Murder | Book Chatter

All the Words We Know
By Bruce Nash
Atria, July 1, 2025, 240pp

The Short of It:

Dark with humor.

The Rest of It:

Rose may be in her eighties and suffering from dementia, but she’s not done with life just yet. Alternately sharp as a tack and spectacularly forgetful, she spends her days roaming the corridors of her assisted living facility, musing on the staff and residents, and enduring visits form her emotionally distant children and granddaughters. But when her friend is found dead after an apparent fall from a window, Rose embarks on an eccentric and determined investigation to discover the truth and uncover all manner of secrets…even some from her own past. ~ publisher

All the Words We Know surprised me. Rose is this sweet, charming lady whose grasp of the English language is slipping ever so slightly. Words like “elevator” become “relevator” and her interactions with the other residents are one-sided at best, and sometimes not even with the living!

But, she’s sharp. Very sharp, so when strange things begin to happen at the assisted living facility, she finds herself conducting her own investigation into what is going on. She befriends a trans employee who provides warnings, but are they REAL warnings or Rose’s imagination at work again?

I was intrigued by this story. Rose’s observations are colored by dementia but as the story comes together, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to know what the heck was going on and what was up with hat facility?

All of the players, the “angry” nurse, the “scare/care” manager, the nice boy with a mop, provide ways for the story to move forward without giving the entire plot away. Overall, I liked the story. Mostly I appreciated how unique it was. Getting used to Rose’s way of speaking took a bit of time but once I got used to it, the story flowed effortlessly.

Source: Review copy sent to me by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

Butter
By Asako Yuzuki
Ecco, 9780063236417, October 2024, 464 pp.

The Short of It:

Can anyone live without butter? Yes, but why would you want to?

The Rest of It:

The cult Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer, and the journalist intent on cracking her case, inspired by a true story~the publisher

Manako Kajii, held in a Tokyo detention house for the murders of businessmen, who she allegedly seduced with her delicious gourmet cooking. The case has piqued everyone’s interest. Who is this woman? What is her motive? She’s tight-lipped and refuses to speak to the press, even with the possibility of it helping her case.

Enter Rika Machida. A journalist, assigned to interview Kajii. Kajii wants nothing to do with the press and refuses all interviews until Rika sends her a message asking for her recipe for beef stew. Turns out the beef “stew” is really Beef Bourguignon. Rika is FAR from a chef. Barely able to piece together a ramen packet. She has no clue what she is stepping into but knows that if Kajii is going to talk, it’s going to be about food.

Rika’s introduction into foodie culture is slow, beginning with really delicious rice and lots of butter. Good butter. Imported butter. Butter that is hard to find due to a butter shortage. The richness that it imparts to food is second to none and Kajii makes Rika well aware of this.

As Rika experiments with food, she becomes Kajii’s muse as she delights in Kajii’s favorite meals and then reports back to her how the dish made her feel. This interaction allows Kajii to experience these dishes from the confinement of the detention center.

Rika’s relationship with Kajii spills into her relationships with her close friends and they begin to question her intentions. What started off as an interview opportunity turns into something else. These relationship are complicated, cushioned between delicious food.

If you are looking for a crime thriller type of read, I’d hesitate to recommend Butter. Kajii’s interactions with her victims are centered around food culture, living a certain way, and gazing deeply into not only her victims but those who choose to know her. There’s not much in the way of court proceedings or evidence collection. But, if food is your thing, you will literally eat this one up. I gained six pounds while reading this book. No lie.

Inspired by the real case of a convicted con woman and serial killer—the “Konkatsu Killer”

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Bookshop.org affiliate links.

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