The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef

by Tom Straw

A maverick celebrity chef reluctantly agrees to let the CIA use his hugely popular international food, culture, and travel TV series as cover for a dangerous espionage mission.When the CIA approaches celebrity chef Sebastian Pike about using his award-winning food and culture travel show as cover for espionage, the outspoken bad-boy host says no. When they point out how roaming the globe interviewing foodies, heads of state, rock stars, journalists-in-exile, poets, subversives, supermodels—even the pope—gives him perfect cover, Pike smiles and says, “F@#! no.” They push. Promising it’s only one mission. Vowing he won’t be in danger. Calling him the Most Valuable Bystander. They’d embed their top agent in his crew to do the spy work. It’s still no. But when they hit him with the patriotism card, he weakens. And when romantic sparks crackle between him and the female agent, Pike’s all in, kicking off a romantic spy thriller in which the globetrotting celebrity chef uses his TV series to help sneak Putin’s accountant out of Russia before he’s exposed as a mole for US intelligence. The high-stakes mission quickly puts Pike in harm’s way. So much for MVB. There’s danger, there’s double dealing, there’s torture, there’s shooting with real bullets. Plus, a minefield of complications from the hot romance that grows between Pike and his gutsy CIA handler-producer, Cammie Nova. From Paris to Provence, this chef is no bystander. Beyond their attraction, Pike and Nova become an operational team, not only to survive the perils they face but to pull off an operation fraught with one twist after another, capped by a shocking, emotional climax.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Thriller, Audiobook

296 pages, Hardcover

Published May 14, 2024

About the author

TOM STRAW published his first mystery novel, The Trigger Episode, in 2007. Subsequently, writing as Richard Castle, he authored seven more crime novels, all of which became New York Times Bestsellers. Buzz Killer is Tom Straw’s first book under his own name since that blockbuster Nikki Heat series. He is also an Emmy- and Writer’s Guild of America-nominated TV writer and producer having written and produced Night Court, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Dave’s World, Grace Under Fire, Cosby, Whoopi, and Nurse Jackie. A former board member of the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, he lives in Connecticut, where his home is his castle.

Reviews

[Jannelies · Rating 4 out of 5]

World-famous TV chef Sebastian Pike, still mourning the death of his fiancée Astrid, is in the middle of filming new episodes of his show. They’re in France, the country of the many smells and flavours, and all is going smoothly. Except for one thing: the new producer of the show, Cammie Nova, is late one morning and when she does turn up, things suddenly become awkward. Very awkward. The crew witness a drive-by shooting, a valuable member of the team goes missing, the CIA gets involved, to name a few.

Pike is in over his head before he knows it; he’s supposed to keep filming shows but in the meantime he is suddenly involved in saving an important person from the claws of some very dangerous politicians.

Delightful! A very funny story with some interesting twists. It immediately had me think of one of my favourites: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Don’t let the Dutch title keep you from reading the reviews for this book. Most reviews are in English.
The similarities between The Accidental Joe and Het kan niet altijd kaviaar zijn/Es muss nicht immer Kaviar sein/The Monte Cristo Cover-up) are obvious: both main characters are ordinary people who become pawns in international politics. Both main characters love to cook, but while Thomas Levin (from Simmel’s book) is a banker, Sebastian Pike is a real chef. But while Simmel chose to include lots of recipes, Tom Straw just mentions a lot of delicious food ingredients so the reader may be inspired by them.
Needless to say this book ends well; I’ve enjoyed reading it and I can recommend it to fans of ‘light espionage’ stories.
Thanks to Post Hill Press and Netgalley who put this title in the Read Now section.

[R L HERSKOWITZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is about a traveling tv chef that helps the CIA.
The wording seemed odd to me, even though the author is American. It took me about 30-40 pages to get used to the author’s language style.
The dialogue throughout the novel was excellent.
I think this might be the first book of a series.
If there is a sequel, I will definitely read it.
I did enjoy the story.
I do recommend this novel!

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy read from the author of the Richard Castle series that holds your interest until the end. There is plenty of drama as well as romance and great scenery stretching from Paris to Provence. There are no big surprises at the end but it makes a good lazy afternoon read.

