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The Gourmet Detective

Gourmet Detective Mysteries Series, Book 1

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The Gourmet Detective

By: Peter King
Narrated by: David Barker
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About this listen

From sourcing rare ingredients to solving crimes, "this appealing detective serves up nuggets of culinary trivia and wry food humor" (People).

They call him the gourmet detective; the only thing sharper than his mind is his palate. When chefs need a rare ingredient, an ancient wine, or simply a new idea to gain that extra Michelin-star boost, they come to the detective's cozy London office and plead for his help. For top-notch cooking, he is always happy to lend his taste buds to the cause. 

Now Raymond Lefebvre, executive chef at one of London's finest French restaurants, has asked for the detective's help with a bit of kitchen espionage. Lefebvre's crosstown rival is winning international accolades cooking a dish called Oiseau Royal, and Lefebvre wants the recipe. Getting it takes the detective deep into the Circle of Careme, where the most elite chefs in Britain gather to swap recipes, techniques, and gossip. But when the chefs of Careme start to die, the detective starts to salivate. There is no finer appetizer than murder.

©1994 Peter King (P)2021 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books Cosy Culinary Adventures Detective Fiction International Mystery & Crime Mystery Private Investigators Crime England Witty British Detective
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Most relevant
Please, there are plenty of British narrators. Utterly spoiled the story, which is set in London.

Unfortunately an American narrator who can’t pronounce English names

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The American reader's French accent was embarrassingly awful, as was his mispronunciation of some English words (Chiswick pronounced as spelt, rather than leaving out the "w" sound ", is a glaring example). Completely spoilt my enjoyment of the story.

Appalling reading detracts from story

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I love food, and wine, and I love cozy mysteries, so I should have enjoyed this book very much, instead I should have trusted some of the reviews.
Firstly, the narrator is awful: I didn’t understand if the protagonist was supposed to be a British man living in London (then why should the reared be American); or if the protagonist is indeed an American ex chef living in London. In any case the butchering of all and any French word was unbearable.

I found out that the book was first published in 1994, so in 2024 the descriptions of all female characters is just super “cringy” (to use a word popular in 2024).
Normally I finish the books I pick up just because I’m too curious to find out whodunnit, but I gave up this book with only one hour left to finish because just the thought of listening any longer was putting me in the worst mood.

This book has dated very poorly

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Read by a foreigner trying an English accent. Pronunciations all over the place e.g Streatham pronounced Street-ham instead of “strettum”. Even worse when a character is talking Estuary/Cockney.

Aggravating narration

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If Basing the story in the UK then pronunciation should match; American pronunciation really jarred and spoilt my enjoyment

Original storyline

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