Soul Kitchen

July 10, 2006
Chefs (and lovers) John Rickey and Gary "G-man" Stubbs (first appearing in Liquor
and Prime
) are once again involved in drama and suspense at their trendy eatery, Liquor. Chef Milford Goodman, an old friend of Rickey's, shows up after a 10-year prison stint for murder (of a restaurant owner) ends, thanks to a retrial acquittal. Just then, as it turns out, the current chef, Tanker, quits in a huff. Milford takes over, and through him, Rickey meets a manipulative, pill-pushing doctor named Lamotte, who pressures Rickey to join a restaurant venture, Soul Kitchen, involving a shady local businessman-investor, Clancy Fairbairn. Rickey, hooked on Lamotte-supplied Vicodin and wanting to give Milford the break he needs to become a top chef, agrees, various complications ensue, and the deal ends in tragedy. Throughout, Brite demonstrates a deep passion for and knowledge of New Orleans' food scene, and winningly sends up the city's wealthy elite, who "were like great dark sea creatures circling below the water's surface." The novel is brisk and entertaining, and manages to deal sharply with homophobia and racism amid a frothy plot. The novel was completed, Brite notes, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city where she was born and now lives with her chef husband. An open-ended conclusion hints at another installment to come.

August 1, 2006
John Rickey and G-Man Stubbs have beaten the odds and are into their third year running the highly successful restaurant Liquor, a New Orleans eatery where everything on the menu is prepared with booze. Following " Prime " (2004) and " Liquor " (2005), this latest in Brite's innovative comic crime series continues to expand her vision of life on the foodie fast track. After spending 10 years in Angola for a crime he didn't commit, Milford Goodman, who was once one of the hottest chefs in the business, gets a new start with the help of Rickey and G-Man. What initially looks like a sweetheart deal helping Milford set up a state-of-the-art kitchen in a casino quickly starts to go south, as treachery and Old World evils are added to the menu. As with the earlier two novels, the key character in the book remains the city itself, with high times, hardball politics, and plenty of mayhem added to the menu as daily specials. The novel was completed on the night before Hurricane Katrina hit; fans will be waiting to see how Rickey and G-Man cope with post-Katrina New Orleans. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)