King, Peter 1922- (Christopher Peter King)

PERSONAL:

Born 1922, in England.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Sarasota, FL.

CAREER:

Writer and aerospace scientist.

WRITINGS:

"GOURMET DETECTIVE" SERIES

The Gourmet Detective, Breese Books, 1994.

Spiced to Death, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.

Dying on the Vine, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Death Al Dente, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

A Healthy Place to Die, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2000.

Eat, Drink, and Be Buried, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2001.

Roux the Day, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.

Dine and Die on the Danube Express, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.

"JACK LONDON" SERIES

The Jewel of the North, Signet (New York, NY), 2001.

Dead Man's Coast, Signet (New York, NY), 2002.

The Golden Gate Murders, Signet (New York, NY), 2002.

Also writer of short stories, stage plays, radio plays, technical books, and travel books.

SIDELIGHTS:

English-born author Peter King made writing his full-time career after retiring as an aerospace scientist. In that capacity, he once worked on the rocket engines for NASA's Apollo program which landed a man on the moon. As a writer, King is best known for two successful series: the "Gourmet Detective" and "Jack London" series.

In the "Gourmet Detective" series, the unnamed Gourmet Detective is a detective in London whose cases all seem to relate to food. In Dine and Die on the Danube Express, the Gourmet Detective is riding the rails to Eastern Europe when train security supervisor Karl Kramer informs him of the disappearance of Hungarian actress Magda Malescu. The Budapest Times reported that she died in her carriage on the train, but Kramer cannot find her body. Unsure where she is, how the reporter knew of her death, and if she is actually dead or not, the Gourmet Detective assists Kramer in investigating the mystery. Not long into the investigation, Malescu's understudy and a journalist are both killed on the train, causing the Gourmet Detective to speed up his work. Catherine Witmer, writing in the Romantic Times, praised the "amazingly colorful cast of characters, a sharply realized setting, and a serpentine, involving plot." Harriet Klausner, writing in Best Reviews, thought the novel should "carry a warning label" for dieters, "as this tale abounds with good food and drink to the delight of the gourmand reader." A contributor to Writers Write took note of the "intrigue, deception, and chatty investigations," adding that they "all nicely rounded out with some of the best food writing found" in a work of fiction.

The "Jack London" series combines real-life details from writer Jack London's life with a fictional mystery story. The first novel in the series, The Jewel of the North, finds London recently arrived in San Francisco from gold prospecting in the Klondike. London is shocked to see the high-level police involvement when two saloon dancers are found murdered. When the mayor personally asks him to do some investigating, London jumps into the mystery. He finds that the situation is more complicated than he expected when a police officer turns up dead in the same manner as the two saloon dancers. Klausner, again writing in Best Reviews, described the novel as "an excellent historical mystery that brings to life the unsavory side of the 1890s in San Francisco." Writing in the Romantic Times, Toby Bromberg enjoyed the "cunningly deceptive mystery," adding that "the hard-living, hard-drinking Jack London makes an excellent detective."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Publishers Weekly, April 15, 1996, review of The Gourmet Detective, p. 53.

ONLINE

Best Reviews,http://thebestreviews.com/ (August 3, 2001) Harriet Klausner, review of The Jewel of the North; (April 2, 2002), Harriet Klausner, review of Dead Man's Coast; (May 10, 2002), Harriet Klausner, review of Roux the Day; (May 15, 2003), Harriet Klausner, review of Dine and Die on the Danube Express.

Blether,http://reviews.blether.com/ (August 23, 2007), Harriet Klausner, review of Eat, Drink, and Be Buried.

Romantic Times,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (August 23, 2007), Lorraine Gelly, review of The Golden Gate Murders; Toby Bromberg, review of The Jewel of the North; Catherine Witmer, review of Dine and Die on the Danube Express.

Writers Write,http://www.writerswrite.com/ (August 23, 2007), Claire E. White, review of A Healthy Place to Die; review of Dine and Die on the Danube Express.