Banquet of Lies

Banquet of Lies (2013) Michelle Diener

Set in London in 1812

Giselle Barrington is the daughter of a folklorist with a fascination for cooking.

“What do you do with the recipes?” The woman looked genuinely interested now.

“I’m compiling a reference work of dishes from the cultures of Europe. But mainly I follow them.”

“Follow them . . .” Confused, the woman looked around the crowded room, as if the people swirling around them could help her. “How?”

Gigi smiled. “The usual way. In the kitchen.”

“You make the dishes?” The woman tapped Gigi on the arm with her fan. “With the servants?” Her voice was a squeak.

“With the chef who has accompanied us for the last ten years.”

“Ah.”

Her father is a noble with a fascination for folklore, so as he travels collecting folk stories, he often carries secret messages for the crown.

She had a strange sense, as they helped her along, that her plight was like that of a girl in one of the folktales her father collected.

When Gigi witnesses the murder of her father by and Englishman, she knows that the message she was holding for him is terribly important, and she needs to get it back to England to pass on the message, but she has no idea who she can trust with the message.

Lord Aldridge inherited his position upon the death of both his father and his older brother, so after being called back from the war, he does occasional work for the Foreign Office. He is also a neighbor of Sir Barrington, and has been looking for a French Chef.

This book was damn near perfect for me. It’s got cooking, folklore, and a fascinating mystery.

I’m not quite sure how I managed to pick two books in a row where the heroines were cooks, but it caused me to spend the past two days constantly wanting to get up and go into the kitchen, and then remembering I have no brioche or gallettes.

Sadly.

The mystery was extremely well done. Giselle held the documents for her father, but knew absolutely nothing of his business with the Crown, and truly had no idea who she could trust, other than the chefs she grew up with, and so it was both logical and reasonable for her to hide in the kitchen as a chef.

She’s a smart woman, and it’s bad luck that keeps her from quickly finding someone to whom she can deliver the message (as well as the machinations of the man who murdered her father).

Something else I appreciated is that the butler–a man insecure in his position–causes her a great deal of trouble, but he isn’t an evil man.

Edgars had tried to belittle her, as if doing so would somehow lift him up. And no matter how much she needed the safety and anonymity of Aldridge House, she could not accept that.

I really liked this book, and even though it is the second book in the series, you can easily read it without having read the first book (since the characters from the first book barely appear in this book).
Rating: 9/10

Published by Gallery Books

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