Food matters in books. It helps to set the scene, build up characters and evoke a period, and it also symbolises comfort, security and domesticity. Yet in detective fiction, food can also be a method for murder. Everything is lovely at the family dinner, until somebody clutches their throat, turns blue in the face, and falls face forward into the soup.

Find more information about this episode and links to the books discussed at shedunnitshow.com/diningwithdeath. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you’re subscribed so you don’t miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice.

Kate Young is the author of The Little Library Cookbook. Follow her on Instagram @bakingfiction and find out more about her work at thelittlelibrarycafe.com.

Books mentioned in order of appearance (please be aware that there are minor spoilers for some stories in this episode):

—At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie

—A Pocket Full of Rye by Agatha Christie

—The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young

—The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

—Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers

—A is for Arsenic by Kathryn Harkup

—Police at the Funeral by Margery Allingham

—Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie

—They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie

—The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

—"The Thumb Mark of St Peter" and "The Tuesday Night Club" in The Thirteen Problems by Agatha Christie

—Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

—Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie

—A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

—Crèmes & châtiments : Recettes délicieuses et criminelles d'Agatha Christie by Anne Martinetti - French Language Only

—The Lord Peter Wimsey Cookbook by Elizabeth Bond Ryan and William J Eakins

—Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie

—The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding by Agatha Christie

Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/diningwithdeathtranscript

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