Hi,
Looking to put together a quirky list of mysteries where food is the weapon or the backdrop but not the cozy recipe genre..Any ideas?

Thanks, kim

Roald Dahl's Lamb to the Slaughter immediately springs to mind! One of my favorites.

Kerry Greenwood has a book called Recipes for Crime, which was (from exceeding vague memory) short stories all with a food backdrop. I read it ages ago and enjoyed it, but don't actually own a copy.

Does poisoning count?

Sayers, D. L.: In "Strong Poison" Miss Sayers has the murderer use an egg as a recepticle for arsenic, to which the murderer has made himself tolerant by long term use of small doses.
I have been searching for too long for a clue to another mystery, whether by Sayers or Allingham I'm not sure but a mushroom expert is murdered by eating a mess of poisonous types. Wonderful science and mushroom knowledge if you can find it. The more I think about it, the more likely it seems that the author is Dorothy Leigh Sayers.
edwarddell

It is. The Documents in the Case.

Thanks -

Excellent Roald Dahl who knew? And the Dorothy Sayers sounds like a perfect fit ! I was thinking Bone in the Throat by Anthony Bourdain as a title with the chef's knife and kitchen setting.

I thought this would be easy but once you leave out cozies it's become a bit harder...

Keep em coming ;) and yes poisoning counts.....as long as it isn't warm and fuzzy

Jane Haddam's Feast of Murder takes place on a Thanksgiving Mayflower-replica cruise with an elaborate dinner. Her detective, Gregor Demarkian, is an expert on poisons, so some of her others might qualify as well.

Janet Laurence, a British author, wrote a series of ten titles about chef Darina Lisle. The first one is A Deepe Coffyn published in 1992

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Nov 2, 2009, 9:58am.

The most memorable, quirky and chilling food as weapon mystery I've ever read is Walter Satterthwait's short story Cassoulet. I originally read it in an anthology of food related short stories (don't recall the title), but you can read it online at the above link.

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Nov 7, 2009, 2:40pm.

It's not precisely food, but I do remember a young adult mystery novel (read it in the early '80s) where someone was killed with an icicle. The evidence then completely melted away by the time anyone found the body. That one's probably been used in any number of mystery novels.

Thanks for all the help. My list is still heavy on the cozy/recipe mysteries -

http://murdermysterymayhem.blogspot.com/...

but still looking....Thanks again!

Perhaps try Vegetable Duck (1944) by John Rhode See more at http://gadetection.pbworks.com/Vegetable...

Mensagem editada pelo autor, Nov 9, 2009, 11:19pm.

Table d'hote by Douglas Clark definitely fits the bill--if you can find it!

Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe - a long time since I read it, so can't quite remember whether it was food that killed them.

There was the title short story in Of Course You Know, Chocolate is a Vegetable. Not a cozy.

The Poisoned Chocolates Case? I don't think it's too cozy...

Seems like when I was first getting hooked on cozies, I ran across Virginia Rich...cooking school murders, I believe, but don't remember the particulars.

#6 ... Anthony Bourdain, the Travel Channel host? I like his snarky scripts ... may bear looking into!

You might check out
The Butter Did It by Phyllis Richman
and Better Than Sex by Susan Holtzer

>9 CD1am,
Thanks so much for your recommendation of Cassoulet: that was *wonderful*.

Another short story: Stanley Ellin: The Specialty of the House.

According to the Discworld Companion, in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, Dwarf Bread is described as "A Dwarfish delicacy and battle weapon. Originally a sensible attempt to create a weapon that could also be eaten, it contains all you need to sustain you for days, mainly by causing you to perform miracles of endurance in order to get somewhere where you don't have to eat dwarf bread. Dwarf cake is similar but thicker. A properly thrown slice of dwarf bread is a fearsome weapon, especially in view of its erratic aerodynamic properties."

I don't recall any murders that were performed via dwarf bread but it is often referenced.

As a side note, if the head the Assassin's Guild, Lord Downey, offers you one of his mint humbugs, it is suggested that you politely decline. If you decide to make some for yourself, the recipe in Nanny Ogg's Cookbook will do very nicely as long as you skip the ingredient "arsenic to taste".

re: Message 20

Stanley Ellin: The Specialty of the House - This was one of the creepiest stories I ever read and partly what inspired this list...I wanted the darker side of food mysteries and I couldn't remember the author or title....Thank you...Thank you...

A reason I love LibraryThing

re number three Death Cap by June Thomson is traditional British mystery with mushrooms as the weapon of choice.

The Fingers of One Foot by Gerald Hammond also features mushrooms.