Olivia "Ollie" Paras is the White House executive chef, but
she has a certain
reputation amongst White House staffers for stumbling into
trouble that has
nothing to do with kitchen capers. In the recent past,
she's been caught up in
solving murders involving White House personnel and she'd be
all too happy
to take the advice of White House staffers and lay low for
awhile, especially
considering what she's gearing up for.
The White House kitchen is busy planning for a state dinner
in honour of the
Durasi president, with whom the President and Secretary of
State have
recently struck a peace accord. Although each state dinner
is important,
these peace talks have been ongoing, and this particular
dinner can't go
wrong. However, as per usual, there is discord in the
kitchen, as Virgil, the
chef who prepares the First Family's meals, continues to do
everything he can
to create an hostile atmosphere in the kitchen.
At the same time, Ollie is also planning her wedding to
Secret Service agent
Gav. Unfortunately, the marriage won't be as straight-
forward and fast as
they had hoped, as they run into a few obstacles with
respect to finding
someone to officiate the wedding. Gav finds a potential
solution in Evan a
friend of his, but when he and Ollie go to meet his friend,
madness ensues.
Not only is Evan dead, but so are several other people.
Despite Ollie's best efforts, she's once again landed in the
middle of yet
another murder mystery. And since her Secret Service agent
fiancé was with
her, the Secret Service necessarily is involved... again.
Despite being busy
managing a state dinner and trying to manage a kitchen staff
that can't seem
to get along, Ollie begins to investigate Evan's murder.
Not only is she
invested because she stumbled onto the murder herself, but
Evan was a
personal friend of Gav's. Who would want to kill a man
whose mission was to
help others?
HOME OF THE BRAISED is a great addition to the series. As
always, Ollie has humour,
intelligence, and wit to spare, even when she's facing life-
threatening danger.
Although she would probably hate to be described as such,
she's a spunky
heroine who refuses to be stopped. The mystery was more
sophisticated than
the usual cosy, but it felt right for the White House
setting. The plot was
dynamic, ripe with clues, and paced swiftly but not too
quickly. HOME OF THE BRAISED is a
great read, and one I'll return to when I need a pick-me-up!
With the pressure of an upcoming state dinner that could
make or break the president's foreign policy, White House
executive chef Olivia Paras has precious little time to
focus on her wedding plans or to catch a murderer! Tensions
are running high as the White House staff adjusts to a new
chief usher and prepares for a high-stakes state dinner,
where everything must be perfect.
But as the date for the
event approaches, things go disastrously wrong when the
secretary of defense is found dead in his home, seemingly
killed during a break-in. At the same time Olivia's fiance,
Gav, is looking into the mysterious murder of an old friend.
Is there a connection? Despite an increase in security
following the secretary's death, Ollie learns the president
is in imminent danger at the dinner and must do everything
in her power to get to him before it's too late.
Includes Recipes for a complete presidential menu!
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