I'm desperately trying to remember the author and some titles of a series of mystery/detective stories. They were fairly popular and available in paperback.
Basically, they occurred in New York City. One of the characters was, I think, a Deputy DA and his wife was Italian, and was also a legal professional, and an Italian cook of note who usually prepared a weeks worth of meals on the weekend.
They had a daughter who was a gifted student of languages who once told a Japanese tourist that most Americans speak some Japanese. (That's a paraphrase.)
Anyway, if anyone knows who I'm asking abo