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Murder on the Gravy Train
Sexual Occupation of Japan
Coyote Revenge
Easy Pickin's
Outcast
Mystic River
Absolute Zero
Vapor Trail (Mysteries & Horror)
Four to Midnight
Every Trace
Orchid Beach
Worst Fears Realized
Square in the Face (Claire Montrose Mysteries (Hardcover))
Unwanted Company
A Permanent Twilight
Act of Revenge
The Healer
The Flower Master: A Novel of Suspence
A Dream of Wolves
The Sinister Pig
Long Time No See
Bethlehem Road Murder (Michael Ohayon Mysteries)
Moment of Truth
Wild Justice
The Associate

Average customer rating:

The Gravy Was Too Thin
I Am Woman; Hear Me CHEW! (without shame)
A MUST READ FOR FOOD NETWORK AND RESTAURANT REVIEW ADDICTS!
5 stars for insider's tidbits, 3 stars for writing and plot
Strong flavor, pleasing presentation...

Murder on the Gravy Train
Phyllis Richman
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0061097837

Amazon.com

Add to the burgeoning cohort of culinary-themed mysteries Phyllis Richman's Murder on the Gravy Train, which provides a second outing for her restaurant reviewer-sleuth, Chas (née Charlotte Sue) Wheatley.

Richman, the restaurant reviewer for The Washington Post, is ideally suited to supply a vivid glimpse of the terrain where big-city culinary and newspaper worlds intersect, and offers a tempting brew of the pleasures and politics of both. Added to the mix is a tale of blackmail, extortion, spying, corruption, and (let's not forget) murder--several times over.

When the chef at one of Washington's most popular new restaurants disappears, Wheatley's curiosity is piqued. No one is forthcoming about his whereabouts, and, almost worse, the restaurant's food, minus the chef, is terribly off. Wheatley takes it upon herself to track down the chef and discovers a widening pool of foul play. In her search, we learn about the illicit side of the restaurant business (readers will think twice about ordering bottled water when they dine out next), and the often-nasty machinations of newsroom life (spying and story thievery). We are also exposed to the bureaucratic yet gruesome grind of a typical homicide department (decayed bodies without ID, for example).

Richman's narrative reads like a semi-autobiographical roman à clef: culinary insiders, real and would-be, will delight in her up-front-and-personal food-world asides. In fact, anyone who enjoys food and foul play--a heady combination--should relish this tale of both, nicely spun out by an author of appetite and imagination. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

Researching her new column, Chas Wheatley, a food writer with a taste for sleuthing, discovers sometning is rotten with Washington's most popular new restaurant. The head chef has gone missing, and not only is the food suffering, but no one can give her a straight answer as to his whereabouts.

It seems the chef isn't the only one who's mysteriously disappeared. Bodies begin surfacing around the nation's capital, confounding the police. But Chas has a few advantages the cops can't possibly match: a clever eye for detail, a love of good gossip, a talent for digging up the truth, and connections in the newspaper and culinary worlds.

Diving further into the ivestigation, Chas delves deep into the underbelly of the culinary business and onto a twisted trail of deceit, blackmail, and murder only she can solve--that is, if she lives long enough....

Customer Reviews:

The Gravy Was Too Thin.......2005-09-28

This book was a disappointment to me. The characters are artfully drawn and a lot of fun, and the interactions between Chas and her gang seemed very authentic to me (with the possible exception of Homer the gourmet vacuum cleaner.)

That said, the murder/intrigue plotline was seldom glimpsed, and I found myself becoming irritated at seeing all of the writer's awkwardly-placed strings (for example, an item that Chas retrieves from a trash can for sentimental reasons after she tosses it away.) I didn't feel like Chas solved anything here--she was told about murders from others and gave them conveniently-obtained information she had. There were several points at which the characters were about to discuss a topic and make an important discovery (for instance, that Chas was eating dinner with one of the victims immediately before he was murdered) but didn't because the author was more interested in teasing. No fun speculation and deduction going on--just eating perfectly described meal after meal after meal.... For me, it wasn't nearly enough.

I Am Woman; Hear Me CHEW! (without shame) .......2005-04-02

Phyllis Richman's Chas Wheatley comes into her own in MURDER ON THE GRAVY TRAIN.

Her "own" is one of the best dramatizations of the ferociously functional female who's been developed every-which-way in every genre, from historic romances to futuristic female cops side-genres (Nora Robert's JD Robb series). This type (not tin) is female in the vulnerable, sensitive, insecure, even "needy" sense; but she always, always, always gets the job done, and often struts across a screen or pounds over paper pages in a honed Macho Act, oiled, skinny muscles gleaming out of cut-off sleeves of a skin-tight-tank-top.

Wheatley wears this character balance of vulnerability/visceral-ability with a "va va voom" of perfection; add the bonus of Chas teetering on the edge of 50 with a voluptuous body (frumpy when mood's sour) which is ages beyond Twiggy in garnering appeal.

In all 3 of Phyllis Richman's novels Chas personifies perfection of this female blend of strength toned with uncovered insecurity (if I wanted to be politically correct I'd religiously replace the word "insecurity" with "vulnerability" or "emotionally spirited"). Yet, possibly what makes Gravy Train the epitome in this development is that Chas is dealing with in-her-face detail with a separation from the love of her life, fellow journalist, the sexy-sensitive-macho Dave. Her emotional machinations are well done; I was successfully strung along throughout the plot, wondering how this situation will be resolved.

