Hi everyone! I received great recommendations to my query from a number of people and thought I'd send out an update with my findings. For detective work or investigation: * Contact your public safety department - I contacted the outreach officer at our police department and he put me in contact with two detectives that do speaking engagements. * Tobin Buhk<http://www.tobinbuhk.com/> has written several books about Michigan crimes. He has available presentations on his website. I received two recommendations for him. For cooking demonstrations: * Mary Spencer of Taste, A Cook's Place<http://tasteacooksplace.net/> - I received three separate recommendations for Mary and have contacted her about doing a program. For $250, she brings an assistant and offers a demonstration and sampling of two dishes. She can accommodate large crowds (she said she had about 100 people at one library presentation!) and a number of different cuisines. * Jake Williams: A professional chef who previously managed the cooking skills program at Gleaners Community Food Bank. Contact is jakewill23@gmail.com<mailto:jakewill23@gmail.com>. He charged the Baldwin Public Library approximately $150 for previous engagements and accommodated about 30 people. * Chef Ming Louie: He has a following who will drive anywhere to see him. Looks like his specialty is Chinese cuisine based on previous engagements listed online. Contact is (248) 348-7244, (313) 443-1842 (cell), ming@mingthemagician.com<mailto:ming@mingthemagician.com>, louie.or.ming@gmail.com<mailto:louie.or.ming@gmail.com> * Denene Vincent of Le Chat Gourmet Cooking School<http://lechatgourmet.com/lcg/index.php> in Eaton Rapids: Sherri McConnell at CADL highly recommends her but is not sure she still does cooking demonstrations. Thank you so much to everyone who sent in recommendations! I hope this helps others as much as it helped me. Shayna Shayna Houghton Adult Services Librarian Bloomfield Township Public Library 1099 Lone Pine Road Bloomfield Twp., MI 48302 248-642-5800 ext. 118 Hi everyone, I'm looking for presenter recommendations on two very different topics. These would both be for adult audiences. First, does anyone have recommendations for someone to talk about detective work or investigation? Something in the realm of solving crimes or more general experiences of being a detective? Second, I'd love to find someone who does cooking demos. Any suggestions? I'm looking particularly for Mexican cuisine. Please respond off list to houghton@btpl.org<mailto:houghton@btpl.org>. Thank you so much! Shayna Shayna Houghton Adult Services Librarian Bloomfield Township Public Library 1099 Lone Pine Road Bloomfield Twp., MI 48302 248-642-5800 ext. 118