You Watched "The Residence" This Weekend

Are planning a roadtrip or want some deep nonfiction

Hi friends,

D.C. is almost at peak cherry blossom blooms. Please enjoy these pics:

Spring in D.C.

And, now, what to read if…

You Binged the White House Murder Mystery Show

State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy

Netflix premiered “The Residence,” a whodunit set in the White House, last week. I haven’t started it yet — I plan to watch it with a friend this weekend — but most of the early reviews are positive. “The Residence” is loosely based off Kate Andersen Brower’s nonfiction book of the same name (sidebar: only the genius of Shonda Rhimes could take an exposé on how the White House works and turn it into a locked room mystery), but I want to spotlight a different Pennsylvania Ave book: Julie Hyzy’s State of the Onion.

State of the Onion stars White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras, who’s up for a promotion that would put her in charge of one of the most important kitchens in the world. The only problem? Her nemesis, an obnoxious TV chef, is in the running for the same position — and assassins keep trying to kill her. Now, despite the disapproval of the Secret Service, including her agent boyfriend, Olivia sets out to find out who’s hunting her while coordinating a state dinner with just a week’s notice and winning the head chef job.

State of the Onion is a lot of fun and really shines when Hyzy brings to life the hustle and bustle of the White House kitchen. And, like the best culinary cozy mysteries, it includes a set of recipes and mouth-watering food descriptions. Series lovers, take note, there’s nine novels in the White House Chef series.

You’re Ready for a Road Trip

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong

If warmer weather has you dreaming of gathering your friends, favorite snacks and the perfect playlist for a long car ride, grab a copy of Julie Leong’s The Teller of Small Fortunes.

Tao travels from village to village selling “small fortunes,” about the future, such as a new cloak or kitten heading a customer’s way. She’s learned from the past that it’s dangerous to tell “big” fortunes, to stay in one place to long and to trust anyone. But, those assumptions are challenged when she meets Marsh, a mercenary, and Silt, a mostly reformed thief, who are searching for Marsh’s missing daughter. She joins their quest, and the crew is rounded out by Kina, a baker who makes ugly-yet-delicious pastries, and a “slightly magical” cat. As the four follow leads that bring them closer to Marsh’s daughter, Tao reconsiders the strict rules that have governed her life.

The Teller of Small Fortunes is a prime example of what’s now called “cozy fantasy,” which focuses on slice-of-life storytelling and character relationships over big confrontations between good and evil. It took me a bit to get used to the slower pacing but I ended up enjoying the ride.

You’re Looking for Some Weighty Nonfiction

The Barn by Wright Thompson

Wright Thompson grew up on his family’s farm less than 25 miles from the barn where 14-year-old Emmett Till was tortured and murdered, but he knew nothing of the history until he left the state for college. When he returned home in 2020 during the pandemic, he became obsessed with the barn, which was not some sort of memorial (signs noting its significance were shot through with holes), but “was just some guy’s barn, full of decorative Christmas angels and duck-hunting gear…hiding in plain sight, haunting the land.”

For Thompson, the refusal to acknowledge the barn was a symbol of the larger whitewashing his community had undertaken to hide the role it played in Till’s murder, pointing to contemporary textbooks that refer to the teenage victim as an adult and the widespread acceptance of a false confession as the “true” depiction of the events.

In The Barn, Thompson takes a step towards rectifying the flawed narrative by providing a deeply researched history of the Mississippi Delta and its inhabitants and highlighting people, including Tills’s relatives and a witness to the murder, who have worked for decades to bring Till’s story to light.

The result is remarkable work of reporting. The Barn was on nearly every Best of 2024 list I read, and it’s easy to see why. As The Washington Post review noted, “The Barn is serious history and skillful journalism, but with the nuance and wallop of a finely wrought novel… The Barn describes not just the poison of silence and lies, but also the dignity of courage and truth.”

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