Carl Minkus, a special agent for the NSA, was the only vegetarian at the dinner and so had a special meal prepared for him. Ollie insists that while that gave ample opportunity for her staff to add something to the dish that would cause his death, none of them would do such a thing and none of them had a reason to want the detestable man dead. 

Because of her past history getting involved in murders at the White House, the assistant deputy of the Secret Service assigns Ollie a handler and tells Tom McKenzie that if Ollie gets involved in any aspect of the investigation it will be his responsibility.  This is a problem because Ollie and Tom have been involved for a while, and Ollie knows she won’t be able to stand idly by, yet she doesn’t want to cause any trouble for Tom on his job. 

This puts an additional strain on their relationship, a strain from which they may not be able to recover. Adding to Ollie’s worries are her mother and grandmother who have come to Washington D.C. to visit Ollie and to see the egg roll.  Ollie hasn’t seen either of them in quite a while and was looking forward to showing them around town rather than having her time tied up as a murder suspect. 

Furtively trying to investigate the murders to clear her kitchen staff of any wrongdoing while trying to stay on this side of legitimate not to cause any problems for Tom, Ollie finds that the TV chefs who had filmed the kitchen the day of the murder, Suzie and Steve, have a past connection with Minkus. While they were the only unknown factors in the kitchen the day the preparations were being made, she finds it hard to believe either one of them would risk their careers like this. 

Working quickly and quietly, Ollie slowly sees the answers emerging, but how can she convey what she knows without costing Tom his job and without destroying their relationship?  

Ollie is an outspoken young woman who has a strong sense of right and wrong. She has an ally in the First Lady, Mrs. Campbell, but is surprised when she doesn’t get the help she is hoping for when her second-in-command, Bucky, is banished from the kitchen. Ollie realizes how little she knows about her staff when Bucky insists the egg roll must go on, even as it means hardboiling and dying hundreds of dozens of eggs from his apartment. Ollie learns once again how secretive her staff is being, but she too realizes the necessity of keeping private relationships private, even from those you work closest with. 

Carl Minkus has been investigating many people as terrorists, and there are many people who might like to see him out of the way, but it isn’t until the very end that another piece slides into place leading Ollie to the murderer just in time to save her grandmother. A quickly paced plot with a headstrong heroine and some recipes featuring eggs all add up to a dependable mystery.  

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry