Affairs of Steak by Julie Hyzy

Affairs of Steak is the fifth book in the White House Chef Mystery series by Julie Hyzy. While I always highly recommend you read things in order, this book could probably be read as a standalone in a pinch, you just wouldn't understand some of the character interactions.

Ollie has really gotten herself into it this time. When she and her arch nemesis Peter Sargeant have to work together on a banquet, they quickly dive into trouble when they discover the bodies of two White House employees. Not realizing just how much danger they are in they follow proper procedure, but then strange things start to happen and Ollie starts to believe that her life just may be in danger. With having to worry about that and the numerous dinners and parties going on at the White House, Ollie has her hands full. Especially since she and Sargeant are in this together and snipping at each other the whole way.

Ollie is always the better person, and as such, she is an inspiration. She tries to do right by people even if it isn't the most popular choice. In short, she's the kind of person I would like to be. Not to mention, she's a chef, and I love food. I also like how she can even relate to the people she doesn't like and overcome her initial anger at them. Her love interest Gav, is pretty special too. He is pretty level headed but seems to genuinely care for Ollie. I was pleasantly surprised by Sargeant's character in this one too. While still a jerk at least he had some depth for once and played more than the bad guy.

The plot was pretty exciting. There was a lot of action, but less of the romance this time,which I was actually pretty disappointed about. I had hoped for a little more than that after the last one, but once again its a slow process for Ollie. Unfortunately the mystery was kind of predictable and the bad guys a little smarmy this time. There wasn't as much food either with the exception of the recipes listed in back. In fact, I would say that there was barely time spent in the kitchen this time around. Which was a little sad since I had grown used to Ollie preparing food and working with the other kitchen staff.

It was still a good book. Just not as good as the previous one. I don't know when Hyzy plans on putting out the next book, but I definitely plan on reading it!

Affairs of Steak
Copyright 2012
293 pages

Buffalo West Wing by Julie Hyzy

I think this has been my favorite book of the series so far. It had the right amount of food, mystery and romance. And compared to the others, it doesn't really matter if you read this as a stand alone, although I always recommend reading a series in order.

A new President is in the white house, and for the White House staff that means they have to adjust and make him and his family feel welcome. Not to mention this President has young children, which is a new experience for them. Its the first day there when some famous chicken wings are dropped off at the kitchen, intended for the President's kids. Because she doesn't know where they came from, Executive Chef Ollie won't serve them, much to the consternation of the first lady and quite possibly puts her job on the line as a result. But when she finds out the wings were poisoned as part of a terrorist plot, Ollie knows she did the right thing. The only problem? She's not allowed to tell the first lady and when another chef is brought in, Ollie knows its only a matter of time until she's replaced.

I love Ollie in this one. She does the whole true to yourself thing and it really works for her and makes me like her as a character more. I also enjoy that she is devoid of the not so great boyfriend Tom in this one, and her new love interest is much better in my opinion. Tom was kind of a jerk and I was always secretly rooting that they would break up. Her side chefs are pretty great in this one too. Bucky continues to be an evolving character and I genuinely liked him in this one. The new chef by contrast is the new jerk in the kitchen and people will just love to hate him. The bad guys are also more menacing this time around too.

The mystery was hard to solve, but not completely impossible this time around. And there was a nice mix of mystery with food too. Food definitely took more of a share and I was glad to see that as I love the descriptions Hyzy uses for the food and some of the ideas for cooking. The recipes at the end didn't hurt either. And in this one I liked the elements of romance too. I like Ollie having a personal life and she doesn't really in the first few books, so it makes her into more of a real person. I do have to say that the ending felt quite abrupt and I wasn't a big fan of that. It seemed like there should have been at least one more chapter to round things out a little more.

I definitely can't wait to read the next book now and will have to go get it soon. A pretty nice foodie mystery in this installment.

Buffalo West Wing
Copyright 2011
305 pages

Eggsecutive Orders by Julie Hyzy

Yay, let's hear it for cozy mysteries set in the White House! Ok, so it wasn't that good, but it still was enjoyable. And I like that its set in the White House, it makes it unique. This is a part of a series and I highly suggest you read the others first or some things just won't make sense in this book.

When a dinner guest winds up dead, Ollie and her staff is on suspension. Which drives her nuts. She wants to clear her name, what with reporters and other people slamming her and accusing her of murder, but without being able to be at her job, there's no way to do that. So she does what Ollie does best; she digs for clues wherever she can. And this time, her boyfriend's job is on the line if she does try to search for clues. So she's torn. Clear herself and hurt her boyfriend, or leave things be and possibly lose her job. And with the Easter Egg roll at the White House coming up, she has to get back into her kitchen.

