A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie

A BITTER FEAST by Deborah Crombie is the latest (#18) in the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Scotland Yard detective series by this best-selling author.  There are references to past adventures and a familiar cast of characters, but this could be read as a stand-alone mystery, too.  The story takes place primarily in Lower Slaughter, a small English village where Kincaid, James and their children have been invited to spend the weekend at a colleague’s parents’ estate. Thoughts of long walks and relaxing in the Cotswolds countryside have to wait when Kincaid is involved in a road accident where two people are found dead. It’s a bit of a mystery as to why they were together and what ties one, a celebrity chef, may have to the village, especially after it appears that he may have been poisoned. Crombie deftly introduces characters and provides some needed backstory in flashbacks as the mystery grows. She definitely evokes the natural beauty and British village life where everyone knows each other and where dogs are an essential feature, too. Viv Holland, chef at the local pub, and her staff are key characters and Crombie provides ample details about food preparation, making the meals sound so appealing. Give yourself a treat and enjoy A BITTER FEAST which received a starred review from Booklist.

The Fate of Food by Little and Falter by McKibben

Here are some comments on two newer books which independently use “bleak” to describe a possible future.

THE FATE OF FOOD by Amanda Little, a professor of journalism and science writing at Vanderbilt University, is subtitled “What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World.” In over a dozen chapters, she explores some really interesting – and disruptive – ideas like Impossible Meat product development and research into why humans crave meat. The CEO of Impossible Meats says, “our mission is to completely replace animals in the food system by 2035, which we will certainly do.”  Sound far-fetched? Maybe, but starting next week the Impossible Burger will be available at every Burger King. Amanda Little’s research about our changing food supply led her to conduct interviews in a dozen countries and around the United States and she includes black and white photographs in this text. That helps envision some of these technologies and how wide-spread they could become.  Little deftly explains changes in agriculture, threats to the water supply, and evolving production processes like vertical farming.  For a quick overview, listen to Terry Gross’ interview with her on NPR’s Fresh Air. Notes and an index comprise about fifteen percent of THE FATE OF FOOD which received a starred review from Kirkus.

FALTER by Bill McKibben is a new non-fiction work by the activist author of the more fanciful Radio Free Vermont. Thirty years after publishing The End of Nature about global warming, McKibben combines his long-standing concern about Earth’s environment with apprehension about the increasing influence of technology (especially artificial intelligence and genetic engineering) in our lives. In FALTER he argues that “we’re simply so big, and moving so fast, that every decision carries enormous risk.” In the first section, Size of the Board, McKibben looks at ways that “privilege lies in obliviousness,” how we have distanced ourselves from nature, and how we already have losses due to a changing climate (e.g., “winter doesn’t reliably mean winter anymore, and so the way we’ve always viscerally told time has begun to break down.”) In a section titled Leverage, he looks at shifts in ideology involving profit-seeking and race-baiting, the short-term outlook and lack of human solidarity. His philosophical comments are interspersed with data and statistics (e.g., on establishing solar panels) and, thus, FALTER is a rather involved call to action. McKibben argues that “we have the tools (nonviolence chief among them) to allow us to stand up to the powerful and the reckless.” He has “walked the talk” by founding the environmental organization 350.org and offers in his latest work an updated, but at times, meandering treatise which is both alarming and hopeful. Approximately ten percent of FALTER is devoted to notes and an index. FALTER received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly and appears in The Washington Post list of “40 new books that tell America’s Story.”