[Gregg Inkpen · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. Totally worth the read.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled with this book. Take Richard Castle and make him a celebrity tv chef. Still kinda goofy and immature but now he has a tv show and a lot of knowledge about cultures and food. And I did enjoy the Richard Castle books, but that was because it was like reading an episode of a tv show I enjoyed. It was supposed to be campy and light. Chef Sebastian and entourage don't have the foundation and the ability to ignore a lot of what is needed to establish characters and a story. This leads to the first of my issues. Supposedly Chef is heartbroken over his dead fiancé but then immediately starts drooling over his CIA handler. What? And the whole set-up between him, his show, and the CIA is more like a Keystone Cop routine. Finally, the story is written more as the starting of a script rather than a reading experience. Descriptions for most scenes, etc are basic, unless it is providing some type of prop for Chef Sebastian and Cammie. I expected a more hardcore thriller and that isn't what this was.

Thanks to NetGalley and Post Hill Press for a copy of the book. This review is my own opinion.

[Emily Gold · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imagine Anthony Bourdain as a CIA operative who ends up allowing the CIA to use his show as a background for an operation. Unbeknownst to Sebastian Pike, his culinary show is the perfect cover up for espionage. They call him the MVB: Most valuable bystander. Although he does not take that name quite to heart because there is danger, real bullets firing from real guns and a budding romance between him and his producer-CIA handler, Cammie Nova. This book has everything you could want, romance, cooking, thrilling adventures and a beautiful backdrop from Provence to Paris. Straw did a brilliant job of making me fall in love with Pike with all his flaws and the budding romance between him and Nova.

[Michael]

I really wanted to like this one but, at about the 50% mark, I opted to cast it aside. The problem is I am a long-time John Le Carré reader and have always loved the literary espionage genre. "The Accidental Joe:...", while co-opting some of the terminology invented by Mr. Le Carré, is NOT a literary espionage novel. It is a thriller with an interesting, sometimes annoying, protagonist. There are numerous chapters that end with a cliff-hanger, so if page-turners appeal to you, you may enjoy this. However, it is written in the first-person which is hard to pull off in an espionage setting and just did not work for this reader. Cheers!

[Deborah Wall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celebrity Chef

Espionage, cooking, and humor made this a winning story for me. A tale of a chef whose international food interviews made him a perfect part time spy. I would enjoy it being a series.

[Debra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to TLC Book Tours and Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review. My opinions are my own.

This one wasn't a hit with me. It was saturated with attempts at a mix between wry, deadpan humor with one-liners trying for a noir detective cool, all of which landed flat with me. To be fair, I did get a bit lost in the film/TV industry terminology and being more familiar with it may have helped me get into the story more. It didn't seem cohesive and engaging in the end and I didn't finish it.

Trigger Warning: violent murder

[Christine Bode · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the author’s name sounds like a pseudonym, it curiously isn’t; this book, The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef, recommended to me by Amazon because I bought Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, is one of the most delightful surprises of this year’s reading challenge.

Book 31 of 2025 is a fast-paced, super-fun spy thriller—picture Anthony Bourdain (at least I did), or any celebrity chef with a TV show, turned accidental joe. From the engrossing first line—“I might be dying, but nobody will tell me.”—to the last—which I won’t reveal, you know a book is excellent when you want to write a review of it by Chapter 5.

Chapter One begins with a first-person narrator, Chef Sebastian Pike, wondering if he’s going to die from a gunshot wound. His eerily accurate, irreverent Bourdain sense of humour is remarkable and hooked me immediately. Bourdain is even mentioned in the book.

Celebrity Chef Pike is in Paris with his TV crew preparing to film an episode of Hangry Globe when his new producer, Cammie Nova, springs a surprise guest on him, whom he’s never heard of, Victor Fabron, a documentary filmmaker, described in a Le Monde article as the Michael Moore of France.

The voiceover text for the cold opening of this episode, written by Pike, is pitch-perfect in its pacing, humour, and echoing of Bourdain’s voice, which I’m sure was intentional and a stroke of genius if you ask me.

Although Pike is struggling with grief over his fiancée, Astrid’s sudden death (she was blown up in a boat explosion with a famous rock star whom she worked for), he swallows his grief because, in the entertainment business, as we know, the show must go on.

