Good business and great food

Shortcut Your Startup by Courtney & Carter Reum ( Rider, R320)

Startups are often seen as the key to reviving sluggish economies, yet all too many fail. One reason for this, according to the authors, is that they don’t follow the rules.

With their discussion of venture capital and how to deal with investors to “speed up entrepreneurial success”, the Reums seem to have a medium-sized business in mind rather than a small or micro-enterprise that is simply hoping for a bank loan.

Nonetheless, their tips on professional preparation and presentation are sound, and their views on flexible approaches to funding will chime with anyone who is pondering whether to try crowdfunding. Here is a different point of view, related at a brisk and invigorating canter, that could usefully shake up your business thinking.

The Mandala Kitchen by Marlien Wright (Jacana, R330)

Wright’s 100 recipes for better intestinal health and comfort prove that this way of eating doesn’t have to be dull. Potato and chickpea breakfast wraps filled with cream cheese and salad, a Middle Eastern butternut stew, miso sesame chicken, oven-roasted cabbage and bacon, apple stew crumble, and raspberry and yogurt mousse are the kind of inspirations that make good everyday eating a treat. According to Cleeves, this is the last book in her wellknown Shetland series, and thus the final outing for her engaging series character DI Jimmy Perez, who has regularly faced down the challenges of policing

Wild Fire by Ann Cleeves (Pan, R265)

small, remote communities. Wild Fire is a page-turner that takes bullying and family frictions and knits them together with thorny strands of Perez’s personal and professional lives.

It also leaves just enough ends hanging to tantalise with the possibility of a potential spin-off, which should please fans. • Farmer’s Weekly’s book reviewer, Patricia McCracken, is a features and investigative journalist.