Winner, 2017 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Popular Fiction -- Independent Book Publishers Association, April 7, 2017 In his second novel, author Eric Peterson dishes up a riotous spectacle of self-absorbed chefs, backstabbing politicians, and devious publishing magnates, set against a backdrop of haute cuisine, presidential politics, and an endless supply of top-shelf liquor and wine. Fresh from a public humiliation and in search of his true calling, former college football star Jack Marshall enlists as bartender and steward aboard Horace Button's vintage private railroad car, the "Pioneer Mother," which is transporting the legendary food writer and social critic across the country in opulent style. Decked out in a white jacket, mixing perfect cocktails, Jack is immersed in a style of living --and dining-- he'd assumed was extinct. While striving to appease the eccentric, finicky Horace, and Wanda, the "Pioneer Mother's" enigmatic chef, Jack falls under the spell of Giselle Lebeau, a gorgeous celebrity chef whose designs on him test his self-control and his loyalty. But when tragedy rocks Horace's insulated white-linen world, Jack must take charge of a simmering stew of quirky yet powerful personalities -- all while staying in Wanda's good graces and keeping an eye on their newest passenger. A story of service, serendipity, and second chances, "The Dining Car" is more than a delectable read -- it's a marvelous, exuberant work of fiction.

The Dining Car (The Horace Button Series)

Literature & Fiction

Peterson, Eric

Literary

Huckleberry House

IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for Popular Fiction San Diego Book Award Gold Medal for Best Published Contemporary Fiction Readers' Favorite Book Award Silver Medal for Literary Fiction In his second novel, author Eric Peterson dishes up a riotous spectacle of self-absorbed chefs, backstabbing politicians, and devious publishing magnates, set against a backdrop of haute cuisine, presidential politics, and an endless supply of top-shelf liquor and wine. Fresh from a public humiliation and in search of his true calling, former college football star Jack Marshall enlists as bartender and steward aboard Horace Button's vintage private railroad car, the Pioneer Mother, which is transporting the legendary food writer and social critic across the country in opulent style. Decked out in a white jacket, mixing perfect cocktails, Jack is immersed in a style of living -- and dining -- he'd assumed was extinct. While striving to appease the eccentric, finicky Horace, and Wanda, the Pioneer Mother's enigmatic chef, Jack falls under the spell of Giselle Lebeau, a gorgeous celebrity chef whose designs on him test his self-control and his loyalty. But when tragedy rocks Horace's insulated white-linen world, Jack must take charge of a simmering stew of quirky yet powerful personalities -- all while staying in Wanda's good graces and keeping an eye on their newest passenger. A story of service, serendipity, and second chances,The Dining Car is more than a mouthwatering read -- it's a marvelous, exuberant work of fiction.

The Dining Car

It's the verge of the millennium, and the California economy is booming. The backdrop for this hilarious novel is the sprawling, colorful, bursting-at-the seams megalopolis of San Diego a picture-postcard setting with a seamy underside, where blind ambition and entrepreneurial zeal blur boundaries of law, common sense, and decency. Protagonist Wallace Noe and his wife, Hannah, are card-carrying members of the sandwich generation: squeezed between raising children and looking after an elderly parent, struggling to make ends meet and to keep their marriage together. When a family tragedy forces Wallace to reevaluate his life, he stakes his future on a start-up company and the values and work ethics of his father's generation, never imagining the sequence of events that will shatter his comfortable world. With sharp humor and masterly insight, author Eric Peterson dishes up a rollicking account of California's modern-day gold rush the heady times of the high-tech boom, when stories of mind-boggling riches are commonplace and everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie. In Life as a Sandwich, Peterson delivers more than a romp of a novel. It's a devastatingly funny look at one man's quest for identity and the unforgettable cast of characters that threatens to turn a crusade for redemption into a staggering, personal defeat.

Life as a Sandwich

Eric Peterson

Genre Fiction

It's the verge of the millennium, and the California economy is booming. The backdrop for this hilarious novel is the sprawling, colorful, bursting-at-the seams megalopolis of San Diego a picture-postcard setting with a seamy underside, where blind ambition and entrepreneurial zeal blur boundaries of law, common sense, and decency. Protagonist Wallace Noe and his wife, Hannah, are card-carrying members of the sandwich generation: squeezed between raising children and looking after an elderly parent, struggling to make ends meet and to keep their marriage together. When a family tragedy forces Wallace to reevaluate his life, he stakes his future on a start-up company and the values and work ethics of his father's generation, never imagining the sequence of events that will shatter his comfortable world. With sharp humor and masterly insight, author Eric Peterson dishes up a rollicking account of California's modern-day gold rush the heady times of the high-tech boom, when stories of mind-boggling riches are commonplace and everyone wants a bigger piece of the pie. In Life as a Sandwich, Peterson delivers more than a romp of a novel. It's a devastatingly funny look at one man's quest for identity and the unforgettable cast of characters that threatens to turn a crusade for redemption into a staggering, personal defeat.

Life as a Sandwich:A Novel

In his uproarious, award-winning novel The Dining Car, author Eric Peterson introduced the world to the legendary food writer and bon vivant Horace Button, editor and publisher of Sunshine Trails magazine. Now Horace and his entourage return with Sunshine Chief. 
They travel, as Horace always does, in his vintage private railroad cars. Their destination is southern Arizona, where Horace is slated to co-chair the Best Chef Tucson Jail-and-Bail Weekend Gala with his beloved friend Bunny Lorillard, queen bee of fashionable society. 
Making the trip are Horace's bartender, Pierre; his private chef, Wanda; and her husband, Jack, who is the narrator of the story. Horace brings along his adopted thirteen-year-old niece, Jane, and her best friend from school, Florabelle. Both girls have recently been suspended, and Horace hopes spending time with Bunny will inspire the mischief-makers to live up to the motto-"high moral character and service to community"-of their tony Palo Alto school. 
In Tucson, anticipation for the traditional weekend gala runs high. But when the weekend takes a macabre turn, Horace finds himself in a unique position to solve the lethal crime he's convinced has occurred. Slinging insults, riding roughshod over perceived inferiors, and always keeping a stiff drink close at hand, Horace offends and appalls Tucson's titled officials and food-scene elites in his search for the truth. What he can't foresee is that the secret he's about to reveal might be better left undiscovered.

Sunshine Chief

Sunshine Chief (The Horace Button Series)

Humor & Satire

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