Carol's Reviews > Delicious!

The question in my mind was "Could Ruth Reichl, food editor, restaurant critic and memoir writer pull off a cozy novel?" You bet she can and it was, well, delicious.

Like Reichl, Billie Breslin transplants herself from the streets of California to the bustle of New York where she is hired as assistant editor for a Gourmet lookalike magazine named Delicious. Billie California bags are packed with a sadness of spirit not fully explained initially. Part One finds Billie settling in as she goes about the day to day business of her job, making many new friends and coming into her own. I was enjoying this storyline and could have stayed here when wham, Delicious closes, not unlike Rechl's own experience at Gourmet. Though her friends at the magazine must move on, Billie is asked to stay and continue to man the Delicious Guarantee hotline, taking complaints about recipe disasters and providing their money back guarantee. The story goes in a new direction. With time on her hands in the now empty Timbers Mansion Billie discovers not only a secret room but a treasure trove of correspondence dating back to the forties between James Beard and a spunky teen trying to survive the realities of a country at war and rationing.

Reading Delicious is like a food tour of New York, and we are privy to its delicacies. If any book I've read this year can be called feel good Delicious is it. Take a dash of mystery, a sprinkling of romance, a pinch of history, throw in a handful of good recipes, a hint of name dropping, mix them all together, taste. and serve a perfectly enjoyable read with just a touch of memoir thrown in for good measure.

Yes, I'm going to try the gingerbread but forget the soufflé. Call that a fear of falling.