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Pass the Cyanide

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The 2023 Wishing Shelf Book Awards Bronze

Awards Finalist: The 2023 Indies Today, The 2024 Book Excellence Awards

A deadly feast, a mobster restaurant and a family get-together with fatal results.
Savour the spicy tang of dark and twisted tales in Pass the Cyanide, a follow-up to the award-winning collection of culinary mysteries, Add Cyanide to Taste.

From an old friend hiding a deadly secret to a ravenous house with an appetite for friends, this collection masterfully blends the allure of food and the thrill of mystery. Each story is a rich and satisfying serving of crime, with a twist that will leave you wanting more.

A must-read for fans of culinary noir and foodies who love a pinch of danger with their suspense.

190 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2023

3 people are currently reading
22 people want to read

About the author

Karmen Špiljak

10 books46 followers
Karmen Špiljak is an award-winning author of suspense, horror and speculative fiction, a developmental editor and an Author Accelerator certified book coach for fiction.

Her thriller, 'No Such Thing as Goodbye', was shortlisted and received an honourable mention on 'The Black Spring Crime Fiction Prize 2020'. Her short story collection, 'Add Cyanide to Taste', won the 2022 IndieReader Discovery Award for best short stories. In 2023, LeVar Burton Reads licensed her short story, 'Three Roses', for their podcast. Her collection, 'Pass the Cyanide', won 'The 2023 Wishing Shelf Awards Bronze'.

She currently lives in Belgrade with her husband, two cats and an unknown number of fictional characters. Find out more about her fiction on https://www.karmenspiljak.com and about her book coaching on https://storyallegiance.com .

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Srivalli (Semi-Hiatus).
Author 23 books738 followers
November 8, 2023
3.8 Stars

One Liner: Deliciously murderous

Pass the Cyanide is a second collection of food-based cozy (murder) mysteries with eight stories and a bonus un-themed story at the end.

The collection starts with an author’s note detailing how she wrote book one and why book two came into existence. The quirky and humorous note sets the tone, and I did enjoy most of the stories in the collection.

A selected list of recipes (created and tested by the author) is also provided after the stories. I might try a couple someday in the distant future.

As always, I rate each story individually.

Ernest's Choice – 4 Stars

Told from four third-person POVs, this is the story of Chef Ernest’s rise, fall, and rise before the finale. The story comes in stages, revealing the mystery toward the end. It’s a solid start to the collection.

A Little Revenge – 4 Stars

Detective Inspector Clark looks at the messy kitchen with two dead bodies covered in blood and wonders just how much went wrong. The dead man is Maurice Miller, and his wife is missing. What had happened? Well, the story comes in multiple third-person POVs, providing the necessary answers but not all. All I can say is that someone made a wise decision.

A Stroke of Luck – 3.5 Stars

A mobster story with some cocktails and food! It comes in the first-person narration by Andrew, a journalist. The plot, setting, and delivery are well done. Just that, I’m not much into mobster and mafia stories.

Seventeen Minutes – 4 Stars

Joyce and her husband George go to the Amazon rainforest for a holiday. Joyce is unhappy about her marriage, though she’s not sure what to do. The trip gives her an idea, though. The story comes in Joyce’s third-person POV. This was quite interesting and uses food differently.

The Feast – 4.5 Stars

Dee and Finn have been having dinner at Eric Strutter’s remote mansion in the woods. Erin is Finn’s childhood friend, calling out of nowhere after 15 years. Both suspect something wrong, but do they have the chance to find out and escape? Oh, this is such an intriguing theme. I won’t reveal anything. Easily the best in the collection.

The Secret Sauce – 4 Stars

Chef Jeffrey’s publisher hires celebrity food writer Desdemona to work on his new recipe book. They are making his final recipe, the most famous mushroom sauce. But Jeffrey has a secret ingredient he doesn’t want to share. So, how does he protect his recipe? This one has the right amount of tension and anticipation. The ending stretches a bit but is necessary for his character arc.

