Co-author finds fame?

What is this I see before me? Under a thinly-veiled pen-name have I caught my co-author entering the world of novel writing?

Surely he would have used a less obvious nom-de-plume? And yet listen to the plot details and you will realise it has his fingerprints all over it.

"The book follows Poppy Shannon as she goes from a spoilt little rich girl to a lose it all poor girl.

"The subject is a familiar one, but the way Reilly deals with it is not.

"Her (His) dialogue is the funniest ever - I have read most of her (his) books now - still trying to get my hands on Is This Love though.

"The book starts as Poppy's husband informs her that his business partner has run off with the company profits.

"He tells her that they have to sell their huge house, downsize and move to suburbia.

"For Poppy, who has lived in the best places all her life, this is a major shock."

Talk about writing what you know!!! Lived in the best places? Sounds like Leith to me!

A pleasant parcel

I have recently been lucky enough to receive - whisper it - a Grappa Handbook! I hardly believed such a thing existed but those wonderful people at Nardini have produced one and, trust me, it does justice to my favourite drink.

One of its aims is to help raise the profile of grappa and get it more recognition for the quality drink it is. Amen to that, I say.

Among the sections are some recipes with grappa and a list of grappa cocktails. Normally I would be against this kind of thing and yet, to tell the truth, they looked quite good. I may share some recipes in future. I am intrigued to find out just how many are drinkable and what quantity it might be possible to consume them in.

A farewell to Zen

During my recent sojourn overseas (Millport) I was shocked to open the obituaries section in the Times to find one for one of my favourite British crime writers. Michael Dibdin, who brought the world the Venetian sleuth Aurelio Zen, was no more.

What I liked about his books was how deeply rooted in their locations they were and also how authentically he captured Italian attitudes. In addition, as a real Venezian, there was usually a bottle of grappa involved somewhere. I am sure it was Zen who claimed a cure for a bad cold was to drink a good bottle of red wine and a whole clove of garlic. Certainly worth a try, if not likely to boost your chances with the opposite sex.

The news reached me just as I was finishing Back to Bologna, the latest Zen novel I think. Which featured both football and grappa on its pages. Hard to think of a better combination than that. Addio, Zen.