A Tasty Treat

Best-seller books, rock-star galas and sexual scandals . . . sounds like modern-day fodder, right? Well, guess again! This was all around in the 1500s in (what would eventually be) Italy. The Chef's Secret takes you back to rich (in so many ways) Papal times and all that that entailed. Of course there were murders, too, and the promised secret. Or maybe even two. Since I read an uncorrected proof that looked like it was cobbled together by sixth graders making a yearbook, I wasn't expecting much. Seriously, there was tape for binding. But I was surprised, and aside from a few stutters, it kept moving until the end.