Sweet Darkness – 4 Stars

Ginny is upset that Iris, the new mom in town, takes over the parents’ committee. She has a plan ready for revenge during their meeting. However, as people and food come together, things may not be the way they seem. This is a steady-paced story with increasing tension towards the end. What happened? What will happen?

Marcel – 3.5 Stars

Nora goes to a remote countryside village to meet her friend Dani and her new house, Marcel. What’s it about the house that Dani is willing to stay in it forever? While the story is intriguing, the ending is quite open. I’m also not sure about the food connection.

Library of Emotions (Bonus Short Story, unthemed)

This is a dystopian story where people can request to experience a single emotion for 30 minutes in a library. A lovely story. Short and poignant. (4.5 stars)

As you can see, except for 2 stories, the rest touch 4, and one of them really stands out. All the stories are of decent size and easy to read in a few minutes. Stick to one per day for maximum enjoyment.

To summarize, Pass The Cyanide is a worthy collection of food mysteries that brings a diversity of sub-themes and seamlessly blends them with the central thread. Grab this book and enjoy it with a dozen Gulab Jamuns or more!

My thanks to BookSirens and the author for the electronic ARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinions about the book.

Profile Image for MiniMicroPup (X Liscombe).
532 reviews14 followers
November 5, 2023
Crafty. Dynamic. Amusing.

Food horror is my fav and although this was more like food horror adjacent, I still had a great time with it:
-A chef uses AI while overlooking human contribution to his success
-Things get out of hand when a man plans a giant feast but doesn’t plan to help
-An eager journalist hopes to get the scoop on a restaurant with a secret
-A woman on an Amazon tour (the rainforest) decides to feed the fish
-Catching up with an old friend from college is a never-ending feast
-A chef with an ingredient so secret he must protect it at all costs
-A PTA-type mom uses sweet treats to regain control of the committee
-A house has a hold on a woman’s work friend

—-
🐺Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags🐕
👍 These stories are not heavy on the gore, but it isn’t cozy horror or cozy mystery either. There’s murder and mayhem and it’s dark, just not full on horror dark. More like noir crime thriller vibes, but not in a police procedural/PI way.

🤖❤️ I love how the author talked about collaborating with AI and used it to show where she got some ideas and illustrations for scenes in the book. I do this often while reading, especially when I have trouble imagining someone or something. No worries if you dislike AI because the stories aren’t written by them (it certainly doesn’t feel that way) so you can just choose not to look up the images posted on Instagram.

😄 The author seemed accessible in the recipes and background notes throughout the book, without it being author intrusion. Those recipes and cocktails are a nice added touch that relate to stories and I’ll try a few out.

😉 All the stories start off interesting then go in a direction where we’re not quite sure what the dynamics are. So even when predictable, it felt like “Yes I was right!” rather than “ugh, yep, I was right”, if you know what I mean. If you want shocking, totally unpredictable twists this may not be a great read for you though.

🙂 The themes in each story are light in that they aren’t trying to weave any deep symbolism or commentary in, but they still hit and are entertaining.


Mood Reading Match Up:
-Gritty, dark short stories
-Mysteries, murder, mayhem involving food, food places, and celebrations.
-Suggestive and speculative (but plausible) horror and stories with “off” vibes

Content Heads-Up: Murder. Medical (heart attack). Body horror (off page; disfigurement). Drugging. Death.

