sex, severed limbs and heads being blown apart are tempered with brilliantly earthy dialogue and mouth-watering culinary detail. This is one book not to be read on an empty stomach. Understandably, Bourdain is eager to point out that Bone isn’t a portrait of daily goings-on chez Les Halles. ‘The Dreadnaught is somewhere I worked in the early 80s and there’s certainly something of me in Tommy, but it’s not autobiographical. I‘m just very at home in the crime genre. I read trial transcripts and I’ve always been a mob buff. 1 don’t think of myself as a one-trick writer, but I'm attracted to fringe characters, outsiders, losers
pushed into extremes of
behaviour.’
To coincide with the book’s release. Bourdain will be making several personal appearances in the UK including an Edinburgh event introduced by Ian Rankin which features a showing of the original Scarface. Sadly, his only
CRIMINAL TYPES
A brief introduction to four more of the CANONGATE CRIME scribes. Words: Brian Donaldson
Who Jon A Jackson
Biog Jazz fan, angler and carpenter
Book Hit On The House
Plot Elmore Leonard meets Davrd Lynch as Detroit mobsters start dying With two very different lllV(-‘Sll(_.]cii0l'8 on the case
Who Chad Taylor
Biog Surrealist short story writer from Auckland
Book Shirker
Plot Futures broker meets a man who may or may not be alive and is led into a labyrrntl'iine underworld exrstenc‘e
Who Andrew Vachss
Biog Lawyer who represents children and youths only Book Safe House
Plot Career criminal tries to protect a beautiful outlaw from some nasty neo-Nazi stalkers
Who Douglas E Winter
Biog Attorney and member of National Book Critics Circle
Book Run
Plot 24 hours in the life of a Bronx gang into which comes a huge cache of arms leading to betrayal and all-out race war
Canongate Crime is launched on Thu 16 Mar. £10 each.
CANONGATE CRIME
cookih‘g demonstration is in London. so committed cook- mooks will have to make the arduous trip south.
With Bone‘s sequel Gone Bamboo also awaiting release and a non-fiction memoir Kitchen Confidential in the pipeline, Bourdain is now in the enviable position of simultaneously juggling two flourishing careers. He realises there may come a time when he’s forced to choose between them: something he’s reluctant to do at present. ‘I can’t see one career existing without the other.‘ he reveals. “Each satisfies a different aspect of my character. The militarised. structured environment of a chef fulfils my need for routine and stability. I find that there's something slightly shady about writing. It fuels my chaotic side. my need to be noticed.‘
Anthony Bourdain appears at The Filmhouse, Edinburgh on Thu 16 Mar, 6.15pm.