An Appetite For Violets – Martine Bailey
Based in Chester, Martine Bailey writes historical mysteries with a food theme. She has some impressive culinary credentials to draw on: as an amateur cook, she was a former UK Dessert Champion, and has studied with food historian, Ivan Day. From Gothic banquets to recipes for poison, Martine loves using food to reveal (and occasionally dispatch) her characters.
Irrepressible Biddy Leigh, under-cook at forbidding Mawton Hall, only wants to marry her sweetheart and become a great cook. But when her elderly master marries the young Lady Carinna, Biddy is unwittingly plunged into a cauldron of scheming, secrets and lies.
Forced to accompany her new mistress on a Grand Tour to Italy, Biddy takes with her an old household book of recipes, The Cook’s Jewel, in which she records her observations. When she finds herself embroiled in a murderous conspiracy, Biddy realises that the secrets she holds could be the key to her survival – or her downfall . . .
Written in the form of an 18th century Household Book, crammed with Recipes and Remedies, An Appetite for Violets is a compelling tale of obsession and murder.
Release date: May 2014
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Profano-Meter: Mild.
Platelet-Counter: Eek!