Format: Digital from BookSirens on Kindle (I received an advance review copy at no cost and am leaving this review voluntarily).
Profile Image for alcessa.
95 reviews7 followers
November 7, 2023
Ha! There are too few stories in this book, I have only just started getting hungry :-)
At least each of them is a perfect morsel to savour.
I really appreciate how different they all are. I like the well-paced economy and the richness of the story-telling and also the fact one is allowed to establish rapport with some of the characters.
And it's not just that: at one point, my Germany-trained brain started whispering something like "Oh-oh, Jeffrey's not gonna get out of this. Surely everyone knows about the employers' responsibility and liability concerning safety of work places?" Guess what, he didn't get away with it. Well, not in the version completed by me, a possibility the author has so generously offered by stopping short at the right moment.
Also, since I really need to say this: the additional dystopian story at the end is simply wonderful, too. A delicious brain candy ;-) (sorry)
Profile Image for Amina (ⴰⵎⵉⵏⴰ).
1,574 reviews299 followers
December 11, 2023
At first I had some trouble diving in, as I thought there were mysteries to solve, with clues and everything but this wasn't the case. Howerver, I ended up enjoying most of the stories, espacially "Marcel, "The feast" and "A Stroke of Luck", these highly deserved four stars. The rest of the stories weren't that attractive and left no effect on me, but of course, this is my opinion as you'll see other readers were perfectly captivated by the whole set of short stories.
So, go ahead and pick it up, I'd love to know what you think about it!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Profile Image for Karmen.
Author 10 books46 followers
Read
November 8, 2023
I loved writing this book. Thinking of innovative ways to combine food and murder was a fun exercise in creative thinking, and possibly a surefire way to scare off any potential dinner guests. I hope you'll enjoy the stories and be brave enough to try out one or two recipes.

Let me know if there are any characters you'd love to see again in the next books in this series.
Profile Image for K.
528 reviews28 followers
October 13, 2023
Thank you to BookSirens for this ARC. I have given this anthology five stars not because it was the most incredible writing, or because the plots were completely mind-blowing, but because this book just left me feeling happy. It was a lovely collection to read. The first story hooked me immediately; I loved the concept and was surprised by the twist. As the book progressed, I found myself in all sorts of different story environments but every single one felt believable, and they all managed to convey a sense of character quickly. I have never come across "culinary noir" before, but I was delighted to see that this didn't just mean Hannibal-esque recipes - there were vegan ideas too! I'm definitely going to make the beetroot carpaccio.

I will definitely be on the lookout for the first book in this series, and I'm keen for more to come too!
1,769 reviews24 followers
January 28, 2024
Now here is a captivating read filled with shocking short stories that will definitely keep you enthralled through the grittiest side of human nature and how we some act out their devious deeds without a second thought. I enjoyed it emencely and once I started reading couldn't stop until I'd read it through shivering now and then. Acquire " Pass the Cyanide " so you yourself can experience its intriguing tales. Kat
Profile Image for Poushali (whatposhreads).
29 reviews11 followers
November 7, 2023
Omg this is so good and it gets sinister and even better as you progress through the short stories and they will leave you breathless and high . I’m so glad I’ve read this and looking forward to reading more by this author. Honoured to have had an opportunity to to read this ARC
Profile Image for Alice.
373 reviews21 followers
November 24, 2023
Pass the Cyanide, by Karmen Špiljak, brings together eight distinct short stories sharing a common theme: food.

The title may suggest that poison is central to many of the pieces, but the author casts her net far wider.

While an unauthorised extra ingredient is at the heart of two of the stories – Ernest’s Choice and Sweet Darkness – the collection also encompasses consumption by hungry non-human entities, and kitchens/dining rooms as locations for murder and other crimes.

Both of the poison-themed stories are centred around revenge, a secondary theme that also features in (unsurprisingly) A Little Revenge and Seventeen Minutes, a pair of stories in which characters get back at unsatisfactory partners.

In Seventeen Minutes and Sweet Darkness in particular, it’s fun and satisfying to watch unpleasant people get their comeuppance.

We also often see characters who are “in too deep” turn to desperate methods of self-preservation, and this makes Ernest’s Choice, A Stroke of Luck, and The Secret Sauce especially gripping.

I additionally appreciated the Serbian setting of A Stroke of Luck, and the Brazilian setting of Seventeen Minutes.

My personal favourite stories in Pass the Cyanide, though, were those with a supernatural vibe.

