Newly appointed executive WH chef Olivia "Ollie" Paras is preparing to handle the holidays for President Campbell's administration on her own, a nerve wracking deal as it is without the constant bomb threats coming into the building.
During one of these shelter in place moments, Ollie is put in with the First Lady and her nephew Sean, visiting for Thanksgiving. Sean is prepared to back his aunt up over the potential sale of a company that her family has held a quarter interest in since it was originally founded.
The First Lady doesn't want to sell but one of the dinner guests Treyton Blanchard,a rather ambitious senator whose family is also part of the deal, is determined to get her to sign off on it. Once Ollie and company are given the all-clear, she's ready to head back to work yet the danger is not far from over as the good natured head electrician,Gene, is literally shocked to death.
On top of that, Thanksgiving dinner is unexpectedly delayed as Sean appears to be a no-show. While the meal is eventually served, FL Campbell is feeling very much pressured by Senator Blanchard to sell and with the president unable to attend as well, Ollie sympathizes with her greatly. When news arrives of Sean's demise(declared to be self inflicted), the tension in the air is all too palatable:
Between Gene's lethal accident and Sean's sudden departure(which Olivia has serious suspicions about), it's clear that more than the kitchen pots are brewing up something and unlike the menu, it's not any kind of tasty treat.
Ollie finds herself looking into more than one mystery, all the while dealing with Gavin, whose official duty is to run bomb training safety classes for the staff.
Since her schedule is super busy, she has plenty of reasons to get annoyed over being made to attend Gavin's class but as it turns out, she does have a knack for picking up on things that others don't notice in time. Will that skill be fine tuned enough to save the day and the holiday season at the White House as well?
I really like Ollie, whose determination at doing her job(whether assigned or not) is admirable and endearing,particularly having to run a major league kitchen like this. The banter among the other chefs such as Bucky, always counted on for a gloomy prediction or two, Cyan, the savvy sous chef and Marcel, the temperamental pastry chef who frets over the placement of the annual WH gingerbread house,are well placed ingredients that make this story as entertainingly good as it is.
A major part of the plot centers around the gingerbread house,which is really cool as these official culinary creations are such a sight to see(or imagine in this case) and worthy of an important scene in any such story:
My only quibble is that Olivia's Secret Service agent boyfriend Tom is such a Negative Norman when it comes to her potential detective skills. Sure, he's not in this story much but I just got started on the third book in this series(Eggsecutive Orders) over the weekend and his attitude is really ticking me off here.
Since I'm not reviewing that one for the blog, I won't get too much into that except to say that his support of Ollie, who finds herself thrown into these situations for the most part, is seriously superficial and I won't be surprised if she tells him to take a hike at some point!
Anyway, I will be continuing this series on my own and this dash of Washington intrigue is a sweet touch of storytelling spice into the usual cozy mystery fare. Also, having a set of WH recipes at the end of each book is an appetizing bonus to be sure:
Speaking of new series, this month's SR selection is A Game of Cones by Abby Collette, the second entry in her Ice Cream Parlor Mystery series. Considering that we're close to warm weather time where frozen treats are most keenly wanted, this is a picture perfect choice.
Browyn Crewse is hoping that she can focus more on getting the family ice cream shop up and running instead of dealing with murder. Unfortunately, the body of a corporate representative, who is bearing the bad news about the arrival of a mini mall in their area, is found in a nearby alleyway.
With the possibility of one of her friends being seen as a suspect(not to mention her mystery show loving gal pal Maisie eager to solve the case), Browyn has to pause in scooping out the latest ice cream flavor to get the scoop on the real killer.
Yes, recipes are included here and while homemade ice cream is not something I've ever tried to make, it would be nice to have a place to sample such frosty sweetness(although the only risk I'd like to run into here is brain freeze):
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