A good read, though not as good as the previous four books. This time Olivia is dealing with a conspiracy tied to a foreign delegation of chefs as well as a government sequester that has left her short a couple of chefs.

I really enjoy Ms. Hyzy’s writing; she doesn’t write to formula and she has interesting ways of changing up her characters’ lives. She’s dropped a bomb into Olivia and Gav’s marriage that I can see massive possibilities for taking the series in a whole new direction at some point in the future. I liked that a lot. I can see Cyan’s future dovetailing nicely with this change as well. Nothing might come of any of it but at least she has a veteran cozy reader speculating about the “what if?”’s instead of yawning and thinking “yeah, yeah, cozy plot #4”.

I suspect I didn’t love this one as much as previous books because a lot of it centered around a country that the author necessarily had to fabricate and she did such a good job of creating it without aping any existing countries that it made it rather hard for me to invest myself in it. But the ending was great - I loved that final scene at Blair House (although Olivia’s final scene with the President wasn’t much of a surprise to me; it seemed the only plausible scenario).

The series started off slow for me, but exploded onto my top 10 list at book four, and this book only solidifies my attachment to Olivia, Gav and the rest of the crew. I’m looking forward to the next book. ( )

Very cute cozy mystery with a neat peak into the White House. ( )

The book starts out slow but it eventually grabbed me. Chefs are visiting from a foreign country. Naturally, one dies. Someone always has to die. When a presidential candidate from the same country visits, Ollie realizes she is the target and solves the crime at the last minute. ( )

All the President's Menus is the eighth book in the A White House Chef Mystery series.

Another wonderful book from Julie Hyzy and five stars aren't enough for this book.

The government has been sequestered and Chef Ollie is managing the kitchen with a reduced staff, when she is informed that the candidate for President of Saardisca will be visiting The White House and that four of that country's top chefs.

Once the chef's arrive, Chef Ollie can see that this will be a challenge for her reduced staff. Kilian, the chef that is the lead chef of the group seems to be easy to work with, while Tibor who has a problem with Ollie being in charge of the kitchen and is sure that it is some form of American propaganda. While Hector and Nate seem to be easy to work with, but the fact that they spend a good deal of time talking in their own language is a bit discerning to Ollie. Then when Ollie's chief pastry chef, Marcel collapses in the kitchen, Ollie begins to wonder if the visiting chefs had anything to do with it. Working with s short staff, she doesn't have time for this and starts to do a little sleuthing. Surprisingly she does get a little, very little, help from the Chief Usher and from Tom, head of the WH Secret Service detail.

Things are going well for the newlyweds. I love all of Hyzy's books and am definitely looking forward to the next in this series. Hoping to Cyan back in the White House kitchen and the same for Josh, the son of the President. It's so nice to see a child that isn't playing a hand held game every chance they get. ( )

The White House kitchen staff has been reduced due to the government sequester which only makes the visitation of 4 chefs from Saardisca a little more tricky. Olivia Paras, the executive chef, needs diplomacy to handle these chefs with diverse personalities as well as various culinary talents. When Marcel, the head pastry chef, is taken out of the equation, suspicions begin and then the death of the head of the foreign delegation causes Ollie to concentrate on he other visitors.

You know too many cooks spoil the broth, well here, the reduction of cooks many be the problem.

This is my favorite series, I just wish I didn't have to wait so long between installment. ( )