THE FOOD TASTER

A 16th-century Italian peasant finds himself caught up in the culinary aspects of palace intrigue in this clever, cheeky debut novel (ostensibly Ugo DiFonte's memoir) by screenplay writer Elbling, who begins his first-person narrative when DiFonte is appointed the food taster for a corrupt duke. DiFonte quickly learns the subtleties of his new position and gains influence in the court, until his beautiful daughter, Miranda, comes of age and attracts the attentions of the duke's power-hungry cook, Tommaso. DiFonte is forced to promise Miranda to Tommaso in marriage to keep the cook from slandering his reputation, but all hell breaks loose when the volatile, piggish duke, Federico Basillione DiVincelli, turns his lascivious eye on Miranda and proposes to her after his previous paramour betrays him. Miranda's fickle nature keeps her waffling between her love for Tommaso and her desire to be a princess at the side of the duke. After she accepts the duke's offer, DiFonte desperately tries to play both ends against the middle (even during the wedding celebration) as Tommaso and Miranda continue their trysts and the food taster is accused of witchcraft by a visiting cardinal. Elbling overplots at several junctures, but that minor flaw is overshadowed by his entertaining cast of characters, most notably the hapless but charismatic DiFonte, who somehow manages to keep his head above water as he bumbles and stumbles from one palace conspiracy to the next. Throw in some wry, humorous scenes about the pitfalls and perils of his occupation, and the result is a light but enjoyable spin on the usual Renaissance comedy-of-manners formula. (May)

Forecast:With foreign rights sold in 11 countries, paperback rights to Plume and a 10,000-copy first printing, this May/June Book Sense 76 pick is going to be a big book for this small press.