In The Feast, married couple Finn and Dee find themselves politely trapped on a weekend stay at the country mansion of Finn’s old friend, Eric.

It turns out Eric needs to consume something unconventional to stay alive and, as with many of the other pieces in this collection, your first thought isn’t necessarily the correct one! Let’s just say, if Eric needed an income, a job as a hospital chaplain would suit him perfectly.

Marcel, meanwhile, is an imaginative and enjoyably creepy tale about a lonely house that hungers for people.

Pass the Cyanide is an entertaining and eclectic short story collection.
Profile Image for Billy Buttons.
Author 19 books193 followers
October 31, 2023
The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
30th October 2023
TITLE: PASS THE CYANIDE, COOKING WITH CYANIDE, BOOK 2
AUTHOR: KARMEN ŠPILJAK

Star Rating: 5

‘A cleverly plotted set of shorts; dark, gritty – and food themed! Highly recommended!’ The Wishing Shelf

REVIEW
I must say, I very much enjoyed this set of shorts from the talented pen of Karmen Špiljak. You see, I enjoy a story that’s a little twisted; that's dark and grim and possibly even keeps you up at night. And that is what you’ll find here. The author has put together a compelling set of crime-based shorts packed full of enticingly odd characters, lots of clever twists (often at the end) and, best of all, they all seem to be food-themed. Now, how’s that for originality!
In terms of the writing style, it's excellent. When writing a short story, you can't procrastinate; the story needs to get going from the first sentence. The author seems to understand this; as a result, you’ll never be bored reading this book, and the pacing is spot on. There's also plenty of dialogue which I liked, the author successfully using it to not only develop the characters, but also the plots.
In terms of who is Pass the Cyanide for, I suspect any reader who enjoys the macabre will find this book thoroughly compelling. And if you happen to be a bit of a cook too, you'll enjoy the clever way the author has integrated food with mystery. You even get to find out how long piranhas take to pick a man to the bone. About seventeen minutes it seems!

A ‘Wishing Shelf’ Book Review
www.thewsa.co.uk
566 reviews10 followers
November 22, 2023
Thank you to BookSirens for this ARC. I have given this anthology five stars not because it was the most incredible writing, or because the plots were completely mind-blowing, but because this book just left me feeling happy. It was a lovely collection to read.

The first story hooked me immediately; I loved the concept and was surprised by the twist. Špiljak succeeds in bringing these people to life. Then killing some of them. The plots are fun, the twists keep coming, and the characters are fresh. This is a collection of eight short stories with all the circumstances and momentum of the wildly entertaining mystery &crime noir.

The only major drawback to these stories is that they are not long enough to get really invested in, but they are enjoyable reads nonetheless.

On a scale of five stars, I would give this collection of stories a solid three and a half stars.

As with all my literary ramblings, this is just my five cents worth.
Profile Image for Esther.
30 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2023
I really enjoyed this book because it combines two of my favourite things, cooking and mystery! It’s a collection of short stories that are completely different. I felt it was modern, fun and each story is very different ranging from murder to supernatural. Each story includes interesting characters and the writing is good and makes them flow, keeping the reader engaged in each one. I read it quickly and wanted to keep going every time I finished one.

I loved the addition of the recipes which brought the stories to life even more and there is a great collection of book club questions too. It’s inspired me to read the first one in the series and I will definitely be following the author for new work too.

Thanks to Book Sirens for providing me access to an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. I definitely recommend!
1 review1 follower
December 18, 2023
Great book to travel! From Mexican Riviera Maya, this book has took all my attention. Since this is the book after "Add Cyanide to Taste", I knew it could be good, but it was amazing! Hope to see a 3rd book of this short stories.
Profile Image for A.K. Nevermore.
Author 26 books263 followers
March 12, 2024
This second installment of short stories was as engaging as the first. I really am in awe of Ms. Spiljak's ability to create such intricate worlds on so few pages.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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