By The Family Mysteries
by Marcia Rosen
Recipes by Jory Rosen
Level Best Books
$15.95
www.theseniorsleuths.com
https://levelbestbooks.wordpress.com
My son Jory and I had a great time collaborating on this book. I wrote the mysteries and he provided the recipes. Together we created some murderous titles for the recipes and decided which types of food would best fit the various mystery stories.
Some of my stories were influenced by being a gangster’s daughter.
Remembering my father, and picturing him at a restaurant he owned in Buffalo, New York when I was a teenager, is what initially inspired me to write stories that took place in a restaurant.
I’m a mystery writer, so of course they had to be about murder, mayhem and, I thought, also a fun bit of madness. Loving short stories, I decided to write a series of short mysteries, all involving the same criminal organization and taking place in a restaurant called Manhattan Shadow.
My father’s life is a major influence. In the book, Zero the Bookie is fashioned after my father. He also appears in my Senior Sleuths Mystery Series along with Dick and Dora Zimmerman, reminiscent of the Thin Man characters.
The idea of adding recipes made good sense, since my father was a chef and the stories were set in a restaurant. Level Best Books, our publisher, suggested putting a recipe before each story.
I agreed. “Great idea. My son is a fabulous cook; he can create the recipes. Plus, we’ll give them names to fit the stories.
Indeed, we did. For example there is, “The Chicken Piccata Caper,” “The Sacrificial Lamb” and “The Quiche (Kiss) of Death.” Near the end we added, “A Deadly Delicious Dessert.”
As I considered mystery stories for the book, I thought about places familiar to me. One deadly story, “He’s A Dead Duck,” was a reminder of a duck pond we lived near on Long Island, years ago. I loved the idea of creating a story beginning with a duck recipe .
As for my son Jory, “In my family, today, we truly look forward to our evening meals. I have three kids (2 girls, 9 and 7, and a boy 3); my grandfather would have adored them. What I cook allows my children to get know my grandfather through every bite of the cuisine he created. I hope the recipes in my mother’s books inspire good memories and experiences in others, too.”
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Exquisitely prepared food and Organized Crime ventures have long gone hand in hand and Marcia Rosen knows a lot about both of them. Her latest, The Gourmet Gangster, (Recipes by her son Jory Rosen) is another delectable entry to her fabulous menu of excellently written books. Be sure to savor this one like a fine dessert.
~Michael A. Black, winner of the Best Original Novel Scribe Award and author of Blood Trails, Legends of the West, and the Executioner series
(Dying Art and Stealth Assassins) as Don Pendleton
The mysteries are malicious. The recipes are delicious.
John Klopfenstein, Criminal Defense Attorney
~ Carmel/Salinas, California
“Begin reading The Gourmet Gangster and you are guaranteed a page-turner. With clever wit, Marcia and her son Jory Rosen give us the mercurial, oft gritty story of lives revolving around a 5-star, mob-run restaurant in mid-town Manhattan. A menu of gourmet recipes offers a superb bonus to their entertaining narrative.”
— R. Scott Decker, author, Recounting the Anthrax Attacks: Terror, the Amerithrax Task Force, and the Evolution of Forensics in the FBI.
About Authors
Marcia Rosen, (aka M.Genda Rosen) frequently speaks about writing mysteries and growing up as “the gangster’s daughter.” She is author of “The Senior Sleuths” mysteries and her publisher Level Best Books will be re-releasing her Dying To Be Beautiful Mystery” Series beginning in 2020. She is also author of “The Woman’s Business Therapist,” and the award-winning “My Memoir Workbook.” She was founder of a successful marketing/public relations agency and is a member of Sisters in Crime, Central Coast Writer’s and Public Safety Writer’s Association. www.theseniorsleuths.com.
Jory Rosen, her son, and collaborator of “The Gourmet Gangster” has been in the advertising and marketing business for over 30 years and is the owner of the J. Rosen Group, a full-service international advertising, branding and direct marketing agency. Jory worked as a cooking demonstrator for many years in NYC and now takes the show on the road by doing cooking demonstrations for his kid’s schools and classrooms. www.jrosengroup.com.
