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Sous-Chef Olivia Paras is returning to the White House after having purchased a gift for the outgoing executive chef, when she gets involved in a chase on the North Lawn of the White House. A middle-eastern looking man is running toward the White House, clutching a portfolio. The two secret service agents following him are disabled. Ollie has hidden behind a large tree and has called the White House switchboard to tell them about the man. She is told to stay out of it, and five more agents are dispatched to get the intruder. Ollie, however, sees her chance and hits the running man over the head with the silver frying pan she has just purchased as a going away gift for her boss. Later, on the TV news, she sees a grainy image of the man but she realizes that this is not the person she bopped. She queries her boyfriend, a Secret Service agent attached to the President's detail, but gets no information. When she tries to find out what happened to the man, the Secret Service again intervenes. Eventually, the man, who is an agent with a different branch of government, contacts Ollie. When she goes to meet him, he is shot before he can talk to her. Meanwhile, Ollie is doing her job in the kitchen of the White House despite interference from a newly-appointed functionary, who favors Ollie's competitor, a TV chef, for the executive chef position. The competition is the person Ollie replaced at the White House and she is worried that Laurel Anne, who is from the same town as the First Lady, will get the position Julie Hyzy is not a chef nor does she work in the White House. She has researched thoroughly, and I am sure that all the security procedures are accurate, but the scenes in the kitchen are too calm. No one panics when a state dinner in announced at short notice, even though the meal must be both kosher and halal. Kitchens are notoriously places in which people work under extreme conditions and where tempers are short. There are also recipes at the end of the book, supposedly fit for a meal for the President. When Laurel Anne comes to audition for the exec position, she throws a fit because they ordered fresh asparagus instead of frozen. Apparently, only fresh vegetables are good enough for The White House. How come one of the recipes in the back of the book calls for both onion powder and garlic powder? If you like cozies, you probably will enjoy this. I did even with all my questions about working in the kitchen. My husband's family owned and worked in restaurants and my daughter graduated from Cordon Bleu school, so I have heard many stories from many kitchens. Perhaps Hyzy should have done just a bit more research.
Reviewed by Barbara Franchi, November 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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