Crystal King is a brilliant author and I loved her debut novel Feast of Sorrow. The Chef’s Secret is a fantastic follow-up in which King recreates the life and secrets of Bartolomeo Scappi, a real-life figure who authored one of the bestselling cookbooks and served as a private chef to the Vatican during the Renaissance. Despite his far-reaching influence on Italian culture and cuisine, much of Scappi’s personal life remains unknown. King takes some artistic license by imagining Scappi’s humble origins, his role in court intrigue, and his involvement in a forbidden romance.

King has a talent for engaging the five senses with her writing; what she does to taste is akin to what Patrick Süskind does to smell. Her delectable descriptions of the culinary arts are enough to make one’s mouth water. It’s clear when reading her works that King has done extensive research in order to capture the essence of 16th century Italian food, culture, and society and bring them to life.

I highly recommend The Chef’s Secret (as well as Feast of Sorrow) to any foodies or lovers of historical fiction. For those who enjoy cooking, King also wrote a companion cookbook filled with Renaissance Italian recipes, which can be downloaded from her website: https://www.crystalking.com/thechefssecret ( )

Bartolomeo Scappi, the cuoco secreto to the pope died suddenly in 1577. In his will Barto leaves his estate and name to his nephew and apprentice, Giovanni. When Giovanni is readying himself to take over his uncle's role, another kitchen apprentice tells him that upon his deathbed Barto gave him keys to several lock boxes and made him promise to burn the journal s inside. Giovanni can not resist the pull of his uncle's secrets and dives into Barto's life. After deciphering the code that many entries were in, Gio begins to discover that his uncle was much more than an amazing cook and mentor. Barto harbored many secrets as well as a love that could change everything. As Giovanni and his friends dive deeper into Barto's affairs they uncover the danger in what Barto was hiding as well as a connection that will change their lives forever.

With perfectly portioned parts, The Chef's Secret is a delectable mix of historical fiction, romance and mystery in Renaissance Italy. With an intimate look into the kitchens of the Renaissance, the food comes alive off the page. I could imagine the intricate sugar sculptures and smell the hearty broths and I was amazed at the level of food production for the clergy. The format of the book goes back and forth between Giovanni and Bartolomeo's points of view as Giovanni reads through Barto's journals. Through the changing points of view, the characters show their care for one another. Giovanni respected and looked up to Bartolomeo and Barto did everything he could to provide for Gio. While deciphering the journals, Gio also leans heavily on his friends that help him navigate the dangers that appear after Barto's death. I did figure out one of the larger mysteries early on, however the adventure and excitement of Barto's life as well as the suspense of Gio figuring out how Barto's past affects his present. The ending quickly ramped up in suspense, but ended on a beautiful note. I was very pleased to learn about the real Bartolomeo and Giovanni. While they may not have had such amazing adventures, their lives were still important to culinary history. Overall, a thrilling read that will delight your senses through Renaissance Italy.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review. ( )

I knew I was going to be entertained by a book about food that took place in one of my favorite historical periods, the Renaissance. Bartolomeo Scappi was a real chef to various Cardinals and Popes in the 16th century. Not much is known about him but he did leave one lasting legacy to history – he wrote a cookbook! It’s called Opera Dell’arte del Cucinare and it contains over 1000 recipes.

In this fictional tale Chef Scappi has died and leaves two keys to his apprentice Giovanni with instructions to destroy everything inside without reading it. But of course curiosity gets the best of Giovanni and read everything he does. What he learns shocks him! He thought he knew his mentor but there was much about him he did not know including the fact that Bartolomeo had deeply loved a woman for most of his life.

What follows is Giovanni’s search to find the truth of Bartolomeo’s life. As he reads the journals found in the boxes he finds they are in code he unlocks the cipher used and learns some shocking facts about the man he considered a father even though he was an uncle. He also finds himself in danger from a rival who wants the secrets of Bartolomeo’s recipes.

As Giovanni tries to move on with his life, find love and continue his cooking career in honor of his uncle he must keep himself and those he loves safe.

This was a very good book full of intrigue, love, passion and food. I loved it from the first page. I was drawn in by the atmosphere and by the tales of the big feasts. There were a number of subplots but they never got jumbled or lost in the midst of the main story.

This is a book for anyone that loves the Renaissance and cooking. It has a satisfying plot and great characters. ( )

When I learned Crystal King was writing another book set in Renaissance Italy I knew I wanted to get copy. Her first book, Feast of Sorrow, made me a lifelong fan. That was a great foodie book filled with intrigue and politics and plotting. Well, this new book, The Chef’s Secret, won’t disappoint in any of those areas.

The story is told by Giovanni, Bartolomeo Scappi’s nephew and protégé. Bartolommeo was a chef for several Popes and when he died, his estate went to his nephew. It was instructed that Giovanni burn Scappi’s journals without reading them but honestly, would you? There are recipes, secrets and the hint of a long lost love. You have to try and decipher that!

As in the author’s previous book, Feast of Sorrow, we are treated to menus and delicious descriptions of meals. If you like historical fiction, foodie books, the Renaissance period and political intrigue – you’ll want this book.

Unfortunately I was stricken by influenza and while slowly recovering from that mess, I am unable to conjure up a suitable culinary pairing for this book. There is much inspiration here.

The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King came out February 12, 2019. Much thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Linking up with Girlxoxo's Monthly Motif challenge for the theme Cover Love. ( )

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The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King is a historical fiction novel taking place in Italy around the middle 1500s. This is Ms. King’s second novel.

Master chef Bartolomeo Scappi died and leaves his wealth, knowledge and even name to Giovanni, his long time apprentice. Giovanni also gets keys to Mr. Scappi’s strongboxes with explicit instructions to destroy what’s inside.

Giovanni soon stumbles on a mystery which is the chef’s past and his next of kin. Slowly Giovanni pieces together the mystery while attempting to protect the precious recipes he has been trusted with.

Books about food and food preparation, especially with historical context, are some of my favorites, second only to books about books. The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King is this type of historical fiction work and the plot has much to do with food preparation. Even though I must admit that very little of the chef’s specialties sounded appetizing.

I have never heard of Bartolomeo Scappi, and it was a big part of the reason I wanted to read this book. As it turned out, Mr. Scappi was one of the first, if not “the” first, celebrity chefs. In his monumental cookbook, Opera dell’arte del cucinare (1570), Mr. Scappi published around 1,000 recipes of Renaissance meals and techniques.

I enjoyed the way the author described the era, life, extravagant meals (for the rich, of course), and even some techniques for good measures. The romance in the book worked well without slipping into the realm of romance novels (which worked fine for me).

I found it interesting that the author chose to make her protagonists somewhat bad folks, or she simply make them murder for reasons which I didn’t really believe. This is such a clever book, and the author obviously did a lot of research, I thought that she could have come up with a better way to solve those dilemmas. After all, she freely admitted that she manipulated a few facts from the era (which is fine, I expect that in my historical fiction).

This was an engaging and creative story, using crafty story-telling to weave a tale of intrigue and romance. I enjoyed learning about Bartolomeo Scappi, a man who was very influential but I knew little about. ( )