cover image THE SPICE BOX

THE SPICE BOX

Lou Jane Temple, . . Berkley Prime Crime, $21.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-425-20043-8

The first of a new food-themed historical series, Temple's charming tale of New York City in the Civil War era introduces Bridget Heaney, a clever, streetwise Irish immigrant. The day Bridget starts as an assistant cook in the Manhattan household of wealthy merchant Isaac Gold, she makes a terrible discovery: the body of the family's youngest son, Seth, who'd been missing, crammed inside a dough box. Two gunshot wounds to the chest are the cause of death. The obliging Bridget sets aside her kitchen duties to help the Gold family search for Seth's killer. A delightful mix of upstairs and downstairs characters, a vivid picture of the city's seamy underside, absorbing details of Sephardic Judaism and a fittingly melodramatic climax make this a memorable debut. Agent, Lisa Queen at IMG. (May 3)

FYI: Temple is also the author of Death Is Semisweet (2002) and other mysteries in her Heaven Lee series.