In many murder mysteries, gardens provide the plot twist

Leslie Bridgers

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Published
October 22, 2023

In many murder mysteries, gardens provide the plot twist

Marta McDowell’s ‘Gardening Can Be Murder’ looks at examples of where the hobby appears within this genre.
Published
October 22, 2023

Not your grandparents’ Chianti: The straw-wrapped wine goes high-end

This is not your grandfather’s Chianti. Forget the old straw-wrapped bottles, called fiaschi, that used to define Chianti. Forget the flasks of nameless local vino you enjoyed at a trattoria in Florence and remember nostalgically every time you hear Billy Joel’s “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” And forget “spaghetti wine.” I’m talking about an exciting […]
Published
October 22, 2023

McDonald’s mambo sauce is a tasty, if largely token, nod to Black America

Some publications claim the condiment was born at a rib joint on the South Side of Chicago. Others say carryouts in Washington, D.C., created it, a sort of spicy riff on sweet-and-sour sauce.
Published
October 22, 2023

Jonathan Lethem’s love-hate relationship with Brooklyn

In “Brooklyn Crime Novel,” he blends fictional narrative and historical essay into a metanarrative that has crime as its main character.
Published
October 19, 2023

‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ an admirable yet vexingly uneven film

The four most dreaded words for a film critic are, “What did you think?” And never have they been more problematic than when it comes to “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Martin Scorsese’s eagerly anticipated adaptation of David Grann’s 2017 book of the same name. In that gripping, magisterial account, Grann chronicled in sickening detail […]
Published
October 15, 2023

It’s the time of year for horror and weird tales. Here are some favorites.

The October Country. The season of mists and melancholy. That time of year when graveyards yawn and things go bump in the night and we break out worn copies of Herbert Wise and Phyllis Fraser’s “Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural” or the collected ghost stories of Vernon Lee and M.R. James. In 2023, […]
Published
October 15, 2023

Art review: Find color on a foliage drive to Monson Arts or in town at Moss Galleries

‘Northwoods: Absence and Presence features the paintings of Alan Bray and poems of Wesley McNair, while ‘How Do I Look’ takes on female body image.
Published
October 12, 2023

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is a Halloween ‘Christmas Story’

What if Edgar Allan Poe had written “Succession”? It’s not a question I’d have thought to ask, but Mike Flanagan – the creator of “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Midnight Mass” – takes it up with grisly flair. “The Fall of the House of Usher,” his Netflix miniseries about […]
Published
October 8, 2023

Air Fryer Orange Tofu is a sweet, spicy homage to a food court staple

You can now count me among the home cooks who have gone from air fryer doubter to fan. After hearing my colleague Aaron Hutcherson sing the praises of his latest appliance acquisition – and tasting the fabulous Brussels sprouts he made in it – my resistance started to crumble. Surely, I had a professional obligation […]
Published
October 8, 2023

3 keys to better banana bread

A good slice of banana bread is a thing of wonder: moist, beautifully scented with warming spices, sweet but not overly so (lest it creep too far into cake territory), and full of fruit flavor. A type of quick bread – named so because of its use of a chemical leavener, such as baking powder, instead […]

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