Review: Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy

In the second book in the White House Chef Mystery series, Ollie Paras is settling in her new role as Executive Chef to the White House.  It’s Christmas time in DC and the entire White House is preparing for the holidays.  As expected, things are never calm at the White House. 

Ollie is meeting with First Lady Mrs. Campbell and her nephew and personal advisor, Sean, when an incendiary device is found on the property.  Ollie is forced into the bunker with the First Lady & Sean. Ollie can’t help but overhear a discussion between the First Lady & her nephew about a company of which her family is part owner. The other parties are interested in selling and changing the scope of the company but the First Lady isn’t interested.  The conversation soon turns to Ollie…and Sean.  Mrs. Campbell doesn’t hide her intentions on setting the two up.   The trio are eventually released from the bunker & Ollie carries on preparing for the holidays.

The bomb scare beefs up the already tight security at the White House, and now all staff are forced to attend security training.  The kitchen crew isn’t happy about this at all; this season is the busiest time of year.  Reluctantly they attend, eventually realizing how valuable this training is.

It’s impossible for Ollie not to get caught up in some sort of action at the White House.  When a White House electrician is electrocuted and is killed, Ollie must find out the real cause.   The extra electricians assigned to the White House over the holidays seem less than interested in discussing what happened with Ollie, so she’s forced to do some investigating on her own.

Hail to the Chef is quite the accurate title for this book as Ollie continues to risk her life (and her job!) to protect the White House. The extremely dynamic characters and heart-pounding storyline continues in the second book in this addictive series.

This may be my favorite book of the series, partially because it is set during the holiday season.  In addition to the thrilling dual storylines, I loved reading about the White House’s preparation for the holidays.  As in the first book, Hyzy clearly as done a great deal of research on the subject as many of the traditions she described really do take place.  A gingerbread rendering of the White House (seen on the cover of the book) is my favorite tradition. You can see more about how the White House decorates for Christmas here.

While you don’t have to read the first book, State of the Onion (my review), to enjoy Hail to the Chef, I recommend you do so you get an accurate history of the characters.

Come back tomorrow for more in the White House Chef Mystery Series week here on the blog! I’ll review the third book, Eggsecutive Orders.