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It's Inauguration Day in Washington, DC. Chef Ollie Paras is in the middle of the busiest day she's ever likely to have. The transition teams have been working non-stop to get the White House ready for the new family arriving later today. The kitchen is not affected as much as other departments, but still Ollie has a lot to do. When a box of chicken wings from a well-known national chain arrives, Ollie refuses to let anyone give them to the new First children, even though the note indicates that's whom the wings are for. Lots of people give her grief about this, for a variety of reasons, but Ollie stands firm: no food leaves her kitchen until she KNOWS it is safe. Over the course of the next few days, many things go wrong. Her assistant Cyan secretly gives the wings to some of the White House staff. There are hostages taken at a local hospital, the hospital the staffers are taken to when they all get sick. Turns out someone laced the wings with arsenic. Ollie's first breakfast for the First Family does not go well; the serving staff is not used to small and active children and food goes flying. Ollie finds out that the First Lady is bringing her own personal chef to the White House, to handle the family meals. Secret Service agents are placed in Ollie's kitchen to make sure the food that leaves it is not tainted. Can you say, "Stress!"? Hyzy takes an interesting occupation and immerses Ollie in believable (for the most part) situations. Ollie has a mind that makes interesting and unconventional leaps, leaps that have a knack for shedding new light on any given problem. Her support staff, professional and personal, is interesting characters with lives of their own. While some of the plotting is predictable, (even Ollie knows that just because one is in the Secret Service doesn't mean that one's heart is necessarily pure . . .), the pace moves right along. The recipes in the back of the book look easy; the kid-friendly recipes definitely are worth a try. This is book four in the series; Hyzy is keeping it interesting and delicious. § P.J. Coldren lives in northern lower Michigan where she reads and reviews widely across the mystery genre when she isn't working in her local hospital pharmacy.
Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, January 2011
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