Dinner & A Book - The Broker

 A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons and The King of Torts

 The story is a sort of typical action-packed drama with little character development.  However, as action-packed stories go, it’s great.  Our main character is set free by the CIA in Italy to assume a new identity after having served in a maximum security prison in the USA. He has had a history of moving in the big time in Washington, DC, and he has loved his fast paced and lucrative life. He finds himself in Italy, specifically Bologna, where he is forced to learn Italian to survive.  The CIA counts on the Chinese, the Israelis or

 the Russians getting to him first.  A lovely, sad Italian woman serves as his Italian tutor and our main character get back to the USA for a final turn-around ending.  Fast-paced and fast reading.

 I chose Karl to co-host the show because Karl loves to cook, in fact, he loves to invent recipes.  He is a New York theatrical set designer and has staged over 20 shows on Broadway.  He has also taught in the graduate set design program at Brandeis University in Boston where he currently lives, and he continues to design sets for regional theatre productions. Karl has deep Goshen, Indiana, roots having been born in Goshen.  He comes from the seedless watermelon family, the Eigstis.  This is Karl’s first season on Dinner and a Book.  We’ll discuss how to organize a typical Italian meal with the Anti Pasta, the Primi, Secondi and the Dolci.

 Since the book takes place in Italy, we will prepare a typical menu from Bologna, the city where most of the novel takes place.