Just Desserts

Simon Bognor #5

by Tim Heald

When a restaurateur dies suspiciously, Bognor is forced to eat his way to the truth.Dinner service is over, the staff has left, and Escoffier Savarin Smith is about to tuck into a couple of bottles of champagne. He seals the windows with electrical tape, fiddles with a canister of gas, and begins to drink. When his staff arrives the next morning to open the restaurant, the champagne is drunk, the air has been poisoned, and the greatest chef in England is dead—seemingly by his own hand. For Board of Trade investigator Simon Bognor, this is a crushing blow. Although he moves through life in a permanent state of near-bafflement, Bognor knows his way around a restaurant, and Smith's was the finest in Britain. It was also a clearinghouse for international espionage, which may have led to the chef's peculiar demise. Although usually hesitant to put himself in danger, for once Bognor is unafraid. After all, there are great meals at stake.

'Dazzling and star-spangled [prose].' -Dorothy B. Hughes, author of In a Lonely Place
'Crime with a P.G. Wodehouse flair.' -Chicago Tribune
'A constant pleasure.' -The Daily Telegraph

Genres: Mystery

190 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Tim Heald (b. 1944) is a journalist and author of mysteries. Born in Dorchester, England, he studied modern history at Oxford before becoming a reporter and columnist for the Sunday Times. He began writing novels in the early 1970s, starting with Unbecoming Habits (1973), which introduced Simon Bognor, a defiantly lazy investigator for the British Board of Trade. Heald followed Bognor through nine more novels, including Murder at Moose Jaw (1981) and Business Unusual (1989) before taking a two-decade break from the series, which returned in 2011 with Death in the Opening Chapter.

Reviews

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

More fun to read than my rating suggests. Like most British mystery protagonists, Simon Bognor attended Oxford. But there the similarity with other books of this genre stops. A mid-thirties guy, he seems older, "plump and florid," an "amiable twit," as someone puts it in the book. Bognor is cleally inept and seems to solve problems entirely by accident.

He is matched by an idiotic boss named Parkinson and a somewhat dowdy and prickly live-in girlfriend named Monica.

This is more of an espionage caper than a conventional mystery. It's fun in its way, especially in its send up of the haute cuisine and wine professions. A prestigious restaurant, for instance, makes its reputation with a chocolate omelette (which also needs four kinds of rum).

Readers who understand cricket (I haven't a clue!) will enjoy the entire chapter devoted to the sport.

[Belinda Avdek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simon Bognor is getting more used to and cleverer at being an investigator as the series progresses. He still does not like the job but is more willing to put an effort into solving his instructions to look into the death of a notable chief and his alter ego. This takes Simon into an interesting world of gourmet wines and foods. I spent a lot of time looking up the foods and found the journey a lot of fun. I enjoy this series because it takes me to the bowels of enterprises I’m not familiar with.

[Tommy Verhaegen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geweldig verhaal met de anti-held Simon Bognor. Actie, intrige en vooral veel humor. Per ongeluk in zijn baan terechtgekomen op de 'speciale afdeling' van het ministerie van hanel moet Simon een verdacht overlijden onderzoeken in het cullinaire milieu met verbindingen in de spionage wereld. Zoals gewoonlijk weet hij van geen hout pijlen te maken en probeert er dan maar van zijn opdracht te genieten door overvloedig te gaan tafelen - aan eten en drinken immers geen gebrek, integendeel. Zijn verschijning zet onbedoeld alleerlei machinaties in beweging inclusief enkel extra moorden. Zijn geklungel leidt uiteindelijk tot een toch nog ietwat onverwachte ontknoping.
Engelse sfeer met internationale verwikkelingen in Frankrijk en Acapulco.
Best niet lezen op een lege maag, verraderlijk met snacks en een glas bij de hand...