Okay, spit it out, Linda:

In being the "T" of this luscious female dichotomy, Chas is the best example of what most authors push to personify in the concept of human heroine.

Yes Ma'am, in Gravy Train Chas shows up in delightfully frumpy fun as this # 1 Characterization of "I AM Woman; hear me CHEW."

Love the way Chas deals with her insecurity, facing it, wallowing in it with a gleeful (and sometimes grumpy) grace. A reader could begin a nose-wrinkle, wondering if this lady's an incompetent basket case, then Chas steps forward into the part of her life she's been fretting over, and lives, moves, maneuvers, meanders with a sure-fire aim toward her goals, without cheating with the cover of an act. For me, this type of self-honesty, this flawless flaunting of foibles is an endearing capture.

One of the best dramatizations of this personality gestalt in Gravy Train is Chas's unlikely but realistically, sensitively drawn, short and steamy relationship with a Lebanese Taxi driver with exquisite taste and background. Of course, this intriguing interjection was made possible by Chas and Dave's "maybe we should cool off a bit and see what happens." The book is worth purchasing, reading, and retaining in a place of honor for this Taxi romance, side-trip alone. The character exchange is so well drawn I swear it must have happened in every nuance ... somewhere.

First, character development makes this book a must-have, winning-piece-of-literature. Then, the wealth of sensual information about the restaurant industry adds to an already awesome value. Richman describes with such mouth-watering detail her dining experiences pursuant to her columns, I feel I've been there and tasted every bite, without having to fork over hundreds of dollars per entre, not to mention the wine, bottled water, and dessert additions. I feel like a thief having picked up this book for the mere price of a paperback.

If Phyllis Richman doesn't write many, many more novels in this series (of course I've read all three and plan to reread them), I swear Chas Wheatley will walk off the pages of these books and slam Phyllis into a wall of file cabinets at the Washington Post office complex, demanding a continuance of her life.

PLEASE, Ms. Richman, don't let the life leach out of Chas Wheately because she was created by an author with so much talent she spreads herself too thin in too many tangents. That may be a worse crime than murder!

Just kidding, yet, this series is almost TOO good to be true, which makes me fear for its demise, yet cross fingers to see a sign somewhere of an upcoming novel.

I'm craving to DINE again a la deja vu, Phyllis! Chas is the only gateway there. Reading restaurant reviews just isn't the same.

If I had an E-mail address for Richman, I'd invite her to read this rave, hoping it would give her a turbo-boost into the next Chas novel, or am I overestimating the power of honest, well deserved praise?

Chanting to the Culinary Gods,
Linda G. Shelnutt

A MUST READ FOR FOOD NETWORK AND RESTAURANT REVIEW ADDICTS!.......2001-08-20

OK, I admit it, I'm a junk food junkie and my dining out usually usually takes me to only the finest four star workaurants. But that doesn't stop me from reading and salivating over every restaurant review I see. The same goes for most of the programs on The Food Network! So naturally, Phyllis Richman's book was written for me and me alone. (OK, you can read it, too!)

To get down to the basic facts, Chas Wheatley is a food critic for a D.C. newspaper who just happens to leave a trail of dead bodies behind her as she eats her way from one four star restaurant to the next. Realizing that something is rotten in the Danish, she sets out to solve the culinary crime capers that are being served up around her.

Ms. Richman is a very witty writer and I enjoyed her bright and gossip-filled style. I also enjoyed all the insider tips on the behind the scene secret going-ons of restaurant operations that she adds to her story telling! And I always thought the stories of the White Castle pickle barrel were an urban myth.

Once you get a taste of this book you'll probably be buying the other books in the series just like I'm doing.

5 stars for insider's tidbits, 3 stars for writing and plot.......2001-06-14

The real fun of Phyllis Richman's series about Chas Wheatley is all of the insider tips about the restaurant business. For that alone, this book is worth the time it takes to read. In this book Chas is working on a series of columns about how restaurants manipulate (if not plain cheat) their customers to spend much more money than planned.

The problem with this book stems from this same subject. At times, Richman loses sight of her fiction writing and writes with a lecturer's tone. It's a mixed blessing as the information is often fascinating. Still, it disturbs the pacing of the fictional plot. The plot/mystery in this book is a bit far-fetched but the book is set in Washington D.C. It's being to appear that almost anything can happen there.

Bottom-line: A fun read for anyone who engages in recreational restauranting. Reading of her first book "The Butter Did It" would be helpful but isn't critical.

Strong flavor, pleasing presentation..........2001-02-21

This is the 2nd in the series chronicling the day to day life of the restaurant critic Chas Wheatley. If you've ever been involved in the restaurant business or even if you've eaten at a restaurant this light mystery will keep you reading. The characters are colorful and the plot keeps you smiling and more then often trying to determine what culinary creations one should cook up for dinner!

Average customer rating:

Murder on the Gravy Train :
Phyllis Richman
Manufacturer: Harper Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O61XE2

Average customer rating:

Murder on the Gravy Train
Phyllis Richman
Manufacturer: Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF88BO

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