Every Wednesday between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we're asking some of our favorite Seattle authors to recommend the books they're most excited to give as gifts this holiday. Our third author is novelist and cookbook author Bharti Kirchner.

All the Old Knives by Olen Steinhauer is at once a spy novel and a heartbreaking love story. It takes place, surprisingly, over a long dinner in a fancy restaurant at Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Thanks to Bharti Kirchner for her intriguing recommendation. You should also buy the gripping first mystery in her Seattle-set series, Season of Sacrifice: A Maya Malick Mystery. For more information about Bharti Kirchner and what she's reading, you can follow her through her website.