I’m on my way to New York City today, so Sandie Herron has stepped in with one of her Have You Heard? posts. It’s her review of Julie Hyzy’s audiobook of Eggsecutive Orders. If you haven’t read this series, and enjoy cozy mysteries, I hope you check it out.
Eggsecutive Orders
White House Chef Mystery, Book 3
Written by Julie Hyzy
Narrated by Eileen Stevens
Unabridged Audiobook
Audible Studios (February 11. 2014) originally published 1/5/2010
Listening Length: 9 hours, 18 minutes
White House Executive Chef Olivia “Ollie” Paras is glad spring has arrived and with it the promise of fun at the White House with the annual Easter Egg Roll event. Ollie is also looking forward to her mother and grandmother arriving for a visit. When she arrives at work, the White House is responding to a tragedy; NSA big shot Carl Minkus collapsed and died after last night’s state dinner prepared by Ollie and staff.
With the cause of death unknown but seemingly connected to the dinner, the Secret Service shuts down the White House kitchen. The chefs are sequestered and interrogated. Ollie reminds them that TV chef celebrities Steve and Cindy filmed an episode the prior day while dinner was prepared.
This forced time off allows Ollie to take her family to visit her father’s grave at Arlington National Cemetery. While taking a break, they run into Ruth Minkus, widow of the dead man. She yells at Ollie that she killed her husband. Ruth’s son, an aspiring politician himself, hurries her off while a family friend apologizes to the women. The next day Ruth calls to apologize to Ollie and insist she attend the wake. While there, Ollie runs into Howard Liss, a despicable journalist who publicly bashes Ollie one day and privately sidles up to her the next for help in finding out who is selling secrets to the Chinese.
Somehow Howard Liss has obtained Ollie’s cell phone number and calls her many times to plead for her help. His schemes scare her, so she reports it all to her boyfriend Tom, who is on the presidential Secret Service detail. Ollie is angry to find out that Tom’s boss has specifically assigned Tom to cover Ollie because of her propensity to become embroiled with trouble at the White House. Further, he is threatening Tom’s job based on Ollie’s behavior. Too many people are badgering Ollie when all she wants is to go back to work.
I can only imagine how terrifying it might be to have a White House guest die in residence. To make matters worse, the medical examiner needs days if not weeks to discover the cause. Ollie’s fear was palpable. Her confusion was obvious as well. Who would need the White House executive chef to help find clues on the assassination of Chinese spies? The story could have gone out of control, but author Julie Hyzy keeps things in check for a suspenseful, steady-paced twisting of plot lines. Narrator Eileen Stevens has an urgency to her voice that definitely kept the story moving while she masterfully portrayed many characters. I had great difficulty putting this book down. I immensely enjoyed it.
While I listened to this story on audiobook, I did not miss out on the free recipes included in the print book. There is a PDF file attached to the audio file that includes them all for the aspiring chef.