Ollie is always a little bit unbelievable. She seems more interested in mystery than food. But she is still nice to read about and that makes up for it. I did like that we were introduced to her family in this one. It helped explain her background a little and made her seem more realistic. And her grandma was quite a character! I'm still not fond of her boyfriend, he just doesn't seem very nice or supportive of Ollie. Too serious I suppose. The bad guys weren't that chilling in this one either. They had a lot of lead in, but most of this book was about Ollie's personal life more than anything. I do have to say that Bucky was a stand out character in this one. I didn't like him in previous books but I definitely did for this one.

The mystery was hard to solve in this one. And that was because there weren't really any clues for the reader. So in that way it kind of took the fun out of it because I think there would be very few people who would actually guess who the murderer was. And there was less food in this one too. It wasn't described very much and while that could be because Ollie was out of the kitchen for a good portion of the book, I just don't think that excuses it. This is a foodie mystery after all. But they did include some recipes at the end based off of.....you guessed it.....eggs.

An ok cozy mystery, still entertaining to read despite its flaws. I can't wait to move on to the next one by Hyzy.

Eggsecutive Orders
Copyright 2010
327 pages

Hail to the Chef by Julie Hyzy

I didn't like this book as much as the first one. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't as well done. Although it isn't necessary to read the first one before this one, you want be left too far in the dark. But hey, its a foodie mystery and at least those are usually entertaining.

Ollie, now executive chef at the White House, is preparing for the holidays and the rush and madness that accompanies it. She has several events to take care of and she and her staff are in overtime trying to get everything done. So when a bomb threat adds even more training and problems to the table, its hard for her to keep up. Especially when trouble just seems to fall into her lap. Trying to solve the mystery on her own and keep her friends and staff safe, Ollie may have bitten off a little more than she can chew this time though.

I like Ollie. I find her character to be a bit unbelievable at times but she's charming. She's not overly prideful and truly enjoys food which is good when the mystery centers around a White House chef. Her kitchen staff is always pretty unique as well and they have quirks all their own. Bucky, the cantankerous chef, especially is amusing to me. Cyan, another chef, didn't get very much time in this book though and I was a little disappointed in that. There are actually a lot of characters in this one because of the First Lady, the President, their friends, other staff, etc. and it can get confusing once in awhile. But that probably mirrors reality as I'm sure there is a lot going on at the White House. The bad guys, well they were somewhat easy to guess but were sneaky enough in their own way.

Because the mystery was somewhat easy to solve I was a little disappointed. Hyzy tries to throw you off but really, its easy to pinpoint at least some of whats going on very early in the book. There were some food descriptions this time, but not as much as in the first book and I found myself missing that. I just love when they talk about food, but at least they threw in some recipes at the end. There's even a few I may attempt because they sound so good. Its a quick read and as a cozy mystery it rates ok. Since it involves the holidays winter is a good time of year to read it and all that was really missing was a warm fire in the fireplace.

I definitely look forward to the next one in the series. Maybe it'll even be as good as the first.

Hail to the Chef
Copyright 2008
328 pages

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

I love all the books that involve food that are coming out. Two things I really enjoy combined together, can't beat that. This one even has a bit of mystery to it. It wasn't the best book out there, but it was still pretty enjoyable.

Ollie (Olivia Paras) is a chef at the white house who is a big contender for becoming head chef, when the current head chef Henry retires. After returning to the White House from an errand, she inadvertently stops a man who is trying to break in. Little does she know that this cycle of events will spiral into much more when she becomes the target of a famous assassin as a result. Between trying to protect her life and contend for the head chef position, she has a lot going on and there are several factors against her.

The characters were so-so in this book. They weren't developed fully and only had a few attributes given to them to make them differ from each other. You had your mean guy, your disillusioned guy, your funny girl, etc. Luckily the assassin was fairly menacing and the Sensitivity director a real jerk so at least that had some interest.

The plot was interesting although a little implausible. I really don't see things playing out in real life like they did, but hey its a book. I liked that Hyzy incorporated a good deal about food in here. So often books that have a food theme barely mention food and then I get disappointed. So this was nice. I also was a big fan of the mystery since I wasn't able to figure it out ahead of time. Hyzy did a good job on that and it kept it interesting. I thought the ending was a little abrupt and didn't tie up some loose ends. Since its a series hopefully these questions will be answered later, but I would have liked some of it to be in this book.

This was a nice book. Since its the first in the series I'll probably keep reading. There are some details I want to know still.

State of the Onion
Copyright 2008
305 pages + recipes