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Three Crime Novels by Anthony Bourdain: Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, and The Bobby Gold Stories
Rediscover the legendary Anthony Bourdain through his three early crime novels full of criminal cooks, bloody kitchens, and extra-sharp knives.
It was the seedy 1990s, and Anthony Bourdain was an anonymous headband-clad chef in New York. Sweating over gas ranges with criminals-turned–prep cooks, he loved the camaraderie of cleaving beef bones with the troublemakers of the world. It was all part of a good kitchen, and to him, it was art.
Bourdain’s first book, Bone in the Throat, was pulled from the entrails of this world. The mafia caper follows wannabe chef Tommy’s stint at a red sauce joint in Little Italy, unaware that it’s in trouble with the mob—and now he is too. After writing, Bourdain headed to St. Martin to “straighten himself out.” Soon came Gone Bamboo, a thriller that follows Henry, an assassin who thinks he can hide in St. Martin after a botched murder. Then Bourdain published Kitchen Confidential, the book that made him a legend. But before cleaning up his act for good, Bourdain had one final job: to write The Bobby Gold Stories, which follows Bobby as he takes a job at a mobbed-up club, then falls for a fiery cook who’s more trouble than he can handle.
Full of knife-slingers, fast-talkers, and the kitchens that harbor them, these books reveal Bourdain’s mind before his fame. “You can find him, I think, in these early novels” (Eater), and he's Bourdain as you’ve never known him before.
It was the seedy 1990s, and Anthony Bourdain was an anonymous headband-clad chef in New York. Sweating over gas ranges with criminals-turned–prep cooks, he loved the camaraderie of cleaving beef bones with the troublemakers of the world. It was all part of a good kitchen, and to him, it was art.
Bourdain’s first book, Bone in the Throat, was pulled from the entrails of this world. The mafia caper follows wannabe chef Tommy’s stint at a red sauce joint in Little Italy, unaware that it’s in trouble with the mob—and now he is too. After writing, Bourdain headed to St. Martin to “straighten himself out.” Soon came Gone Bamboo, a thriller that follows Henry, an assassin who thinks he can hide in St. Martin after a botched murder. Then Bourdain published Kitchen Confidential, the book that made him a legend. But before cleaning up his act for good, Bourdain had one final job: to write The Bobby Gold Stories, which follows Bobby as he takes a job at a mobbed-up club, then falls for a fiery cook who’s more trouble than he can handle.
Full of knife-slingers, fast-talkers, and the kitchens that harbor them, these books reveal Bourdain’s mind before his fame. “You can find him, I think, in these early novels” (Eater), and he's Bourdain as you’ve never known him before.
608 pages, Paperback
Published July 28, 2026
About the author
Anthony Bourdain
78 books6,402 followersAnthony Michael Bourdain was an American celebrity chef, author, and travel documentarian. He starred in programs focusing on the exploration of international culture, cuisine, and the human condition.
Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of many professional kitchens during his career, which included several years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000).
Bourdain's first food and world-travel television show A Cook's Tour ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) and The Layover (2011–2013). In 2013, he began a three-season run as a judge on The Taste and consequently switched his travelogue programming to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Although best known for his culinary writings and television presentations, along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain also wrote both fiction and historical nonfiction.
Bourdain was a 1978 graduate of The Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of many professional kitchens during his career, which included several years spent as an executive chef at Brasserie Les Halles, in Manhattan. He first became known for his bestselling book Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (2000).
Bourdain's first food and world-travel television show A Cook's Tour ran for 35 episodes on the Food Network in 2002 and 2003. In 2005, he began hosting the Travel Channel's culinary and cultural adventure programs Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations (2005–2012) and The Layover (2011–2013). In 2013, he began a three-season run as a judge on The Taste and consequently switched his travelogue programming to CNN to host Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. Although best known for his culinary writings and television presentations, along with several books on food and cooking and travel adventures, Bourdain also wrote both fiction and historical nonfiction.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 24, 2026
Anthony Bourdain’s Three Crime Novels: Bone in the Throat, Gone Bamboo, and The Bobby Gold Stories joined me for an early-morning coffee, and apparently I’ve been seriously underestimating just how many lives this man lived. A huge thank you to Bloomsbury for the gifted copy. Did anyone else know Bourdain was writing mobsters, hit men, crooked kitchens, and very questionable life choices before Kitchen Confidential made him famous? Because I absolutely did not.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This collection brings together three of Bourdain’s early crime stories, and honestly, knowing what came later makes them even more interesting.
Bone in the Throat drops us into a Little Italy restaurant where wannabe chef Tommy discovers that working in a kitchen connected to the mob comes with considerably bigger problems than surviving dinner service. Gone Bamboo trades New York for St. Martin, where assassin Henry is attempting to disappear after a job goes sideways. Then The Bobby Gold Stories brings us Bobby, a guy working muscle for a mobbed-up club who falls for a cook who might be even more trouble than he is.
Very wholesome career choices all around. 😂
What I enjoyed most was catching little flashes of the Bourdain we would eventually come to know. The kitchens are sweaty, loud, messy, and filled with people who aren’t exactly concerned with following the rules. Food is everywhere, but so are knives, criminals, bad decisions, and that wonderfully dry Bourdain humor.
These aren’t polished culinary travel stories from the Bourdain most of us remember. They’re rougher and darker, and that’s part of what made reading them so fascinating. You can almost see him figuring out his voice on the page.
