Yes. This is how we know that Moby Dick is a romance and Sense and Sensibility is not.

And even if no one cooks in McMansion gourmet kitchens, they usually have stoves.

Yes; I looked up the New Guard and the Old Guard after I finished the book and, sure enough, they are not genuine historical organizations.

Are there other historical mysteries or romances you’d like to recommend? We seem to go for some of the same things.

I just finished listening to A Few Right-Thinking Men, and I'm hooked! Thank you for the recommendation. I love historicals that really do engage with history.

Passages by Avi Silver made me feel very seen.

Dang. I should have done my turkey stock in the instant pot. What I produced is only lightly gelatinous.

I'm frequently amazed at how many drafts it takes me to go OH WAIT THIS IS WHAT THIS STORY IS ABOUT

I got my copy in the 1990s from a friend who had photocopied the actual Spectator issues, probably at a university library. I have no idea how he learned about them.

Enjoy!

That seems like a thing that would happen on Dr. Who.

Addison's days frequently contain surprises!

I love Sayers too! Murder Must Advertise and the short story Talboys are my favorites.

Have you read the Wimsey family’s wartime papers (never collected in book form so far as I know)?

I shall investigate Miss Fisher.

Oh, that sounds lovely! I should have been clearer--I'm happy with anything from 1500 to 2000. Gentill is going straight onto my TBR.

Ah, the thumping! One of mine discovered that they could make a big noise by thumping their legs down onto the crib mattress. I called them Thumpelina for a while.

Padma Lakshmi and Madhur Jaffrey. Can the kidnappers be foiled with spices?

The Marks book has lots of wonderful historical images and background information plus a wide variety of fabulously reliable recipes from Jewish cultures from Eastern Europe to the Middle East and North Africa to South Asia and more.

Timing Is Everything: The Complete Timing Guide to Cooking. For lots and lots of different ingredients, from dried beans to vegetables to meat, it gives the bare-bones instructions of how to cook it and for how long. I find it indispensable when improvising.

The World of Jewish Cooking, Gil Marks.