Vinny & Ted Book Club Choice – November

November Book Club

Chalfont St Peter – Tuesday 11th November, 7.30pm

Beaconsfield – Tuesday 11th November 7.30pm

Do come along and join us to talk about one, or both,  of these books. Order your discounted books here for free collection from either store. Sign up by emailing matt@vinnyandted.co.uk

The Dead Friend Project by Joanna Wallace, £8.99 (RRP £9.99)

The school run can be murder… Beth is having a bad day. Her husband has left her.

Her fellow school mums judge her. And now she’s stuck in A&E after her son fell off the climbing wall on the first day of school. In fact, it’s been nothing but bad days since her best friend Charlotte died in a tragic accident, hit by a car while out jogging.

But when Beth learns that Charlotte’s toddler was left home alone that night, she begins to question why her friend would do something so uncharacteristically irresponsible. Was Charlotte’s death an accident? It’s time for Beth to discover what really happened. Once she’s put the kids to bed, of course…

Butter by Asako Suzuki, £8.99 (RRP £9.99)

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story, and translated by Polly Barton. There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine. Gourmet cook Manako Kajii sits in Tokyo Detention Centre convicted of the serial murders of lonely businessmen, who she is said to have seduced with her delicious home cooking.

The case has captured the nation’s imagination but Kajii refuses to speak with the press. That is, until journalist Rika Machida writes a letter asking for her recipe for beef stew and Kajii can’t resist writing back. Rika, the only woman in her news office, works late each night, rarely cooking more than ramen.

As the visits unfold between her and the steely Kajii, they are closer to a masterclass in food than journalistic research. Rika hopes this gastronomic exchange will help her soften Kajii but it seems that she might be the one changing. With each meal she eats, something is awakening in her body.

Might she and Kaji have more in common than she once thought? Inspired by the real case of the convicted con woman and serial killer, ‘The Konkatsu Killer’, Asako Yuzuki’s Butter is a vivid, gripping exploration of misogyny, obsession and the transgressive pleasures of food in Japan.