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AMATEUR SLEUTH/COZY/
CHICK LIT/CULINARY/
ESPIONAGE/SUSPENSE/
SOFT-BOILED MYSTERY
State of the onion
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…
 
The highly-trained Secret Service agents couldn’t do it. Snipers swarming the White House grounds were no help. Only Ollie Paras was able to stop the intruder—hitting him with a frying pan. She’d like to wash her hands of the whole thing, but after she witnesses a murder, there’s no going back...
 
Ollie’s Secret Service boyfriend warns her that the killer is a world-class assassin. And Ollie’s the only person alive who can recognize him. Still, guilt propels her to investigate, even if it means putting herself—and her relationship—in hot water…
Read A Review:

Olivia Paras is an assistant chef at the White House. While returning to the White House with a going away gift for executive chef Henry Cooley, she spies a man charging across the lawn with Secret Service in hot pursuit. She tries to stay out of the way, but when he runs by her, she's afraid he might gets away and stops him cold by hitting over the head with the frying pan gift. As you can imagine, the Secret Service is not too happy about all of this, especially her Secret Service boyfriend no one knows about.

Olivia soon becomes aware of an apparent cover up, and since no one will explain things, she tries to contact Naveen, the man she clobbered, to see if he is okay and find out what is going on. This brings on more heat from the Secret Service. When he contacts her, she sets up a clandestine meeting and hopes the Secret Service doesn't find out.

When he is murdered before her eyes, she unknowingly becomes a target herself.

To make matters even more complicated, she's up for the executive chef job against Laurel Anne Braun who hosts a TV cooking show and is friends with the First Lady.

Can Olivia make sense of this murder and keep herself safe without bringing repercussions on herself for the executive chef position?

I loved this book and couldn't put it down. It grabbed me from the first chapter and didn't let go! Olivia is such a likeable character, and getting a glimpse into life behind the scenes at the White House was very interesting. I can't wait for the next book to be published!

The fabulous food and wonderful recipes and menus provided in the book just enhanced my reading pleasure. The mystery was well crafted, and there were plenty of twists and turns in the plot to keep me guessing to near the end as to the killer's identity.

In this world of high security and alarm, this book fit right in, and I was sad to see it end. It is a great book and I highly recommend it!

Dawn Dowdle