The Death Row Cookbook: The Famous Last Meals (with Recipes) of Death Row Inmates

by John Fleury

The last meals of death row convicts fascinate us because they offer an insight into a disturbed mind shortly before its owner's death. The last meal is a way for the system to offer a last-minute nod to humanity--that although these murderers, rapists, and villains listed inside may have performed inhuman acts, they are still indeed human.

The irony of feeding a criminal before killing them by electrocution or lethal injection is not missed on many of the inmates, as we shall see from some of their choices. Controversial and fascinating, the last meals of the condemned will continue to make headlines as long as the death penalty exists.

This book contains both a brief history of the chefs who make the meals and the stories behind the last meals of over two dozen famous death row inmates (recipes are also included, of course).

Genres: Cookbooks

174 pages, Paperback

First published March 23, 2014

Reviews

[Auntie Raye-Raye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept, not well executed.

Recipes are repetitive and not written correctly. Some of the info on the killers is incorrect. Needs better editing. Where the author wanted to write "viciously raped" they wrote "viscously raped" instead, which are two vastly different things.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly interesting book. Recipes were superfluous. Definitely needs more editing. Premise was interesting. Never really thought about who has to prepare those meals.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[John s Risch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting book funny what people waiting to die want certain foods

G good book overall very interesting and entertaining what people think of before they get executed you should read this book

[Jamie Bee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unique Cookbook with Common Recipes

I am a fan of cookbooks, having owned a specialty food store that sold them in the early 2000s. And I will have to admit that this subject matter intrigued me. We do sometimes hear about the last meals of death row prisoners, and I was curious to see what they would be. I found it interesting that the foods that we consider to be “bad” for us were often the choice of these condemned people. French fries were certainly popular for these condemned inmates.

The book lists 20-plus prisoners. The author gives a brief history of the person and his or her crimes and has a short paragraph or a sentence or two about the last meal. After this informational section comes a recipe for one of the items in that meal, typically a main dish or a dessert. I thought the introductory material about each inmate should have been more consistent. Some discussed the last meal first, while others discussed the last meal last. The recipes, of course, are unlikely to be from the prison Cooks themselves and just appeared to be regular recipes of the items that one could find on the internet. Unfortunately, however, most of the recipes seem to have the ingredient list out of order from how they are used in the directions.

Some of these inmates will be well known to any reader, as their particular cases were so gruesome and violent that they were known nationally, while others may not be so well known outside of their local area. Still, I found this to be a fascinating look into the minds of sociopaths in their last hours.

I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.

My book blog: https://www.readingfanaticreviews.com