My coffee definitely deserved something stronger by the time the bodies started piling up. ☕️🔪
I finished this feeling like I’d discovered a hidden room in someone’s house I thought I already knew. It made me miss Bourdain, but it also reminded me just how much curiosity and storytelling he left behind.
What author surprised you when you discovered they had written something completely outside what you knew them for?
#AnthonyBourdain #ThreeCrimeNovels #CrimeFiction #MysteryBooks
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This collection brings together three of Bourdain’s early crime stories, and honestly, knowing what came later makes them even more interesting.
Bone in the Throat drops us into a Little Italy restaurant where wannabe chef Tommy discovers that working in a kitchen connected to the mob comes with considerably bigger problems than surviving dinner service. Gone Bamboo trades New York for St. Martin, where assassin Henry is attempting to disappear after a job goes sideways. Then The Bobby Gold Stories brings us Bobby, a guy working muscle for a mobbed-up club who falls for a cook who might be even more trouble than he is.
Very wholesome career choices all around. 😂
What I enjoyed most was catching little flashes of the Bourdain we would eventually come to know. The kitchens are sweaty, loud, messy, and filled with people who aren’t exactly concerned with following the rules. Food is everywhere, but so are knives, criminals, bad decisions, and that wonderfully dry Bourdain humor.
These aren’t polished culinary travel stories from the Bourdain most of us remember. They’re rougher and darker, and that’s part of what made reading them so fascinating. You can almost see him figuring out his voice on the page.
My coffee definitely deserved something stronger by the time the bodies started piling up. ☕️🔪
I finished this feeling like I’d discovered a hidden room in someone’s house I thought I already knew. It made me miss Bourdain, but it also reminded me just how much curiosity and storytelling he left behind.
What author surprised you when you discovered they had written something completely outside what you knew them for?
#AnthonyBourdain #ThreeCrimeNovels #CrimeFiction #MysteryBooks
October 8, 2026
"Bone In the Throat".. wiseguys vs restaurant staff in 1990s NYC Soho... entertaining, a bit dated but you can heard his voice in the writing and see him as one of the characters, a chef, of course, who is on heroin and enters rehab.
"Gone Bamboo- . A wiseguy visits St. Martin under a witness protection program which sets up repercussions with the local people. Some repeat characters from "Bone In the Throat". The book seemed unwieldly with too many characters and chapters that led nowhere...but did have quite a climactic battle. Little food writing even though one of the characters ran a beach shack restaurant.
The Bobby Gold Stories....short interconnected stories on Bobby Gold, a hitman who just got out of prison and is trying to restart his life. I enjoyed these stories the best and it could have been fleshed out into a long interesting book from its 100 pages. Of course, Bobby's girlfriend is a chef so there is some great food writing here. This is probably the best written of the three books.
All in all .. a mixed bag but certainly enjoyable for Bourdain fantatics
"Gone Bamboo- . A wiseguy visits St. Martin under a witness protection program which sets up repercussions with the local people. Some repeat characters from "Bone In the Throat". The book seemed unwieldly with too many characters and chapters that led nowhere...but did have quite a climactic battle. Little food writing even though one of the characters ran a beach shack restaurant.
The Bobby Gold Stories....short interconnected stories on Bobby Gold, a hitman who just got out of prison and is trying to restart his life. I enjoyed these stories the best and it could have been fleshed out into a long interesting book from its 100 pages. Of course, Bobby's girlfriend is a chef so there is some great food writing here. This is probably the best written of the three books.
All in all .. a mixed bag but certainly enjoyable for Bourdain fantatics
September 14, 2026
My God. Anthony Bourdain is a phenomenal writer -- if you're into The Sopranos, Scorcese, any sort of mob/gangster stories, this is for you. I loved the mix of culinary world and the mob world. I felt like I got a really intimate glimpse into Bourdain's brain that didn't translate to the way he ended his own life. The final series of stories really left a mark on me. Just wow.
October 16, 2026
Biased because I worship Bourdain but this was phenomenal.
September 11, 2026
A real disappointment. I was expecting something like a 'cozy mystery' type of novel. Not even close.
The first story Bone in the Throat I could not finish, I could not bear to even get halfway, due to being way over my allowable limit of profanity.
The second story Gone Bamboo was actually fairly good as a noir type novel or novelette about the world of hit men and protected witnesses. Bourdain said that Hollywood was somewhat interested in it as a movie script but told him they wanted the characters to grow by the end of the story, y'know, become better people or come to some kind of epiphany or something. But Bourdain maintained that the characters were irredeemable. So if that kind of thing is your cup of tea, have at it.
Still it was a chore for me to get through. I did not care for any of these characters and I suspect Bourdain did not like them much either.
So there ya go.
I wish I had not bought it. I wish I had checked out some other reviews of the novel ahead of time and cancelled the order.
The first story Bone in the Throat I could not finish, I could not bear to even get halfway, due to being way over my allowable limit of profanity.
The second story Gone Bamboo was actually fairly good as a noir type novel or novelette about the world of hit men and protected witnesses. Bourdain said that Hollywood was somewhat interested in it as a movie script but told him they wanted the characters to grow by the end of the story, y'know, become better people or come to some kind of epiphany or something. But Bourdain maintained that the characters were irredeemable. So if that kind of thing is your cup of tea, have at it.
Still it was a chore for me to get through. I did not care for any of these characters and I suspect Bourdain did not like them much either.
So there ya go.
I wish I had not bought it. I wish I had checked out some other reviews of the novel ahead of time and cancelled the order.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews