The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs
OCLC 59877528 | | |
The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs is the sixth novel by Scottish writer Irvine Welsh.
It has been compared with
Plot summary
Danny Skinner and Brian Kibby both work for Edinburgh's restaurant-inspection team as environmental health officers.
Skinner is a hard-drinking man, who is involved in football hooliganism and supports local team Hibernian F.C. He is reading a book by Edinburgh chef Alan de Fretais called The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs. He conceives a strong dislike for Kibby and bullies and undermines him mercilessly at work. He relaxes by reading Hugh MacDiarmid, Rimbaud, Verlaine and Schopenhauer, and watching Federico Fellini films.
Kibby is shy and inward-looking, and drinks
The plot describes Skinner's relationship with
Kibby (who has retired on health grounds) puts on weight and becomes a heavy drinker in his own right. Skinner resigns and goes to
Skinner returns to Leith where he continues the search for his father and starts a relationship with Kibby's sister. When he discovers de Fretais having sex with Kay, he tries to kill them both, succeeding in killing the chef and gravely injuring his ex-girlfriend. By the end of the story Kibby is strongly alluded to be Skinner's half brother, with Brian's father, Keith Kibby being the man for whom Skinner had been searching. Skinner knows this with reasonable certainty, as he dies at Brian's hand.
Themes
The book marks a departure for Welsh in that, although
The story is told against the backdrop of the
Skinner's mother is a former punk fan, and although the question of her son's paternity is as good as answered by the end of the book, a possibility remains that Joe Strummer, the late Clash singer, could also have been a candidate.