When people go into this sort of obsessive detail about what their characters ate - without actually describing the food itself - you can't expect the book to be any good, can you? And so in S. Perone's Murder Almighty we find a rather sad thriller about a fixed papal conclave and the following passage:
Dinner at the ancient La Canonica Trattoria - a stone's throw from the residence of Cardinal Delarossa, Patriarch of Venice - had been candlelit and cozy. Because of the unusually warm October evening, Vella and Carolyn had been seated on the stone terrazza, at one of the corner wooden tables. The high-backed wooden chairs and white tablecloths provided a touch of elegance typical of Venetian outdoor dining.
Carolyn had ordered the Grigliata di pesce, featuring salmon grilled with lemon butter, while Vella had ordered the Cannelloni Canonica, witha creamy marinara sauce. They had decided together on a light dry white wine from eastern Tuscany, Bianco Vergine Valdichiana.
I mean, come on! How trite and leaden is this?
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