About The Truffle Underground

*ABA INDIEBOUND BESTSELLER*

On sale from Clarkson Potter/Random House at any of the links below.

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The ABA Indiebound Bestseller debuted to critical acclaim. BuzzFeed named the book one of the most anticipated titles of 2019. Publishers Weekly called it a “fascinating,” “deeply researched and eye-opening account” that “will captivate readers.” Booklist gave it a starred review. Kirkus labeled it “an entertaining, revealing,” and “deftly crafted tale.” The Wall Street Journal dubbed it “a lively exposé.” Outside magazine called it one of the best books of the summer and Fortune magazine celebrated it as a non-fiction "page-turner.” The book was also featured on NPR’s “Marketplace,” WNYC’s “All of It With Alison Stewart”, CBC’s “As it Happens,” among many other radio programs and podcasts.

Author Summer Brennan wrote that this “beautifully written debut” is “as gripping as any HBO prestige drama.” Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and New York Times bestselling author Steve Fainaru said it’s “a forest-to-table page-turner” delivered in “elegant, mesmerizing prose.” National bestselling author Derek Thompson described it as “a love story that's as seductive as the buttery fungus.” New York Times bestselling author Bianca Bosker hailed it as “the ultimate truffle true crime tale.” Author Alexis Coe put it simply: “thrilling.”

The First Paragraph:

At nightfall, the thieves dropped rope ladders through ceiling ducts and drove trucks through warehouse walls. They scaled roofs, broke locks, ripped refrigerator doors off their hinges. They wore night-vision goggles and slinked into private oak groves, their guards holding rifles and standing watch. Their hounds wove quietly through columns of stalky trees, snouts working chalky soils for a scent of the quarry. When the hounds’ paws scratched, the men darted toward patches of burnt earth and shoveled shallow holes with precision and speed. When their bags bulged, they screeched past moonlit vineyards onto country roads, into darkness. And they did all this not for cash, or for jewelry, or for art. It was for les truffes, the truffles.

Product Description from Clarkson Potter:

A thrilling journey through the hidden underworld of the world’s most prized luxury ingredient.

Beneath the gloss of star chefs and crystal-laden tables, the truffle supply chain is touched by theft, secrecy, sabotage, and fraud. Farmers patrol their fields with rifles and fear losing trade secrets to spies. Hunters plant poisoned meatballs to eliminate rival truffle-hunting dogs. Naive buyers and even knowledgeable experts are duped by liars and counterfeits. 

Deeply reported and elegantly written, this page-turning exposé documents the dark, sometimes deadly crimes at each level of the truffle’s path from ground to plate, making sense of an industry that traffics in scarcity, seduction, and cash. Through it all, a question lingers: What, other than money, draws people to these dirt-covered jewels?

Foreign Editions

• Pan Rolling, Inc. published the Japanese translation in June 2020.

• Planeta published the Spanish translation in January 2020.

• All other foreign rights requests should be directed to Claire Posner (cposner@penguinrandomhouse.com) at Crown Publishing.