Eggsecutive Orders
Title: Eggsecutive Orders
Author: Julie Hyzy
Copyright: 2010 (Berkley); 310 pgs.
ISBN: 978-0-425-23203-3
Series: White House Chef #3
Sensuality: N/A
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Who: Olivia “Ollie” Paras, White House Executive Chef
Spoilers, but NOT about the mystery!
The Victim: NSA Special Agent Carl Minkus. Had a Joe McCarthy-like reputation when it came to people he suspected of having terrorist ties. His death is sudden and it is believed that he was poisoned.
The Suspects: Quiet a few, as it would be expected when it comes to a man like Minkus, who has dealings with people he suspects of being spies or terrorists. However, Ollie and her staff come under suspicion because he died after eating at the White House.
The Investigation: Ollie and her crew are banned from the White House. Naturally, Ollie is upset and wants to defend the reputation of her staff. She’s being pressured by the Secret Service to keep her nose out of their investigation. Tom, her Secret Service boyfriend, has been told that he’s being held responsible for her actions; that if she gets too involved, he’ll be reassigned from the Presidential Protective Detail. Ollie has no intentions of getting involved in the actual investigation. The Easter Egg Roll is just around the corner and her staff has a lot of things to do for the event. She wants to know when they can return to the kitchen, and if there is anything she can do to make that happen sooner.
Meanwhile: Ollie’s mother and grandmother are visiting. Her plans to show them the White House and have them attend the Easter Egg Roll are on hold, pending the outcome of the investigation. However, Ollie can’t seem to avoid the investigation. She accidentally encounters Ruth Minkus and her son, Joel while sight-seeing with her family, and an “investigative” journalist keeps printing things about her and the incidents at the White House.
Unexpected Developments: Corinne, Ollie’s mother, flirts with a guy that Ollie’s not really sure about. Corinne actually goes out on a date with the man. Apparently, romance is in the air. In the course of the book, Ollie learns of two other romances — just as her relationship with Tom is falling apart.
Fun Fact: While I was reading this book, the History Channel had a special about the White House, filmed during the last year or so of the previous administration, and it featured the real executive chef and chief usher.
The Verdict: I liked this one better than the last one. I thought the mystery was more believable. Ollie continues to be a little too stubborn for her own good and, in this book, it comes with consequences. Poor Tom, I really felt for him.
Recommended for: Mystery lovers and foodies (there are recipes in the back).
Started: 10 January 2010
Finished: 20 January 2010
Rating:
Liked A Lot
Disclaimer: I purchased this book.
Hail to the Chef
Author:Julie Hyzy
Copyright:2008 (Berkley); 328 pgs.
ISBN: 978-0-425-22499-1
Series: 2nd in the White House Chef Mystery series
Where & When: Thanksgiving, Washington, DC
Who: Olivia Paras, White House Executive Chef
In the second book, Ollie and the White House staff are preparing for the holiday season and the First Lady is playing matchmaker. The President’s single, good-looking nephew, Sam Sean Baxter, is visiting and Mrs. Campbell asks Ollie to convince Sam Sean to spend Thanksgiving at the White House. The First Lady is unaware of Ollie’s relationship with Secret Service Agent Tom MacKenzie, who is on the President’s security detail. Ollie is gratified to know that Mrs. Campbell thinks so highly of her, but she’s stumped on how to diplomatically tell the First Lady she’s not interested in Sam Sean and keep her relationship with Tom private.
A security incident occurs and Ollie is sequestered with Mrs. Campbell and Sam Sean until an all-clear is given. She learns that Mrs. Campbell’s business partners — and life-long friends — are pressuring her to agree to sell the company they jointly own. Sam Sean, as her financial adviser, is telling her she shouldn’t sell.
With Thanksgiving and the start of the official holiday season just days away, the staff can’t afford to be held up by security threats and bomb scares. Because of the latest incident, the staff has to attend mandatory Improvised Explosive Device (IED) recognition training. Ollie gets off on the wrong foot with the special agent-in-change, and he singles her out at the first meeting. His persistence in making sure she fully understands the gravity of the situation pays off later when Ollie stumbles upon something where it shouldn’t be.
The staff receives a blow to their morale when the head electrician is accidentally electrocuted. Ollie can’t believe a man as experienced as Gene was could have made such a careless mistake. She questions a friend who comes up with a theory on what may have happened, but none of the other staff electricians want to listen to her theory.
Then, on Thanksgiving day, the First Lady receives news that Sam Sean has committed suicide. Even knowing him for such such a short time, Ollie is convinced that he wasn’t suicidal. There’s no time for her to poke her nose into things, however. Even with the recent tragedy, most of the scheduled events will go on as planned. Ollie and the rest of the staff are busy as ever. Conversations she has overheard, and a letter addressed to her written by Sam Sean, point to the possibility that maybe he was eliminated by someone who wants the First Lady to sell the company her father co-founded. All of the other partners want the sale to happen, but one is having finical and legal troubles, and that may have led to the death of Mrs. Campbell’s father as well as Sam Sean.
I liked this book more than the first one, primarily because Ollie isn’t stubbornly putting her nose into things as much as she did in the first book, and she is more confident in her new position. There is still the occasional encounter with the jerk of a sensitivity director, but she is now an equal and he has no influence over her. She’s even better at handling Bucky, the snarky assistant chef and her second-in-command. Tom doesn’t get much time in this book, because of his job, but they are still a couple.
As for the who-done-it part, I thought it was a bit far-fetched. The real draw, for me, is Ollie and the staff. I’m not a foodie, but I loved reading about the behind-the-scenes preparations. Like the previous book, recipes for the food served by the staff are provided, including one for gingerbread men.
Started: 1 January 2009
Finished: 1 January 2009
Rating:
Liked A Lot
privacy
State of the Onion
Author: Julie Hyzy
Copyright: 2008 (Berkley); 325 pgs.
Series: 1st in the White House Chef Mystery series
Sensuality: N/A
Violence: murder
Where & When: Washington, DC
Who: Olivia Paras, White House Assistant Chef
Back Blurb: The highly trained Secret Service agents couldn’t do it. The snipers swarming the White House grounds were no help. Only Ollie Paras was able to stop the intruder — hitting him with a frying pan. She’d like to wash her hands of the whole thing, but after she witnesses a murder, there’s no going back. . . Ollie’s Secret Service boyfriend warns her that the killer is a world-class assassin. And Ollie’s the only person alive who can recognize him.
Comments: I enjoyed this book for it’s behind-the-scenes’ look at the White House kitchen. I was pretty sure of the identity of the assassin early on. The mystery for me was who the assassin worked for, who his true target was and if there was a traitor on the inside. He was an inept assassin, if you ask me, since he couldn’t seem to eliminate one lone assistant chef. 
I liked Ollie, even though she was stubborn to the point of stupidity in the beginning. Her wonderful boyfriend tells her to drop her curiosity regarding the intruder. She doesn’t, which results in her alienating her boyfriend, puts her life in danger, and jeopardizes her chances of becoming the executive chef. As if this wasn’t enough stress, the White House is preparing for an important dinner; there’s a new staffer — a sensitivity director that’s anything but — who’s on a power trip and who can’t wait to see Ollie fired; Ollie’s primary competition for the executive chef position — a prima donna with her own cooking show, who treats the rest of the assistant chefs like they’re clueless in the kitchen– is finally coming in for her audition.
Looking forward to seeing more books in this series.
Started: 4 January 2008
Finished: 9 January 2008
Liked A Lot
Rating:
