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The Neil Flambé Capers #6
Neil Flambe and the Duel in the Desert
Neil, “the flamboyant, irrepressible chef” ( Kirkus Reviews ), hits the road in his food truck and drives right into a new case in the sixth book in The Neil Flambé Capers, the culinary mystery series celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey calls “good fun.”Neil has lost his beloved restaurant. Though he misses it dearly, he and his friend Larry are headed on a new adventure. They are travelling to the Salsa Verde ranch in Arizona with their new food truck to participate in the legendary food truck gathering, the Broiling Man Festival. Once he arrives, Neil discovers that the Verde ranch is in danger of foreclosure, at the mercy of a developer who wants to turn it into housing and a factory farm. The only hope for the ranch is a treasure map left behind by the very first Verde, a chef who discovered a mine while escaping from a murderous army colonel. Neil and Larry are on a quest to find the treasure, but each time they think they’re close to finding something, they come up with nothing. Will the boys find the mine—and the treasure—in time to save Salsa Verde ranch?
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 23, 2016
6 people are currently reading
128 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Sylvester
59 books156 followersKEVIN SYLVESTER is an award winning illustrator, writer and broadcaster.
His new sci-fi series MiNRs is now out from Simon and Schuster. MINRs was named a 2017 Honour Red Maple and Manitoba Reader's Honour book and a 2015 CLA Honour Book. MINRs2 is out. MINRs3 will be released in 2018.
His series The Neil Flambé Capers is already a bestseller and critical success. Students across Ontario picked 'Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders' as the Silver Birch winner for fiction in 2011!
There are 6 books in the series so far, Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert is the latest.
Super-chef Gordon Ramsay calls the series “Good Fun”.
Kevin also does picture books - "Super-Duper Monster Viewer" is out from Groundwood. GREAT (with the Gretzky family) is out from Penguin.
Kevin’s first picture book 'Splinters' was published in fall 2010 by Tundra. It’s about a young girl who only wants to play hockey, but the mean coach and her daughters won’t let her. Can her fairy goaltender come to the rescue?
Kevin non-fiction titles include Follow Your Money, Baseballogy, Basketballogoy, Sports Hall of Weird and Gold Medal for Weird.
Kevin has been a broadcaster on national radio in Canada for years and years and has covered eight Olympic Games. He also produced documentaries on topics ranging from racism in hockey to the history of church bells in Canada.
He now splits his time between his attic studio in Toronto and the radio. He was named a Massey Journalism Scholar in 2007 and used the time to study theology at the University of Toronto.
His new sci-fi series MiNRs is now out from Simon and Schuster. MINRs was named a 2017 Honour Red Maple and Manitoba Reader's Honour book and a 2015 CLA Honour Book. MINRs2 is out. MINRs3 will be released in 2018.
His series The Neil Flambé Capers is already a bestseller and critical success. Students across Ontario picked 'Neil Flambé and the Marco Polo Murders' as the Silver Birch winner for fiction in 2011!
There are 6 books in the series so far, Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert is the latest.
Super-chef Gordon Ramsay calls the series “Good Fun”.
Kevin also does picture books - "Super-Duper Monster Viewer" is out from Groundwood. GREAT (with the Gretzky family) is out from Penguin.
Kevin’s first picture book 'Splinters' was published in fall 2010 by Tundra. It’s about a young girl who only wants to play hockey, but the mean coach and her daughters won’t let her. Can her fairy goaltender come to the rescue?
Kevin non-fiction titles include Follow Your Money, Baseballogy, Basketballogoy, Sports Hall of Weird and Gold Medal for Weird.
Kevin has been a broadcaster on national radio in Canada for years and years and has covered eight Olympic Games. He also produced documentaries on topics ranging from racism in hockey to the history of church bells in Canada.
He now splits his time between his attic studio in Toronto and the radio. He was named a Massey Journalism Scholar in 2007 and used the time to study theology at the University of Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 1, 2016
Really good book, about hunting for gold in the Arizona desert. I love Neil and Larry's banter, miss more cooking puns. I also missed all the other characters, Isabella, Jones, and Nakamura, and even Gary. I also really love the cooking duels, which didn't happen in this instalment of the series at all.
Hopefully the next book in some frozen climes will get back to some of these things, but with the same fun adventure always present in Neil Flambé's life.
Hopefully the next book in some frozen climes will get back to some of these things, but with the same fun adventure always present in Neil Flambé's life.
March 14, 2016
Review originally posted at www.lostinagreatbook.com
Neil is back! When we last saw our intrepid chef and well-nosed detective, his beloved restaurant was being torn down, and he was left without a kitchen to call his own. Never fear, Larry is on the case, and the ‘Frankenwagon’ – a modified food truck with all the best parts of the restaurant is on the road, heading for Arizona. Neil in a food truck? Surprisingly, he’s quite enjoying it … until another mystery appears.
The Neil Flambé mysteries have evolved over the course of the series, and the mysteries have become more complex. Neil has learned to rely not only on his nose, but also on his friends for support and knowledge, and he’s become much more comfortable about not being the ‘know it all’ in the room. As I’ve mentioned before in previous reviews, I really appreciate how Sylvester has kept things fresh in the series by allowing Neil to grow up a little and to learn from his adventures. While he’s still a little insensitive at times, he’s learning to relax and to go with the flow at times. Case in point: when he finds out that the Broiling Man Festival isn’t the international cook-off he was led to believe, but rather a celebration of food and cooking, even Larry can’t believe how well Neil takes things in stride, and how much he throws himself into the fun of cooking for others. Neil even shares one of his recipes – and his spice mix! Neil knows that he’s reached a crossroads, and, like his mentor Angel, coming to the Salsa Verde ranch is just the retreat he needs to regroup and figure out where to go from here.
image
copyright: Kevin Sylvester
All joking (and punning) aside, this is truly a buddy road story. Neil and Larry are on the hunt for a mysterious gold mine, all the while being chased by a ‘Wyatt Earp-gone-bad’ lookalike who is determined to stop them by any means possible. Flash floods, donkey rides, desert storms, wild car chases and drone adventures abound, but I’ll give Sylvester credit – he manages to find not just one, but several innovative uses for a scuba suit in the Arizona desert. Larry’s unconventional aptitudes paired with Neil’s uncanny sense of smell manage to save them more than once, and it’s a fun ride to see how far the two of them have come and how well they work together.
One thing I always love about the Flambé stories are the innovative legends and back stories created to lead Neil into the heart of the mystery. This time around, we have not one but two versions of the same camp-fire family saga, and it’s up to Neil to figure out which story is closest to what actually happened. It’s a neat twist, as it does give Neil and Larry a chance to consider the other perspective and to question everything they've learned along the way. It’s a sign of how Neil has matured that he begins to re-examine the origin stories more closely, and to trust his instincts more and more. That’s a good thing, because the *spoiler* cliffhanger ending would indicate that Neil is in very deep and very much alone in the next (and final!!) book.
While I think this book is probably one of the more standalone friendly books in the series, I do feel that you’ll pick up on a lot of the history between not only Neil and Larry but also between the other characters if you've read the other books in the series. Not only have all the previous mysteries contributed towards Neil’s abilities to solve mysteries and suss out clues, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun to read about his travels, culinary discoveries and adventures. This is one of my favourites in the series, and a must-read for Flambé fans.
Neil is back! When we last saw our intrepid chef and well-nosed detective, his beloved restaurant was being torn down, and he was left without a kitchen to call his own. Never fear, Larry is on the case, and the ‘Frankenwagon’ – a modified food truck with all the best parts of the restaurant is on the road, heading for Arizona. Neil in a food truck? Surprisingly, he’s quite enjoying it … until another mystery appears.
The Neil Flambé mysteries have evolved over the course of the series, and the mysteries have become more complex. Neil has learned to rely not only on his nose, but also on his friends for support and knowledge, and he’s become much more comfortable about not being the ‘know it all’ in the room. As I’ve mentioned before in previous reviews, I really appreciate how Sylvester has kept things fresh in the series by allowing Neil to grow up a little and to learn from his adventures. While he’s still a little insensitive at times, he’s learning to relax and to go with the flow at times. Case in point: when he finds out that the Broiling Man Festival isn’t the international cook-off he was led to believe, but rather a celebration of food and cooking, even Larry can’t believe how well Neil takes things in stride, and how much he throws himself into the fun of cooking for others. Neil even shares one of his recipes – and his spice mix! Neil knows that he’s reached a crossroads, and, like his mentor Angel, coming to the Salsa Verde ranch is just the retreat he needs to regroup and figure out where to go from here.
image
copyright: Kevin Sylvester
All joking (and punning) aside, this is truly a buddy road story. Neil and Larry are on the hunt for a mysterious gold mine, all the while being chased by a ‘Wyatt Earp-gone-bad’ lookalike who is determined to stop them by any means possible. Flash floods, donkey rides, desert storms, wild car chases and drone adventures abound, but I’ll give Sylvester credit – he manages to find not just one, but several innovative uses for a scuba suit in the Arizona desert. Larry’s unconventional aptitudes paired with Neil’s uncanny sense of smell manage to save them more than once, and it’s a fun ride to see how far the two of them have come and how well they work together.
One thing I always love about the Flambé stories are the innovative legends and back stories created to lead Neil into the heart of the mystery. This time around, we have not one but two versions of the same camp-fire family saga, and it’s up to Neil to figure out which story is closest to what actually happened. It’s a neat twist, as it does give Neil and Larry a chance to consider the other perspective and to question everything they've learned along the way. It’s a sign of how Neil has matured that he begins to re-examine the origin stories more closely, and to trust his instincts more and more. That’s a good thing, because the *spoiler* cliffhanger ending would indicate that Neil is in very deep and very much alone in the next (and final!!) book.
While I think this book is probably one of the more standalone friendly books in the series, I do feel that you’ll pick up on a lot of the history between not only Neil and Larry but also between the other characters if you've read the other books in the series. Not only have all the previous mysteries contributed towards Neil’s abilities to solve mysteries and suss out clues, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun to read about his travels, culinary discoveries and adventures. This is one of my favourites in the series, and a must-read for Flambé fans.
February 24, 2021
I loved this series and it breaks my heart that this is the last one.
April 25, 2017
Neil Flambe and cousin Larry are travelling to Arizona in a home-made food truck built out of a VW van and an airbus. They arrive at the Salsa Verde ranch to discover a secret map that leads to a hidden gold mine. The novel is full of shady characters and they travel through the desert being led by clues that only Neil with his refined palate can smell.
This latest in the Flambe series is even better than the last few. The plot is more linear and exciting, the wild west setting is more appealing and the mystery is sufficiently believable. Larry is,as ever, always at the ready with a hilarious pun for every dangerous situation they face. The cliffhanger ending leaves you ready and eager to read the next one in the series.
Recommended for middle grade readers who enjoy mystery series.
This latest in the Flambe series is even better than the last few. The plot is more linear and exciting, the wild west setting is more appealing and the mystery is sufficiently believable. Larry is,as ever, always at the ready with a hilarious pun for every dangerous situation they face. The cliffhanger ending leaves you ready and eager to read the next one in the series.
Recommended for middle grade readers who enjoy mystery series.
February 11, 2018
This book had all the traditional goofy fun and random trivia facts that make a Neil Flambe book great! The banter between Larry and Neil is still delightful; I miss the rest of the cast though, and I wish they could have come along for the ride; hopefully, they'll be in the next book. I'm not so sure about Neil trying to turn over a new leaf though; I mean, it's good for character development but I have more fun reading about the cocky chef who throws spatulas. Ah well. There's always the next book for that (and after that ending, there better be a next book!)
July 22, 2024
We knew there were no more Neil Flambe books after this one, and it really seemed like they were setting this up to be the end of the series. Neil continues his journey of becoming a genuinely better person, and it felt like the end of the series. SPOILERS: so we were devastated to discover a twist at the end that is a direct set up to the next book THAT NEVER GOT PUBLISHED. It was disheartening to discover the series ended because of declining sales, and not because Sylvester had concluded Neil's story.
June 21, 2024
A great book but a mystrios and sort of sad ending.
April 7, 2016
Special thanks to Kevin Sylvester and the lostinagoodbook.com blog for the free copy of this novel, and the autographed bookplate.
“Neil Flambe and the Duel in the Desert” is the sixth book in Sylvester’s “Neil Flambe” YA mystery series. The series revolves around a talented young chef, Neil, who is trying to make his way in the cooking world, all the while solving mysteries with his cousin and sidekick Larry. In this particular novel, Neil and Larry end up driving their food truck to a food festival in Arizona, where they become involved in a quest for an abandoned gold mine and an age-old family mystery.
I previously read Sylvester’s MINRS, which is another altogether different YA novel, but was unfamiliar with the author’s Neil Flambe series. That should be taken into account when reading this review, as I can only base it on my knowledge of this novel only. However, I can say that “Duel” can be read as a stand-alone novel, as knowledge of the characters and previous plot is not necessary in order to grasp a solid understanding of the story.
This series has the teenage sleuthing of Nancy Drew (with a male protagonist of course), with a little bit of cooking thrown in! Neil is a very likable character (as is Larry) and the novel itself is easy to read. Sylvester’s art dots the pages of the novel (which is pretty commonplace if you know Sylvester at all), which adds originality and creativity to the book itself. The plot is strong, and smart, and the language is real and honest. Sylvester tells the story from the point of view of Neil (a teenage boy) and it definitely appears that Sylvester is comfortable and familiar with this perspective!
This YA series is completely different from anything I have read before, and I would recommend it for young adult readers who are looking for something new. This novel would particularly hit a chord with male readers, as Neil is relatable and charming. Be warned though- this novel ends in a cliff-hanger, so be prepared to be left in suspense!
