What do you think?
Rate this book
Someone is Killing #1
Someone Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe
In a novel of wit and haute cuisine, great chefs collectively bully greengrocers for the best produce and would rather starve than eat each other's cooking.
Nan Lyons has been a food and travel writer for over twenty years, contributing to Bon Appétit , Travel + Leisure , More , Hamptons , L'official New York Newsday , as well as creating the Fielding's Agenda series and the Access Walking guides.
In collaboration with her husband Ivan, she wrote the first novel with a food background, Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe which was then made into a major motion picture. They went on to write four other novels as well as scores of articles on food and travel.
Her newest book, Around the World in 80 Meals (Red Rock Press) was published in late 2010. Nan has most recently been made Associate Editor for "Let's Travel" a new website which features interviews as well as podcasts and articles on every aspect of travel. Her particular expertise is focused on restaurants, shopping and luxury hotels.
Nan Lyons has been a food and travel writer for over twenty years, contributing to Bon Appétit , Travel + Leisure , More , Hamptons , L'official New York Newsday , as well as creating the Fielding's Agenda series and the Access Walking guides.
In collaboration with her husband Ivan, she wrote the first novel with a food background, Someone is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe which was then made into a major motion picture. They went on to write four other novels as well as scores of articles on food and travel.
Her newest book, Around the World in 80 Meals (Red Rock Press) was published in late 2010. Nan has most recently been made Associate Editor for "Let's Travel" a new website which features interviews as well as podcasts and articles on every aspect of travel. Her particular expertise is focused on restaurants, shopping and luxury hotels.
235 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1976
15 people are currently reading
152 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
March 6, 2014
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078488/?...
Dreadful but good, if you see what I mean!
Dreadful but good, if you see what I mean!
March 30, 2020
Odd, dated, and full of unpleasant characters. Some humor, and a great send up of foodie culture.
May 1, 2021
Okay....if you can get past the beginning 30 pages (which are hard to follow due to its scatological style). You'll will find this to be a very entertaining fun book. The story is a very dark comedy without pulling any punches of regret. I enjoyed the book very much. Again, not an easy start to it...but a very fun book!!
September 19, 2024
I finally got around to writing a review for this, which you can find here https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2024/09/1...
Found this one years ago in some second hand store and bought it for fun. I truly enjoyed it even though (as someone else noted) the mystery part wasn't very suspenseful. But the characters are fun and the story zips along at a fast pace. The movie version (with George Segal) wasn't that bad an adaptation, but the book is always better. Give it a try, yo might find it tasty!
Found this one years ago in some second hand store and bought it for fun. I truly enjoyed it even though (as someone else noted) the mystery part wasn't very suspenseful. But the characters are fun and the story zips along at a fast pace. The movie version (with George Segal) wasn't that bad an adaptation, but the book is always better. Give it a try, yo might find it tasty!
August 12, 2018
Taking that this was written in 1976, it was sexist, vulgar, politically incorrect and funny, just how I like it. Yes, it's awfully written and definitely not a literary masterpiece, but I've seen the movie ages ago and it became a family favourite, and now I wanted to read the book and that's what I needed right now, it kept me entertained and giggling during the weekend. And, this is not crime, not thriller, but black comedy, just for the record. Bonus for the recipes and all those wonderful sounding dishes!
July 5, 2017
Look, it's a good book, interesting, informative. Well written. And I remember quite a bit of it. Since we eat gourmet quality at home, I find books on cuisine, kitchens and chefdom amusing enough. The mystery had an interesting twist at the end.
August 31, 2025
This is very 1970s caper, with wry humor, gratuitous (but not explicit) sex, and it slides right into the reveal of whodunit about midway through. A smart reader has probably already figured it out by then, but will keep reading to watch the other characters figure it out. Light, entertaining read.
March 20, 2021
Quirky, funny dark comedy! Suspenseful, now need to watch the movie. Written in 1976, the chefs are each killed in a manner reflecting their most famous dishes. Definitely not politically correct with the amount of sex and violence but a fun, don't think to hard, read!
