John Lanchester

I have only read the first of John Lanchester's books, 1996's The Debt to Pleasure. This wickedly amusing book begins as an epicurean memoir and ends up as the only horror/cookbook hybrid I've ever had the pleasure of reading, unless you count those few menus mentioned in The Silence of the Lambs (which you shouldn't). Thankfully, The Debt to Pleasure manages to shock its readers without resorting to any grotesque Thomas Harris-style excesses, which Lanchester's cool, supercilious main character would undoubtedly consider vulgar.

Aftertaste:
None.

Availability:
Everywhere.

Other Recommendations:
A decent cookbook. (I recommend The New Best Recipe, from Cooks Magazine.) With the dazzlingly gorgeous descriptions of food in this book, you'll need it.