I love to read about food, cooking, eating, etc. I also enjoy mysteries. So, you might think that I like the peculiar genre known as culinary mysteries. In truth, however, I have always found them somewhat ridiculous--why would a caterer, a chef, a baker, or a home cook repeatedly become involved in murder cases? And why would we want to read about food in conjunction with gory crime scenes? Nonetheless, when I found out about a culinary mystery series I hadn't previously known about--The White House Chef series--I decided to give the first book (of seven now out) a try. The plot: Protagonist, Olivia Paras takes down a White House intruder who eludes the Secret Service and thereby becomes involved in a case involving an infamous international assassin--all while tending to her tasks as the assistant chef at the White House and hoping to be named the new executive chef. Hyzy relies on the tired plot device of the woman who cracks cases that her more competent boyfriend/husband who is a Secret Service agent/sheriff/cop somehow cannot. About all the men in these plots seem able to do is tell their wives/girlfriends to stay out of the case. Ugh.
The information about the operation of the White House kitchen is interesting, although it's hard to know whether it's accurate--and it's not compelling enough to convince me to read any of the subsequent titles in the series (one of the many memoirs by White House chefs seem more likely to be convincingly accurate).
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