Writing the Culinary Mystery: Recipes for Death and Detection

With or without the addition of poisonous compounds, fabulous meals and delicious desserts have a long history in crime fiction. The connection between them is as appealing now as it was in 1934, when Fer de Lance, Rex Stout’s first book featuring gourmand Nero Wolfe, was published. The featured recipes in the thirty-two novels that followed Stout’s debut were so popular they live on in various iterations of cookbooks published independently of the original stories.

Ninety years later, books that include recipes retain their hold on our imagination, from Ruth Reichl’s memoir Tender at the Bone, to scores of cozy and traditional mysteries. Although Reichl was a professional chef and food writer, and Nero Wolfe’s fictional chef was as brilliant in the kitchen as the detective was in solving crimes, that level of excellence isn’t a requirement for writers who want to add some literal spice, perhaps in the form of cinnamon and nutmeg, to their stories. There’s plenty of inspiration for readers as well, as evidenced by the number of recipes inspired by the “Delicious Death” cake that plays a role in Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced.

Unless you’re a creative chef capable of concocting something new, inventing recipes can be challenging, and there are rules for what writers can and can’t do. The late Dawn Dowdle, who edited The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers Cookbook, gave her contributing writers valuable advice on three possible paths to including recipes not wholly their own.

1. Adapt a recipe, making small changes that don’t materially change the dish. In this case, you must credit the author of the original recipe. Consider adding information on how or why you made those adjustments, which can add another layer of interest (or intrigue!) to the text.
2. Create a dish that was inspired by another writer’s recipe but makes substantial changes to the list of ingredients and/or techniques. Acknowledgment of the original author is still required.
3. Rework a recipe in a manner that is transformative in terms of ingredients, techniques, and presentation. Citing the original recipe is still recommended.

Some writers depend on a group of friends or beta readers to test their recipes, and this is a great way to engage fans. Although I’ve not yet written a culinary mystery I am tempted to do so, inspired by my love of food and a backlog of family recipes. For my contribution to The Mystery Writers Cookbook, however, the motivation was a pantry that featured wilting spinach, plain yogurt that was perilously close to its expiration date, and a dusty box of spinach fettuccine. The instructions for the dish are below, but it’s a true no-recipe recipe and can be adapted to whatever is at hand. And maybe, someday, it will be the centerpiece of a new mystery.

Green Noodles with Spinach

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 box (12 ounces) spinach fettuccine (or any pasta you have, though something colorful is nice)

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1-2 cloves minced garlic

One bunch of spinach [frozen is fine]

 ½ cup (or more, to taste) plain yogurt or sour cream

¼ cup Parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)

Salt and pepper to taste

A pinch of nutmeg (optional)

5+ leaves minced fresh basil (optional)

Instructions:

1) Cook pasta according to package directions.

2) While the pasta cooks, heat olive oil in deep skillet or pot.

 3) Add onion, mushrooms, and garlic and sauté lightly.

4) Add spinach, cover, and cook until spinach is wilted.

5) Drain excess water from the cooked spinach.

6) Add cooked pasta.

7) Add yogurt, Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper to taste and mix well.

8) Let cook, covered, for a minute or 2 and add basil and/or nutmeg, if desired.

Lori Robbins

Lori Robbins is the Amazon bestselling author of the On Pointe and Master Class mystery series and a contributor to The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers Cookbook. She won two Silver Falchions, the Indie Award for Best Mystery, and second place in the Daphne du Maurier Award for Mystery and Suspense. Her short stories include “Leading Ladies” which received an Honorable Mention in the 2022 Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology. A former dancer, Lori performed with Ballet Hispanico and the St. Louis Ballet, but it was her commercial work, for Pavlova Perfume and Macy’s, that paid the bills. After ten very lean years onstage she became an English teacher and now writes full-time. Lori is a co-president of the New York/ Tristate Sisters in Crime and an active member of MWA.
Her experiences as a dancer, teacher, writer, and mother of six have made her an expert in the homicidal tendencies everyday life inspires.

You can find her at lorirobbins.com

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