a “car crash” is bound to happen. While the mystery of the officer’s death seems to have been “solved,” it’s done in a manner that’s highly unsatisfactory for Ana and Dinios—the perpetrator dead by her own hands in some chemical accident, but we don’t know if she was just an instrument and who is really behind all this. Eldritch monsters of a leviathan proportion inhabit this Khanum, biopunk world—all part of the crazy impressive world-building I mentioned. And there’s the special chemistry between Dolabra and Kol; so we look forward to the next Tainted Cup installment.
‘Knife Skills for Beginners’ by Orlando Murrin
Paul Delamare is convinced by his fellow chef and old friend Christian, to take over a cookery course at a converted Belgravia mansion in London. Christian has had an accident and his arm is in a cast. Let’s first establish here that Murrin was a Masterchef semifinalist, now a chef-hotelier in the South of France and Somerset, England, and is president of the Guild of Food Writers. His grandfather was with MI5; and hence Orlando’s fascination with crime mystery. After several well-received cookbooks, this is his first mystery novel, set in the culinary world—and it’s clear he’ll know this food world inside out. It’s his putting murder on the menu of this fictitious cookery school that will be held up to inspection, for there is a corpse that shows up.
Assembling the murder suspects is done by creating an idiosyncratic bunch of enrollees at the cookery school. Then there’s the shady proprietor of the school, and her right-hand woman/staff cook. Unfortunately, it’s Paul who discovers the body, and immediately, suspicion hangs over his head in the eyes of the police. There are recipes introducing some of the chapters, and they’re real, helping add to the atmosphere of the novel. What is telling is how Murrin writes about the world of the celebrity chef, the realities of staying at the top in this arena of haute cuisine, and how such a small percentage really makes it. What’s more often the case, is the next tier of chefs, all capable and competent, but unable to reach for the home stretch or possess that elusive staying power. That there’s a competent whodunit thrown into this novel is the bonus!
‘Butter’ by Asako Yuzuki
Based on real-life events, “Butter” sees Asako Yuzuki imagining the mind of a woman convicted for killing several men whom she would cook gourmet meals for. In this novel, the serial killer is rechristened Manako Kajii, and she’s at the Tokyo Detention Centre, awaiting the appeal on her case. Rika Hachida is a journalist looking for a scoop, and upon the advice of close friend Reiko, she sends a letter to Kajii, asking for the recipe for the beef stew she cooked for one of her victims. Surprisingly, Kajii responds favorably, and in the course of that first interview, certain ground rules are established. It’s no surprise to find that Kajii is no repentant prisoner awaiting her re-trial. Rather, she sees herself as an independent woman breaking free from the shackles of a male-centric society and explicitly says to Rika that she doesn’t need friends, but worshippers.
Kajii’s victims were uniformly middle-aged or older, and rich. Through these men, it seemed Kajii was exposed to the world of gourmet dining, and by enrolling in a special Kitchen School, acquired cooking skills of her own. It turns out the “beef stew” was in fact her own version of Beef Bourguignonne and she’s always resented how it was referred to as beef stew. Kajii introduces Rika to Echire butter, to finer culinary sensations, and it soon looks like Rico has bitten off more than she can chew and is herself enthralled by Kajii and her sensuous world of edible delights. One great quote is Kajii saying she can’t stand feminists and margarine. The implication being that both are fake, pale imitations of what true living can offer. Along the way, we’re treated to discussions on the role of women, the standards we ask them to live up to, and what counts as friendship between women.
‘The Winter Visitor’ by James Henry
DS Kenton and Brazier are an odd pairing in the Essex police force; and we first meet them in an arson case involving an old Norman church, that’s situated near Colchester. Then we’re introduced to Bruce Hopkins, who was wanted for a drug smuggling case, fled to the Costa del Sol 10 years ago to avoid capture, and for some inexplicable reason, is now headed back, thinking he’ll be meeting with his ex-wife. The year is 1991, and Hopkins is sent to his death in the boot of a Ford Sierra that’s driven into a reservoir on a wintry February night. Just to complicate matters further, there’s Kenneth, an aging florist who commits suicide, and is found by his companion/partner, a retired musician. Kenton and Brazier have their hands full as they navigate around these three seemingly unrelated cases.
Could all three be connected? Fast-moving, plot-driven, and high on twists and turns within the procedural, this crime story works in a good way. Throw a WPS Janet Wilde into the mix, and there’s a “will they, won’t they” element between Wilde and Brazier, humanizing the two law officers in the process. A history of child abuse and pedophilia, an unwanted pregnancy, friendship in a mental facility borne out of being a victim of sibling incest, and hiding behind such institutions as the Church and Education. There’s a lot going on in this crime story, and it takes a full reading to appreciate just how adept James Henry is in putting all these loose threads into this one novel, and then finding ingenious ways to stitch them together into one single, wondrous tapestry.