Want to read
August 17, 2015Which is a book I am not actually reading right now, but not for lack of trying.
We went to the library on Saturday, as part 1 of a two-part activity. Part TWO was to go to the Splash Park, which is of course Mr F's favorite thing in the entire world, ahead of even Cheese Puffs:
but Mr Bunches hates the Splash Park, and has to go play on the playground while we are there, which he is ALSO not crazy about, since he tends to wilt in the sun and it was about 95 degrees out.
So the library was first, in order to make sure Mr Bunches, too, had something fun about the trip. While we are at the library, I usually read a book or two with Mr F while Mr Bunches finds a new alphabet book to check out. Mr F sometimes picks out a DVD or two to borrow, and we play in the reading room a bit. I also wander around and look at books on display to see if there are any I might want to check out, electronically if possible because this is, after all, the future.
This Saturday, Mr F and I first stopped at the computer to check the catalog, because the book Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe
had popped into my head.
I read this book once. I am not sure when I read it. I want to say I was about 16, which would mean I read the book in 1985. The timing on that would work out, because the book itself was published sometime before 1978; I know that because there was a movie, Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe, made in 1978.
That is everything I know about this book, at this point: everything I can remember, at least. I haven't gone and looked up anything else about it. I didn't even remember who the author was (no big surprise there, for me at least.)
I figured this was perfect for the library. I had previously tried to borrow it from the online library, but there was no e-copy of the book. (Odd, because there is a Kindle version of it on Amazon.) So I was resigned to reading it in hard copy, but the library didn't even have that! The only book the library had that came close was Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of America. It's by the same authors, which means that there is a series potentially, of books about killing chefs on various continents?
I know why the book popped into my head. I was listening to the newest podcast I love, Mystery Show by Starlee Kine. On it, she solves mysteries for people. Minor mysteries, like the one that made me think of chefs: a friend of hers had a belt buckle with an inscription on it, a really fancy belt buckle with a little working simulacra of a toaster, and Kine tracked down the chef it belonged to and gave it back to him, getting the story behind it. (The podcast is really really great. You should listen to it.)
That made me think of chefs, which made me remember reading this book, which made me look for it at the library. Only it's not there. So I have added it to my list of books to buy and keep. Heirloom books, books that I want in hard copy because they mean something to me, personally, and which I keep on a shelf to look at and (like Footfall) sometimes read.
Already off of that list I have bought, and have to keep forever:
Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving.
Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
The Last Of The Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie Andrews.
and
Bridge To Terabithia, which I mentioned here a while back.
Still to buy:
The Master of Magics series by Lyndon Hardy: I've found books 2 and 3 in Milwaukee at a bookstore near my office but need to still buy them.
Stranger In A Strange Land.
The Mouse That Roared
The Hotel New Hampshire
among others, now joined by Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe.
Maybe one day I'll do a memoir built around books that were important to me.
The thing about this book is it kind of bugs me that I can't remember a single thing about it, other than I read it, one time. I can't really remember how old I was, or why I might have read it, or how I even found out about it. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing a teenage me would have read. I don't even like mysteries!
Like my memories of the book, the book itself barely seems to exist. The cover image on Amazon is one of those blank placeholder covers. The author page seems sketchy, like it was put together by bots. There is no Wikipedia entry for the book or the authors (but there is for the movie, which also seems weird: books I think have a far greater tendency to make a lasting impact than movies). The cover of the book on Goodreads is clearly a photo of an actual book taken by someone and posted there. That's where it's listed as "Someone Is Killing #1" but when you click that link it just shows you a list consisting of solely that book.
When I first thought of the book, it was merely a curiosity. I wanted to check it out to re-read it and see what had made me want to read it first, way back when, if I did. But having found that the book's existence in this world is tenuous, at best, I now feel almost as if I need to save it.
We went to the library on Saturday, as part 1 of a two-part activity. Part TWO was to go to the Splash Park, which is of course Mr F's favorite thing in the entire world, ahead of even Cheese Puffs:
but Mr Bunches hates the Splash Park, and has to go play on the playground while we are there, which he is ALSO not crazy about, since he tends to wilt in the sun and it was about 95 degrees out.
So the library was first, in order to make sure Mr Bunches, too, had something fun about the trip. While we are at the library, I usually read a book or two with Mr F while Mr Bunches finds a new alphabet book to check out. Mr F sometimes picks out a DVD or two to borrow, and we play in the reading room a bit. I also wander around and look at books on display to see if there are any I might want to check out, electronically if possible because this is, after all, the future.
This Saturday, Mr F and I first stopped at the computer to check the catalog, because the book Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe
had popped into my head.
I read this book once. I am not sure when I read it. I want to say I was about 16, which would mean I read the book in 1985. The timing on that would work out, because the book itself was published sometime before 1978; I know that because there was a movie, Who Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe, made in 1978.
That is everything I know about this book, at this point: everything I can remember, at least. I haven't gone and looked up anything else about it. I didn't even remember who the author was (no big surprise there, for me at least.)
I figured this was perfect for the library. I had previously tried to borrow it from the online library, but there was no e-copy of the book. (Odd, because there is a Kindle version of it on Amazon.) So I was resigned to reading it in hard copy, but the library didn't even have that! The only book the library had that came close was Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of America. It's by the same authors, which means that there is a series potentially, of books about killing chefs on various continents?
I know why the book popped into my head. I was listening to the newest podcast I love, Mystery Show by Starlee Kine. On it, she solves mysteries for people. Minor mysteries, like the one that made me think of chefs: a friend of hers had a belt buckle with an inscription on it, a really fancy belt buckle with a little working simulacra of a toaster, and Kine tracked down the chef it belonged to and gave it back to him, getting the story behind it. (The podcast is really really great. You should listen to it.)
That made me think of chefs, which made me remember reading this book, which made me look for it at the library. Only it's not there. So I have added it to my list of books to buy and keep. Heirloom books, books that I want in hard copy because they mean something to me, personally, and which I keep on a shelf to look at and (like Footfall) sometimes read.
Already off of that list I have bought, and have to keep forever:
Foucault's Pendulum, by Umberto Eco
A Prayer For Owen Meany, by John Irving.
Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
The Last Of The Really Great Whangdoodles, by Julie Andrews.
and
Bridge To Terabithia, which I mentioned here a while back.
Still to buy:
The Master of Magics series by Lyndon Hardy: I've found books 2 and 3 in Milwaukee at a bookstore near my office but need to still buy them.
Stranger In A Strange Land.
The Mouse That Roared
The Hotel New Hampshire
among others, now joined by Someone Is Killing The Great Chefs Of Europe.
Maybe one day I'll do a memoir built around books that were important to me.
The thing about this book is it kind of bugs me that I can't remember a single thing about it, other than I read it, one time. I can't really remember how old I was, or why I might have read it, or how I even found out about it. It doesn't seem like the kind of thing a teenage me would have read. I don't even like mysteries!
Like my memories of the book, the book itself barely seems to exist. The cover image on Amazon is one of those blank placeholder covers. The author page seems sketchy, like it was put together by bots. There is no Wikipedia entry for the book or the authors (but there is for the movie, which also seems weird: books I think have a far greater tendency to make a lasting impact than movies). The cover of the book on Goodreads is clearly a photo of an actual book taken by someone and posted there. That's where it's listed as "Someone Is Killing #1" but when you click that link it just shows you a list consisting of solely that book.
When I first thought of the book, it was merely a curiosity. I wanted to check it out to re-read it and see what had made me want to read it first, way back when, if I did. But having found that the book's existence in this world is tenuous, at best, I now feel almost as if I need to save it.
September 17, 2019
Funny, black humor, clever, quick read. I laughed.
