NO FIANO, ISCHIA! NO PEPSI, COKE!
A classic SNL experience in Naples turns into a wine lesson.
PALINKA
Tibor Bognár, the fearsome Slovakian gangster respects his adversary Mark Kent, our hero in Mark to Murder. After his men capture Mark, while interrogating him, [...]
A PAIR OF AMAZING CHEFS IN A HIDDEN GEM
Could it be possible that two world class chefs practice in a tiny village in the most obscure part of Italy? Read the first of several accounts about the hidden gem we discovered in the Marche region.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY; FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST
Meet Dr. Robert Lawrence, respected forensic pathologist who has served San Joaquin County for decades. Bob is the son of Ernest Lawrence, Nobel [...]
VINO COTTO, COOKED WINE; RISKY, TRADITIONAL, UNIQUE
How can you boil your harvest and get away with it? In an obscure corner of Italy they do just that! The result is vino cotto, a semi sweet dessert wine that no one has heard of but is worth getting to know.
STORY BEHIND THE STORY; THE SCRAPS
At the end of Chapter 34, in a scene at the Nyugati train station, Turgut and Ergün, two amiable Turkish criminals running a Budapest chop [...]
STORY BEHIND THE STORY; RED SQUARE, AN INSPIRATION
In 2014, after publication of my second book Appassionata, an anthology of short stories, I mustered the courage to tackle a novel. It was to [...]
THE MAKING OF A BOOK COVER
The one most worrisome aspect of each book I published was the front cover. Could I ever design a catchy one? As it turned out, [...]
MARK TO MURDER, GRESHAM PALACE HOTEL
The spectacular Gresham Palace hotel in Budapest is the main backdrop for the plot of Mark to Murder. It is where Mark discovers his [...]
PUMP YOUR OWN WINE; OLD WORLD VS NEW
“I get my wine from a local winery,” said Vincenzo, our tour guide in the Amalfi Coast. He is a well educated guy, an expert [...]