Pepper’s Book Shelf — What’s the Mistress of Spice reading now?

In CHAI ANOTHER DAY, the latest Spice Shop mystery, Pepper doesn’t have as much time for reading as in the earlier installments. But she does love a good mystery, and she’s got a few other new faves, as well.

Here’s the link to earlier installments of Pepper’s Book Self, filled with recommendations for her favorite foodie mysteries and historical mysteries, along with a few cookbooks and spice references.

In CHAI, Pepper is still working on the food education of Matt Kemp, one of her new hires, and gives him a copy of Spice: The History of a Temptation by Jack Turner, her  go-to guide on the history of spice and its role in the global economy. She also gives him a terrific history of Pike Place Market, and Soul of the City, by Alice Shorett and Murray Morgan.

She’s been saving the last few Brother Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters, and finally dips into A Rare Benedictine, a trio of Cadfael short stories. She’s tempted by Murder in Union Square, the latest in Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries, set in turn-of-the-last-century New York, and Turning the Tide, one of the adventures of Edith Maxwell’s Quaker midwife sleuth.

And of course, she once again consults The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Private Investigating, by Steven Kerry Brown.

Some of the new culinary mysteries she and the Spice Shop crew are excited about: books by Barbara Ross, Ellie Alexander, Cleo Coyle, and Lucy Burdette.

Happy reading — and happy eating!

 

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