Want to read
February 17, 2020Synopsis: take a rich and eccentric gourmand, add a sexy dessert chef, mix them with a fast-food entrepreneur, and add murder.
October 16, 2020
Para pasar el rato, con un final poco convincente.
December 30, 2021
Thoroughly amusing - a murder mystery composed of one liners. Of note - I listened to this one in abridged form - probably compressing the snarky comments.
September 19, 2025
this book cracked me up
August 28, 2009
I remember some of this movie from a long time ago. SO far the book is hilarious. The authors really have a lot of fun with the whole food/sensuous/death/sex thing.
This book was a lot of fun to read, and it is a SUPER quick read. I bet Tracy could read it in about 1 hour! Ha. If you read this let me know what you think the last sentence of the book refers to...when the character lifts the silver dome off the platter for his lunch...what do you think is under the dome???
There is a sequel about the Chefs of America, and I may read it, but I doubt it will be as good.
This book was a lot of fun to read, and it is a SUPER quick read. I bet Tracy could read it in about 1 hour! Ha. If you read this let me know what you think the last sentence of the book refers to...when the character lifts the silver dome off the platter for his lunch...what do you think is under the dome???
There is a sequel about the Chefs of America, and I may read it, but I doubt it will be as good.
May 23, 2009
Entertaining with some interesting kitchen-world descriptions, but not really that great a book. It is very 70s, and not in the best way (including the descriptions of the food). But, once you get into it the "mystery" is rather interesting if contrived. I will read the sequel, but I would only read this if you feel you aren't really expecting great lit. :-) I will give the authors this: though not quite the same page turner level, the authors are better writers than Dan Brown.
December 26, 2017
Loved the film with Robert Morley, George Segal and Jacqueline Bissett so thought I’d get the book as holiday read. Different in many parts to the film, but simple comedy thriller romp with no real surprises. Graphic and comedic murders but the equally graphic sex scenes and language used in them were grating, incongruent and detracted from the comedy in my opinion. But it was a quick, fun read all in.
October 13, 2009
The mystery really wasn't much of one and the casual morals of the times (written in 1976) were a little startling in this post-Aids world. I enjoyed a lot of the discussions of food and there was a strong thread of humor that I liked but I have to admit to forcing myself to finish the story. Not an all time favorite, not really sorry that I read it - so a middle of the road book for me.
March 18, 2010
Wow, I forgot how much casual sex there was in this book, which I didn't really care for, but at least makes some sense being set in the 70s. Other than that the characters are interesting and the deaths disturbing. It is an interesting slice of life when it seems women aren't allowed to be chefs.
July 29, 2013
It's one of these 1970s books that has some positive qualities, but doesn't let you take it seriously enough. Plus the murderer is revealed to the reader about halfway through the book and I'm not sure that was the best idea.
May 17, 2015
The film made from this, Who's Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, has always been one of my favorite food related films. The book is even better. If you like food, if you like murder mysteries, don't miss this one.
August 24, 2008
This is a bit juvenile and predictable, but still a fun read. Some parts made me laugh out loud, so anyone who enjoys the culinary field may care to explore this.
March 12, 2011
Very funny, but Ben probably raised my expectations too high. Good bit of crap reading, anyway
January 8, 2015
I dont like this book. Very chaotic, hard to follow the character changes. Writer extremly pushes the sleng speech, which is irritating.
January 13, 2015
This was a delightful whodunnit especially enjoyable for foodies.
March 28, 2016
Quite a fun read
March 17, 2014
Read it years ago and occasionally phrases from this book appear in my consciousness.
April 29, 2017
I've read the book 4 or five times. The book is really great entertainment in the spirit of the Sixties. Black morbid humour in a fun way. Brings a good mood into you.
The film is really lousy. I come to think of the story of two goats eating a roll of film. One says to the other: well what do you think? The other says: well, the book was better...!
The film is really lousy. I come to think of the story of two goats eating a roll of film. One says to the other: well what do you think? The other says: well, the book was better...!
October 1, 2018
Great fun
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews