Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder

Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki

A fat woman criminal has captivated interest in Japan. She has been jailed for the deaths of rich men she dated. She has affairs with them and then they later die in a way that could seem to be suicide. She is jailed. A woman who works for a magazine wants to get her story. She meets with her regularly in the prison. At first she has trouble getting to her. However, she realizes that the criminal loves food. She works to follow the criminal's food suggestions and recipes - even enrolling in the same cooking school. She gains weight and learns to appreciate the criminal. She also gets closer to her and gets some stories out of her and her family. After the story is published, the criminal talks smack about the magazine girl and how she tried to be like her by copying her cooking and seemed to be attracted to her. This set magazine girl in a downward spiral and almost caused her death in traffic. She realizes that the criminal has strong narcissistic traits that has led to other's deaths. She manages to break out of it and calls her friends. The book has a number of other sub-plots with characters and their lives. It does show the power that somebody can have by suggestion. It fits in with the "Japanese obsession with food" sub-genre.