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.

Talking To Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

TALKING TO STRANGERS by Malcolm Gladwell is his latest work and explores “What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know.”  As is his style, Gladwell uses multiple real-life examples to illustrate his points.  Here, he refers to the cases of Brock Turner (convicted Stanford rapist), Amanda Knox, Bernie Madoff, Adolf Hitler, and the perils of community policing which led to Sandra Bland’s death. Gladwell explores the psychology related to the “Stranger Problem” by describing the work of Tim Levine and his commentary on our tendency to “default to truth,” often misunderstanding or “giving the benefit of the doubt,” believing the stranger when we should tend to be more skeptical. While entertaining as always, it was sometimes difficult to reconcile Gladwell’s analysis with racism, sexism and other unconscious biases which may have as much or more impact on our interactions. In The Washington Post, Wray Herbert remarked upon Gladwell’s “impressive range of historical conundrums,” but also noted that he “dances around the topic of torture” and provides an “unconvincing and troubling” analysis regarding Sandra Bland. Gladwell has written numerous best-sellers (The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink) and TALKING TO STRANGERS garnered much attention. Carol Tavris, writing for the Wall Street Journal, described Gladwell as “an enjoyable raconteur, but a somewhat lazy researcher” so that for this particular book, it’s “often hard to find the chocolate in the trail mix.” TALKING TO STRANGERS did receive a starred review from Kirkus.