State of the Onion

A White House Chef Mystery, Book 1

By: Julie Hyzy

Narrated by: Eileen Stevens

Introducing White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras, who is rising-and sleuthing-to the top. Includes recipes for a complete presidential menu! Never let them see you sweat-that's White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras's motto, which is pretty hard to honor in the most important kitchen in the world. She's hell-bent on earning her dream job, Executive Chef. There's just one thing: Her nemesis is vying for it, too. Well, that and the fact that an elusive assassin wants to see her fry.

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Critic reviews

"[A] compulsively readable whodunit full of juicy behind-the-Oval Office details, flavorful characters and a satisfying side dish of red herrings - not to mention 20 pages of easy-to-cook recipes fit for the leader of the free world." (Publishers Weekly)

This was fun.

If you can accept the premise and the, "Wait -- what?" moments when you KNOW that a particular event just would never happen in the White House, this is a fun read. Stow your skepticism in your back pocket and just relax.

Food Related

If you could sum up State of the Onion in three words, what would they be?

Fast pace, good food, interesting

Who was your favorite character and why?

I like Olivia, even though she does do some stupid things. Peter Sargent is a love to hate character as is Loral Ann

What about Eileen Stevens’s performance did you like?

I think she is great. All her characters are believable. She is really good and the men and women all sound different.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My reaction was: how could you do that? I love food related mysteries but I don't like it when the author has the main character do obvious dumb moves.

An interesting idea

The basic idea of mysteries in the White House kitchen is good. Many of the characters are engaging. The main character is, however, almost schizophrenic in the way she swings from calm, organized professional to ditzy girl who can't string words into a coherent sentence. The ditz makes really stupid decisions that only serve to create false tensions in the plot. I'll give this author one more try and hope that her editor is tougher on her in the future.

Not bad for "cozy" espionage

This is one of those gentle murder books, a coffee-house, caterer, cookie shop mystery. It is better than many. I have tried several in my search for lighter fare than The Gray Man and Mitch Rapp; most cannot be stomached, but this one is okay. Many of the characters are well-fleshed and distinct, notably the kitchen staff--Henry is the most endearing, but Bucky turns out to be quite interesting. There is less food fascination, and no recipes. The romance angst is a bit juvenile, but again, not too bad.

Two plots are intertwined, first, the application and audition process for new White House head chef introduces a celebrity rival witch who assumes she's a shoe-in. The WH major-domo is also a cut-out villain. These two beg to be slapped, but add some fun to the mix. The second plot line is a warning that the president is in danger from the Chameleon, the most-feared international assassin. You can probably figure out the result of the first, but the getting there is fun, and there are still surprises at the end. The second takes a moment longer, and really isn't a big surprise in the end, but again the journey is okay.

The main plot flaw, as I saw it, was with Kasim, the made-up Middle-East-country interpreter and right-hand man to the visiting prince. This man from a strict Muslim country, whose visiting princess wears full burqa and speaks to no one, blithely chats with the main character, a woman chef dressed in white chef's trousers, tunic, and toque. He almost confides in her. I found this intimacy highly improbable.

The narrator does the women's voices pretty well, but the men's voices are forced and obvious. She especially fails at dear Henry's (the retiring head chef) voice. She also mispronounces several words.

Pleasantly surprised

I hard a hard time being interested in this story at first but I hung in there and actually ended up enjoying it.