Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert

Kevin Sylvester's Neil Flambé and the Duel in the Desert is a foodie mystery for 10 year olds that begins with a young chef being strip-searched at the border.

What happens

Mostly that's his cousin Larry's fault. Larry turns up at the inspection booth in full scuba gear, flirts with the guard and makes up about five different names for her. Neil ends up standing in his cupcake boxers (and he is NOT happy about it).

Neil badly needs a holiday. The city has knocked down his restaurant, Chez Flambé, to make way for a road, and he's spent weeks hiding under his covers. So he and Larry set off for Arizona in a food truck Larry has cobbled together, for a barbecue festival at a ranch called Salsa Verde.

The truck is the FrankenWagon. It's half old van, half silver trailer, welded together round the middle, and Neil is convinced it's going to split in two on every corner.

Then he spots a scorched old map in a frame above the fireplace. Round the campfire he hears the legend behind it. The first Verde, a cook, fled from a cruel army major and found a lost gold mine. Nobody has found it since. And it turns out the ranch needs that gold very badly.

Why are there always maps? Neil hates maps. In his experience they always end with somebody shooting at him.

Reading it is like being stuck in a very small kitchen with two very loud people. Neil is brilliant and grumpy and certain he's right. Larry is ridiculous and cheerful and winds down the truck window with an electric mixer. The food writing is gorgeous too. You can practically taste the lemonade.

A couple of sad things sit in the background. Neil's mentor once fought a cooking duel that left another chef dead, and the rancher is still grieving for his wife. Both of those are backstory, not events in this book.

This isn't the first Neil Flambé book. He already has a girlfriend, a police inspector friend and a nose that's solved mysteries before. It stands up fine on its own, though.

What to read next

If they want more of Neil's nose and Larry's awful jokes, try Neil Flambé and the Crusader's Curse, where the grand reopening of Chez Flambé goes horribly wrong on Neil's birthday.