Best known for her humorous and in-depth investigations into topics like spit and corpses, Roach recommends “Food Person” by Adam Roberts, host of the podcast “The Amateur Gourmet.” The novel, which will be released this month, follows a weary cookbook ghostwriter navigating the puff-pastry egos of New York’s food elite. “I polished it off in a single sitting,” said Roach, adding that the best place to read it is “the counter of any ‘cheffy’ new restaurant.”
For something grittier, she suggests the essay collection “A Real Emergency: Stories From the Ambulance” by Joanna Sokol, a paramedic. “EMTs know [that] half the story takes place before the ambulance pulls up to the ER,” said Roach, who described the book, due in June, as “urgent, unflinching, and beautifully written.”