The eighth White House Chef mystery, ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MENUS, debuts January 6, 2015, and I can truthfully say that if it weren’t for my amazing and fabulous readers, she wouldn’t still be at work feeding the First Family and saving the world in her spare time. When my most recent Manor House Mystery, GRACE AGAINST THE CLOCK, came out in July, I came up with a fun quiz about the series. It went over so well with readers that I decided to try it again. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve read one, four, seven, or none of the prior titles¾this is just for kicks and a chance for me to share a little behind-the-book trivia with you: 1. The first White House Chef mystery, STATE OF THE ONION, opens with an intruder racing across the front lawn of the White House. How does Ollie stop him? a) She alerts the Secret Service b) She trips him c) She smacks him in the head with a frying pan d) She full-body tackles him 2. In one of the early scenes in HAIL TO THE CHEF the First Lady attempts to make a love connection between her nephew, Sean, and our…

Most Wednesday mornings, I have breakfast with my bestie who is NOT a writer. She’s a finance professor and we used to live across the street from one another. Guess what we talked about this morning: A. Aliens in my backyard who pooped oil. Or maybe it was an oil-like disgusting substance that is now all over my yard. B. How her son and my daughter look great together in pictures but would be disastrous together in a relationship. Or maybe not… C. My daughter’s cat vs. mouse adventures. Or was that how do you get a mouse away from the cat who caught it? D. How to corner the commodities futures market in…er…something. Answer: All of the above — but mostly D! Our conversation wanders wildly all over the place, but the bulk of our conversation this morning was on the commodities futures market. Seriously. She had to explain it to me (about three times) before I understood. And then we developed a bad guy conspiracy to corner the market on something. So what market will be threatened by my bad guy? A. A true to life story from the headlines: treasury bonds B. A sexier true to life…