AN IRRESISTIBLE LITERARY FEAST Stories and recipes inspired by the world's great books As a young bookworm reading in her grandfather's butcher shop, Cara Nicoletti saw how books and food bring people to life. Now a butcher, cook, and talented writer, she serves up stories and recipes inspired by beloved books and the food that gives their characters depth and personality.
Butcher's Moon (A book in the Parker series) (1974) A novel by Donald E. Westlake (writing as Richard Stark) Parker, the master theif who has appeared in fifteen previous tough, lean novels by Richard Stark, now appears in his masterwork. The same hardness of line and clarity of prose that led The New York Times to say that "nobody tops Stark in his objective portrayals of a world of total amorality" is here wedded to a sweep of story and a range of action far beyond the usual thriller. When Parker comes to Tyler, a thriving Midwestern city, he isn't looking for trouble.
Cussler takes a breather from his several ongoing series with this historical thriller set in the western states, circa 1906. The U.S. government hires the renowned Van Dorn Detective Agency and its equally renowned lead agent, Isaac Bell, to capture the bank robber known as the Butcher Bandit. The Butcher has gunned down 38 men and women and two children, leaving behind neither witnesses nor clues. Bell heads the manhunt and finally figures out the Butcher's true identity, which is when the real chase begins.
At the start of Butcher's absorbing fantasy, the first in a new series, the barbarians are at the gates of the land of Alera, which has a distinct flavor of the Roman Empire (its ruler is named Quintus Sextus and its soldiers are organized in legions). Fortunately, Alera has magical defenses, involving the furies or elementals of water, earth, air, fire and metal, that protect against foes both internal and external. Amara, a young female spy, and her companion, Odiana, go into some of the land's remoter territories to discover if military commander Atticus Quentin is a traitor
