Another cooking mystery series with recipes - a recommendation from my sister. The main character, Ollie Paras, reminds me of Goldy Schulz, the caterer in the series by Diane Mott Davidson. Their names are similar, they are both short, their significant others are involved in law enforcement (if you will agree that the Secret Service has much in common with conventional law enforcement), and both have a gift for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, Goldy is firmly installed in Yuppieville, Colorado, and Ollie is an assistant chef at the White House (hence the Secret Service connection). Ollie is promoted to executive chef at the end of book one - not a spoiler, because the series has continued into several volumes already. She has also foiled an assassination plot and been the target of the assassin herself as well as dealing with an idiot administrator and seriously bitchy competitor for the executive chef position. Good fun.
The White House is an intriguing setting for a mystery series. Didn't Eliot Roosevelt try it? Or was the White House just one of the seats of power where he set his novels. At any rate, her treatment feels well researched and plausible. Her president is fictional and of undisclosed political affiliation - definitely safe choices. This was really a fun read. I am tempted to go out and download the next, but I promised myself that I wouldn't get more than one a day - and I snagged a couple more from the dean's shelf Friday and really should read them so I can return them. Not to mention the next chapter in my stats book. Of course, I didn't read a book yesterday - because I was sitting at my desk watching a movie - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with subtitles - so maybe I was reading a movie - whatever - it was excellent. I watched it twice.
Reading in my PC Kindle software is surprisingly comfortable. I'm starting to really want one of the gadgets themselves so I can read somewhere besides sitting at my desk - although, at the moment, I'm not sure where that might be ---
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