“Neil Flambe and the Duel in the Desert” is the sixth book in Sylvester’s “Neil Flambe” YA mystery series. The series revolves around a talented young chef, Neil, who is trying to make his way in the cooking world, all the while solving mysteries with his cousin and sidekick Larry. In this particular novel, Neil and Larry end up driving their food truck to a food festival in Arizona, where they become involved in a quest for an abandoned gold mine and an age-old family mystery.
I previously read Sylvester’s MINRS, which is another altogether different YA novel, but was unfamiliar with the author’s Neil Flambe series. That should be taken into account when reading this review, as I can only base it on my knowledge of this novel only. However, I can say that “Duel” can be read as a stand-alone novel, as knowledge of the characters and previous plot is not necessary in order to grasp a solid understanding of the story.
This series has the teenage sleuthing of Nancy Drew (with a male protagonist of course), with a little bit of cooking thrown in! Neil is a very likable character (as is Larry) and the novel itself is easy to read. Sylvester’s art dots the pages of the novel (which is pretty commonplace if you know Sylvester at all), which adds originality and creativity to the book itself. The plot is strong, and smart, and the language is real and honest. Sylvester tells the story from the point of view of Neil (a teenage boy) and it definitely appears that Sylvester is comfortable and familiar with this perspective!
This YA series is completely different from anything I have read before, and I would recommend it for young adult readers who are looking for something new. This novel would particularly hit a chord with male readers, as Neil is relatable and charming. Be warned though- this novel ends in a cliff-hanger, so be prepared to be left in suspense!
June 20, 2016
Larry slipped into an even thicker cowboy drawl. "Gravestone, prepare to meet your maker. This town ain't big enough for the two of us."
"There are three of us," Neil said.
Larry continued. "Pay no attention to my sidekick, Slappy Neil. He's just here for the comic relief."
...
Larry ignored him. "I know what I'm missing! Spurs." He began making a sound effect with every step. "Clink, clink, clink," he said, continuing to march forward. (p. 59)
Neil could tell Larry was about to say something else goofy, so he raised a spatula and held it near Larry's rear end.
"A food truck? Well, yes and no. It's actually a magical mystery - OUCH!!!!! HEY! I mean, yes, yes it is" - Larry reached back and rubbed his butt - " a food truck."
"There are three of us," Neil said.
Larry continued. "Pay no attention to my sidekick, Slappy Neil. He's just here for the comic relief."
...
Larry ignored him. "I know what I'm missing! Spurs." He began making a sound effect with every step. "Clink, clink, clink," he said, continuing to march forward. (p. 59)
Neil could tell Larry was about to say something else goofy, so he raised a spatula and held it near Larry's rear end.
"A food truck? Well, yes and no. It's actually a magical mystery - OUCH!!!!! HEY! I mean, yes, yes it is" - Larry reached back and rubbed his butt - " a food truck."
June 6, 2016
Cleve, witty, and not just for the YA crowd! I actually found that this book, although designated as a YA book, was a fun, light read for adults, too - especially adults interested in this genre. The book is creative, and kept my attention. I'm passing it along to a friend's daughter, now, and I'm sure she'll enjoy it, too. Kept my attention, and I would for sure recommend it.
Read
June 5, 2016won from GoodReads FirstReads
the first of this series I've read, but it came well-recommended, and did not disappoint. More grown-up than i expected (I expect if I'd started at the first, I would feel the progression through each book), and still funny, smart and charming. And ends on a cliff-hanger!! Good thing I can satisfy my need to know more by going back and reading the first ones;)
the first of this series I've read, but it came well-recommended, and did not disappoint. More grown-up than i expected (I expect if I'd started at the first, I would feel the progression through each book), and still funny, smart and charming. And ends on a cliff-hanger!! Good thing I can satisfy my need to know more by going back and reading the first ones;)
May 29, 2016
Neil Flambe tries to escape solving mysteries, but that's not going to happen. This time he has to save a ranch and find a mine in the deserts of Arizona. All the while escape the police since he's being chased for doing crimes he didn't commit, outsmart another family who seeks the same mine and make several promises to people who saved his butt along the way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 4, 2016
A modern day take on the western shoot out using current technology to appeal to young readers. Thank you Goodreads First Reads for my free copy.
Want to read
April 8, 2016I won this book via Goodreads First Reads Giveaway. I received a hardcover copy.
May 14, 2016
Neil Flambe and the Duel in the Desert-Kevin Sylvester
My grandson rates this book as "COOL"
I received this book through Goodreads
My grandson rates this book as "COOL"
I received this book through Goodreads
May 26, 2016
Will be saving this as a gift for an older child.
November 29, 2016
These books are amazing. Count wait for more!
Read
December 12, 2018i thought the last cliffhanger was bad.. but...
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews