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Peter King is a British author of mystery, particularly cozy and historical mysteries.

Having been trained at the prestigious culinary school Le Cordon Bleu, and having worked as a metallurgist, he boasts an impressive career.

King has operated at a tungsten mine, overseen the creation of the first steel processing plant in South America, and conducted mineral exploration across the globe.

The nature of his work saw him move from one continent to another, before ultimately settling in Florida, where he led the design team responsible for creating the rocket engines that powered the Apollo missions to the moon.

Although he always wrote one-act plays and short mystery stories whenever he could find the time, it wasn't until he retired in 1991 that he wrote his first novel, The Gourmet Detective.

Now an author with several books under his name, King currently resides in Sarasota, Florida.

More about Peter King

Genres: Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Born: 1922

United Kingdom

Non Series

  • Hangman's Corner (2008)

Gourmet Detective

  1. The Gourmet Detective (1994)
  2. Spiced to Death (1997)
  3. Dying on the Vine (1998)
  4. Death Al Dente (1999)
  5. A Healthy Place to Die (2000)
  6. Eat, Drink, and Be Buried (2001)
  7. Roux the Day (2002)
  8. Dine and Die on the Danube Express (2003)

Jack London

  1. The Jewel of the North (2001)
  2. Dead Man's Coast (2002)
  3. The Golden Gate Murders (2002)

Detailed book overview

Non Series

Hangman's Corner

In 1870 London, hansom cab driver Ned Parker assists the police in the search for the person who murdered one of his customers, who was a suspect in the theft of church valuables.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2008
ISBN: 978-1594146459
Publisher: Five Star

Gourmet Detective

The Gourmet Detective

They call him the gourmet detective; the only thing sharper than his mind is his palate. When chefs need a rare ingredient, an ancient wine, or simply a new idea to gain that extra Michelin-star boost, they come to the detective’s cozy London office and plead for his help. 

For top-notch cooking, he is always happy to lend his taste buds to the cause. Now Raymond Lefebvre, executive chef at one of London’s finest French restaurants, has asked for the detective’s help with a bit of kitchen espionage. Lefebvre’s crosstown rival is winning international accolades cooking a dish called Oiseau Royal, and Lefebvre wants the recipe. 

Getting it takes the detective deep into the Circle of Careme, where the most elite chefs in Britain gather to swap recipes, techniques, and gossip. But when the chefs of Careme start to die, the detective starts to salivate. There is no finer appetizer than murder.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 1994
ISBN: 978-0947533205
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Spiced to Death

In the days of Marco Polo, men risked their lives for spices. And in an age when black pepper was so valuable that it was sold one peppercorn at a time, there was no spice more valuable than the legendary Ko Feng. 

Known as the Celestial Spice, it supposedly vanished five centuries ago, and its name lives on only as culinary myth. But now a sack of it has turned up in New York City, and the leading experts of world cuisine will kill for a taste. When London’s finest gourmet detective proclaims the mysterious spice authentic, this sack of weeds becomes the most valuable substance on earth, worth thousands of dollars per gram. 

But soon the spice vanishes, one of his colleagues is murdered, and the detective is forced to dive into New York’s culinary underworld. His palate may be refined, but this gourmet knows how to fight dirty.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 1997
Ebook: B0096LJOMY
Publisher: Open Road Media
Dying on the Vine

The vineyards of the Willesford Wine Group occupy a particularly choice section of French wine country. From the grapes of Provence, the owners of this impeccably managed syndicate have squeezed international fame and fortune. 

Next to their spectacular estate lies the petite Peregrine Winery, whose shadowy owners suddenly make repeated requests to buy Willesford’s property—raising their offer each time. Unable to discern Peregrine’s motive for these persistent attempts, the Willesford group sends for London’s gourmet detective, a sleuth with impeccable reasoning and an even finer palate. 

When he arrives in Provence, he doesn’t even have time to sample the pâté before he finds a dead man leaning against a cart, dripping blood into the fine French terroir. For the winemakers of Provence, this will be an excellent year for murder.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 1998
ISBN: 978-0312966836
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Death Al Dente

London’s gourmet detective is contemplating an empty bank account and, worse, an empty stomach, when a phone call solves both problems at once. 

Over lunch, Desmond Lansdown, world-renowned actor and burgeoning restaurateur, hires the detective for a chef-hunt, sending him to Italy to eat until he can decide which cook Lansdown should hire. It’s a demanding gig, but this detective is never one to shy away from hard work. However, it doesn’t take long for this plush assignment to turn prickly. 

In between meals, the detective gets a feeling that someone is out to get him. A murdered magnate, stampeding buffalo, and a killer monk are conspiring to ruin his digestion—a shame, because it is vital to eat well when each meal could be your last.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 1999
ISBN: 978-0312970383
Publisher: Minotaur Books
A Healthy Place to Die

The gourmet detective realizes that the Alpine Springs health resort is not a typical spa somewhere in the middle of his first cocktail. Where other retreats promote abstinence, exercise, and bland food, this quiet little Swiss chalet preaches indulgence. Guests are allowed to eat, drink, and smoke as much as they want, and exercise is strictly optional. 

For this epicure, it is paradise—and it may also be his doom. He has come from London to speak about fine dining, but while here he fully intends on enjoying himself. One night he arranges a tryst with a fellow expert, a beautiful young woman named Kathleen Evans. They are deep in the woods, about to begin enjoying themselves, when something knocks the detective out cold. 

When he comes to, Kathleen has vanished, and the detective begins to suspect that life in the Alps is not as healthful as it appears.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2000
Ebook: B0096M14HQ
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Eat, Drink, and Be Buried

When a jousting match at a medieval fair turns into old-fashioned murder, the Gourmet Detective sets out to unmask the killer.

At Sir Gerald’s medieval festival, the castle is authentic, the jousting is rousing, and the wenches are the sauciest in the land. The only thing missing is decent food. And so Sir Gerald calls in London’s gourmet detective, an expert food finder, whose specialties include locating rare ingredients, designing historically accurate menus, and solving the occasional murder. And all three skills will be tested if he is to escape the age of chivalry alive. 

After the day’s first joust, the winning knight falls to the ground, poisoned. Someone is trying to exterminate the gentry of this ersatz fiefdom, and it will take a sure palate and a strong stomach to find out who. To save his own head, the detective must contend with flooding dungeons, stray arrows, and a cast of dwarf knights—all while struggling to design a menu fit for a king.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2001
Ebook: B0096M147Q
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Roux the Day

For five generations, the Belvedere family restaurant has been a Louisiana landmark. Unfortunately, the Belvedere clan inherits more than a talent for cooking from each other—they also have an unfortunate tendency of becoming insane. 

When the latest Belvedere patriarch loses his mind, his son attempts to take over the business, only to find that the ancient family cookbook has vanished—and with it the priceless recipe for the world famous Oysters Belvedere. 

The Crescent City will never be the same. A bookseller claims to have found the family heirloom, and attempts to sell it at auction—a daring Creole gambit that draws the attention of London’s famous gourmet detective. 

The sleuth visits the bookshop, but when he finds a corpse at the desk, he must lead a chase for the murderer and the stolen cookbook. One false step, and he’ll end up like a crawfish at a boil: in mighty hot water.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2002
Ebook: B0096LJWKI
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
Dine and Die on the Danube Express

Aboard a vintage luxury train on a voyage through Eastern Europe, the gourmet detective encounters a thoroughly modern murder.

The Danube Express was once the most famous train on the continent. Linking east and west, it was the fastest route from the Alps to the Black Sea, until airplanes and automobiles made it obsolete. When a group of savvy investors revived it in the 1970s, it became an Express only in name. 

A five-star hotel on wheels, it is now a luxurious icon—and it’s celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary. Some of the most glamorous figures in the world have booked passage on this historic trip, and riding among them is London’s gourmet detective, who has come to sample the Danube’s famous cooking. 

But when a Hungarian actress disappears from the train, it turns out to be more than a publicity stunt. Soon it is clear that a killer lurks on the Danube Express, and plans on taking it all the way to the end of the line.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2003
Ebook: B0096M14OY
Publisher: MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

Jack London

The Jewel of the North

A young Jack London, the legendary adventurer and author of The Call of the Wild, is called in to investigate a bizarre murder case at the request of San Francisco's mayor and uncovers a deadly conspiracy in the midst of San Francisco's infamous Barbary Coast.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2001
ISBN: 978-0451203830
Publisher: Signet Books
Dead Man's Coast

After witnessing the latest in a series of successful jailbreaks, Jack London takes on the job of deputy to pursue the criminal mastermind behind the escapes and undertakes a string of dangerous missions into San Francisco's Barbary Coast to stop a plot to steal a priceless jewel from a sexy Broadway star on a visit to the city.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2002
ISBN: 978-0451205841
Publisher: Signet Books
The Golden Gate Murders

When the owner of the San Francisco's Silver Dollar Saloon is found dead, just after requesting Jack London's assistance to look into a threat against his business, the author and adventurer joins forces with the legendary Wyatt Earp as they follow a trail of violence and murder through the dark underbelly of the infamous Barbary Coast.

Author: Peter King
First Release: 2002
ISBN: 978-0451207463
Publisher: Signet Books