GONE BAMBOO by Anthony Bourdain

I thought Tony Bourdain was just an edgy, attitudinous ex-chef with wonky knees and a talent for eating icky local food without dying, but I now have to re-think. This book, published in 1997 (pre-Kitchen Confidential?), has a few minor flaws but if you're in for a feisty pair of killers (a gone-to-seed Mr and Mrs Smith) and their dilemma when one of their victims shows up near their St Martin beachfront hotel, this is a fun read. It ain't heavy literary fiction, but the plotting is good, the action almost non-stop, the characters (mostly) believable, and the denouement vintage Bourdain. And the author's photo on the flyleaf is edible; actually, it's hilarious because at one point in the book he writes of the uber-competent female "even at 36 she was stunning" and the same could be said of the author. It's a 4 and I'd love to read more like this.

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