by Oline H. Cogdill


We enter 2016—a year that sounds like science fiction to me—with the loss of two beloved characters.

In late 2015 Margaret Maron announced that after 23 years she was ending her series about North Carolina magistrate Deborah Knott. Long Upon the Land is the last in the series that began in in 1992 with Bootlegger’s Daughter, which went on to win the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, and Macavity awards. (You can read more about Maron’s decision here.)

And late last year Julie Hyzy announced that she is ending her White House Chef series in 2016.

Foreign Eclairs, which comes out January 5, will be the final installment about the adventures of White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras—Ollie to her readers.

The series started in 2008 with State of the Onion, which won the 2009 Anthony and Barry awards for best paperback original and the Lovey Award for best amateur sleuth.

The nine-novel series also has been lauded with other awards and nominations.

Eggsecutive Orders was nominated for a 2011 Barry Award for best paperback original. Buffalo West Wing won the 2012 Anthony Award for best paperback original. Hyzy’s fifth novel, Affairs of Steak, hit No. 22 on the New York Times Bestsellers List for mass market fiction.

Hyzy’s Ollie also was featured in the excellent Cozy Cookbook that came out in 2015.

Hyzy’s series hit all the right notes—a light mystery that took the genre seriously, added a soupçon of humor and gave readers a window into a world that few people have seen. Hyzy made us care about Ollie and the behind-the-scenes White House staff.

On her blog, Hyzy states: “Nine books is a good run, isn't it? I think I've ended the series in a way that's satisfactory and yet leaves the door open for possibilities.”

Also on that blog, Hyzy discusses why she is ending the series—and it makes perfect sense to me.

Hyzy still writes the Manor House mysteries and has one private investigator novel to her credit, Playing With Matches.

Ollie may be out of the White House—after all, there also will be a new administration in the next year, so the timing is spot-on.

But the end of the series won’t be the last we will hear from the talented Hyzy—I hope.  

Take care, Ollie Paras and Deborah Knott. And thanks for sharing your entertaining adventures with your readers.