January 2016
On Sale: January 5, 2016
Featuring: Ollie Paras
296 pages ISBN: 0425262405 EAN: 9780425262405 Kindle: B00W2ZKN2G Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
To celebrate the ninth installment in the White House Chef Mystery
series, I’ve come up with nine all-new trivia questions. Test your knowledge
about Ollie and the gang for fun and bragging rights (answers below).
In STATE OF THE
ONION, the First Lady must decide who to name as executive chef when Henry
retires. There’s no doubt that Henry prefers Ollie succeed him, but who else is
in the running for the top job?
Martha Stewart
Laurel Anne Braun
Julia Child
Buckminster (Bucky) Reed
HAIL TO THE CHEF is
the second book in the White House Chef series, but many readers pick it up
mistakenly believing it to be the first in the series (meaning: they haven’t
read State of the Onion). What is the number one comment/complaint I’ve
received via email from this group of readers?
New readers don’t believe that an underground bunker exists in the White
House
New readers think that Marcel’s gingerbread White House is too big
New readers have an issue with (fictional) President Campbell
New readers don’t immediately realize that Ollie is female
Which members of Ollie’s family do we meet for the first time in EGGSECUTIVE ORDERS?
her brother and father
her mother and nana
her sister and cousin
her twin nephews
There is an “oops” moment in BUFFALO WEST WING that
occurs near the end of the book. While there is a logical explanation for the
reappearance of a formerly lost item, that explanation isn’t provided on the
page. What is the item in question?
Ollie’s cell phone
Ollie’s diary
Ollie’s house keys
Bucky’s favorite knife
Peter Everett Sargeant despises Ollie, yet he’s required to work closely
with her in AFFAIRS OF
STEAK. Someone close to the persnickety fellow plays a key role in the
story. What’s the character’s name and how is he related to Sargeant?
It’s the first book of mine to feature the words “New York Times
Bestselling Author”
It’s mostly red
There are four words in the title
It’s a different size
What absolutely awful title was suggested for Book #8 before Berkley settled
on ALL THE PRESIDENT’S
MENUS?
Plate of the Union
War and Peas
Need to know Basil
Star Spangled Banana
Speaking of titles, although I really like FOREIGN ECLAIRS, I’d
originally suggested something else entirely – a title I thought fit the
storyline nicely. Berkley disagreed. What was my suggestion?
White House Dressing
A Bombe in Nation
Bread of State
A Salt on Freedom
ANSWERS:
b - Laurel Anne Braun is Ollie’s nasty (and sometimes comical) nemesis in
this first book
d – I had quite a few people write to let me know that they believed Ollie
to be male for the first chapter or so of the book
b – Ollie’s mom and nana make their first appearance in EGGSECUTIVE
ORDERS
a – Ollie’s cell phone gets flushed but then later, she (miraculously)
receives a text. What actually happened (though not explained in the book) is
that the White House quickly replaced her lost cell. Oops!
c – We meet Milton in AFFAIRS OF STEAK. He’s Sargeant’s adult
ne’er-do-well nephew.
d – All of the above. I loved this storyline because we got to know more
about Ollie’s family and especially her deceased father. Most readers seemed to
love it, too, though there were a handful who voiced their disappointment that
Ollie didn’t spend more time at the White House during this installment.
a – Yay!!
d – The original title for this book could have been (ugh!!) STAR
SPANGLED BANANA. Doesn’t that sound silly and slapstick? I despised the
idea so much, I begged Berkley to drop it. Fortunately, they did. Whew!
b – As much as I lobbied for A SALT ON FREEDOM for several other
installments (including Book #8), I believed A BOMBE IN NATION would
have made an ideal title for :::ahem::: explosive Book #9. Berkley disagreed,
but that’s okay. FOREIGN
ECLAIRS is a great title, too.
Thank you so much for your interest in Ollie and the gang! I truly appreciate
all your wonderful support over the years.
As you may know by now, FOREIGN ECLAIRS, the ninth
White House Chef Mystery,
will be the last one in the series that I write. Whether the series continues
without me is anyone’s guess, but if you’re curious as to why I’m stepping away,
I invite you to visit my blog
Julie Hyzy's first experience with food included flipping burgers and
chopping onions at a neighborhood hot dog stand. She traded that experience for
a job as a singing waitress at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour -- but gave that up
when she started college (and because she couldn't carry a tune).
Over the years, she's acted in community theater productions, appeared in
television commercials, and crashed a previously all-male fraternity to become
one of the first female brothers in Loyola University's Chapter of Delta Sigma
Pi.
Julie had dreams of becoming a writer, but family, friends, and frat brothers
convinced her otherwise. Having held positions as junior officer at a downtown
bank, office manager at an architectural firm, and financial advisor at a
prestigious wealth management company, she realizes that the business degree was
probably a good choice -- but fiction is truly her passion. Now, with some
well-earned life experience behind her, she's delighted to finally be able to
make writing a priority in her life.
White House executive chef Ollie Paras has served plenty of meals to
foreign dignitaries from around the world. But someone is ready to serve her an
ice-cold dish of revenge. . .
Things are about to really heat up for
Ollie. News of a bombing and attempted breakout at a federal prison reveals that
the brother of a terrorist she helped defeat is back with a vengeance. And after
she gets mugged on her way home from work, the Secret Service won’t leave her
side, fearing that she is now a target.
When a White House staff member is
murdered, officials rush into action over a possible security breach. It may be
time for Ollie to trade in her apron for a bullet-proof vest as she becomes part
of a bold strategy to make sure this terrorist gets his just desserts. . .
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