Meanwhile, the director of a TV police procedural, Coups Criminels, is on location trying to get a motorcycle action sequence filmed for the show when the motorcyclist makes an unscripted skid and fall, halting filming of the scene. The director erupts into an angry French tirade—so much for getting a decent interview with that guy.

Fabron, who arrives for his interview intoxicated, is soon shot dead on set, turning it and the Coups Criminels set into crime scenes. Nova and Pike bond as a result of that crazy day, and the twists and turns keep coming. Romantic tension raises the stakes.

The author’s pacing is as fast and furious as a Mission Impossible motorcycle chase. As someone who appreciates pop culture, one of my favourite humorous passages is “I’d caught a glimpse of my traumatized self in the bathroom mirror and knew what she meant. I was the Nick Nolte mug shot, minus the Hawaiian shirt.”

The CIA uses Pike’s TV series to help sneak Putin’s accountant out of Russia before he’s exposed as a mole for US intelligence. All this, plus location shoots in the South of France, contributes to The Accidental Joe’s five-star review. This book is comedic and romantic thriller perfection, as it hits all the targets for me. I love Bourdain and I love spy thrillers, which is why this one has become a favourite. I honestly can’t find anything wrong with it. As it’s been heralded by real-life celebrity culinary personality, Alton Brown, I don’t think I’m alone.

Tom Straw wrote seven crime novels as Richard Castle, all of which became New York Times Bestsellers. He is also an Emmy- and Writers’ Guild of America-nominated TV writer and producer, having written and produced Night Court, Dave’s World, Grace Under Fire, Whoopi, and Nurse Jackie (I love that show!).

Tom, I sure hope you’ll publish more adventures of Chef Pike, because lovers of cozy culinary mysteries, international mystery and crime, and action-packed spy thrillers need your stories. And here’s hoping that the movie’s coming soon!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the premise sounded fun, and parts of it were, but there was a lot about the writing that repeatedly annoyed me.

The first was when Pike tells us he’ll need to tell us about how he and Astrid (his dead fiancé that he is still grieving) met and that “It’s thrilling if you are into love at first sight.” The story? They met, everything “went to a blur” when he laid in eyes on her, they dated, saw Paris when they “managed to leave the bedroom,” then he proposed. There was no mention of a single thing about Astrid as a person beyond her profession or anything that drew him to her — no personality described whatsoever. Take away the job, and she could be a suitcase or a talking bird. The most we get of her in his telling is that, when he proposes, she answers “Please, sir, I want some more,” which could be taken as humor but also kind of sucks. Pike definitely oversold this as “thrilling.” Much later in the book, Pike tells about a different time in their relationship, and we keep getting comments like “Her manner had also shifted. Carefree Astrid grew more self-contained.” Was she carefree? We didn’t know. Nothing about her was important enough to mention before. The make and model of almost every vehicle in the book is detailed — details apparently more interesting than who Astrid is. Not like I need a novel about Astrid, but if nothing else, knowing what he saw in her would be a window into his character.

Then there’s the weird levels of praise Pike receives for basic things over and over that are ridiculous and, since Pike is the narrator, feel like Pike telling braggy versions of everything. Pike will “deduce” something in a conversation with a senior intelligence agent that is blatantly obvious — which is fine for building a back-and-forth dialog that helps Pike look engaged while ensuring the reader is understanding the info being discussed. But in response, the pro will say something like, “You’re a quick study. Sure you’re not a spy?” Really? At one point, Pike summarizes/rephrases what one agent has been explaining about misogyny and racism she faces in her line of work, and she responds “How did you get so evolved?” The repeated litany of, “Gee, Pike, you’re just so awesome” coming from Pike makes Pike seem a little like Michael Scott from The Office.

Add to that the fact that one major plot line makes Nova seem dangerously unprofessional and lines like “Me and my testosterone kind of liked the idea of playing Dirty Harry with the live ammo” or “This is me, swinging my dick,” and I was often conflicted about whether I should first roll my eyes or barf.

However, in the moments where my eyes and gag reflex got a break, it was fun enough action story with some twists.

[Tabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book because chef Alton Brown recommended it, and anything he suggests or does I fall in love with, this book was no different. "Surprise me. That's what travel is all about. And, since this series is a culinary adventure, that's what cooking is all about, too." And wow did this book surprise me! I loved the comedy and suspense in the beginning and the thrill and surprise throughout. Every time I came to a conclusion I was proved wrong by another twist and turn. The storyline and storytelling was so captivating that it was difficult to put down, and having the chapters end on cliff hangers made it even harder to put down. I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys suspense stories and there’s a few mentions of food and who doesn’t like food. The comedic edge throughout made the book even better and made me want to know Chef Pike in person. Chef Pike's phrase throughout was "surprise me" and he defiantly surprised me. Overall a wonderful read, now I have to try Straw’s other books.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this to the end. I really did. And I did enjoy the first half. But then I only kept reading to get to the end. And I wanted it to end. But why? When I was done, it came to me -- this was written like a season-long TV show. Each episode (chapter) had to end with some sort of cliffhanger / new problem to overcome. Sound familiar? Yeah. Like a TV show. Except this is a book. I don't want pseudo-clever tricks to drag out the story. And that, ultimately, is what happened. Character development ended. Plot developments ended. It was just "we're almost there but, oh darn, something happened and we have to try again." B O R I N G ! ! ! This could have been 100 pages shorter and I would have enjoyed it more.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a culinary spy thriller. A Bourdain-like host travels the world using food as a stepping stone to understand culture, as well as to have some clever laughs and appreciate exotic locales.

He’s mourning the death of his fiancée when he’s recruited to be part of a CIA plot to exfiltrate a Putin-crony mole.

Many gun shots, whiskey shots, and camera shots later, there is a litter of bodies and some great film in the can.

I thought the chef’s cleverness was too self-conscious, but I did appreciate some of his throwaway lines. e.g. having more cork in a glass of sloppily-opened wine than in Sammy Sosa’s bat.

And weren’t those scenes in southern France lusciously described.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading this spy thriller about a celebrity chef brought in as a cover for the CIA in a world of espionage as I enjoyed the Richard Castle written by this author. It is an interesting premise, fast moving and exceptional writing, but no fault of the author, the formatting of this book in my Kindle made for a difficult read. Also, I couldn’t get into the characters or the storyline and I really wanted to.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent summer read. This book had everything going for it - nods to celebrity chefs, romantic locations in Paris and Cannes, and a great mystery/spy story. Tom Straw is no stranger to popular fiction, and he did not disappoint with this book.

The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef

[Phil Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Celebrity Chef Sebastian Pike agrees to let the CIA use his hugely popular show as cover for a dangerous espionage mission. So begins a drama that will sweep you along. For UK readers, think Paul Hollywood from Bakeoff joins Mi6.
A great read with plenty of twists and turns, romance and real bullets!
I just reviewed The Accidental Joe by Tom Straw. #TheAccidentalJoe #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

[Colette Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh

Fast paced, no nonsense engaging spy novel in civil ing a globe traveling, at times snarky, adventurous chef with his own travelling show, whose new producer is a CIA agent. An note so old wound is opened, sparks and intrigue fly, does our chef survive the intrigue, I'll never tell.

[Brandon Woodard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh this was such a great book! Alton Brown recommended it on his Instagram page and I immediately reserved it at my local library. This is such a great book with twist and turns. If you love spy mystery with a splash of comedy and quips this is your book. Oh and if you love food shows this is for you as well.

It’s good show meets 007ish lol

Great book!

[Edna Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast and entertaining listen. I am usually hyper critical of spy novels, but I really enjoyed this one. There were elements of truth buried in this fast paced adventure that combines spying, France and celebrity chefs all in one place. This one was a big “oui” for me. Ending was rushed (but maybe left it open for a sequel?), thus the 4 stars instead of 5.

[T Olsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What sets this book out, is the light language and a myriad of facts and descripions, and they're good. The characters are excellent and the plot is very good and intricate. The story may seem a little long and slow, but it's never boring.

[Cathy Nunn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected this book to be funny-it wasn’t. I expected it to be quirky- it wasn’t. I expected an adventure-didn’t have one. Or ranged from over the top violent to sleep inducing boredom. I am glad that many people enjoyed it, but it was not for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. It was fun to be behind the scenes in a cooking show. While real, high tension espionage often brings with it edge of your seat anxiety, this is frothy, fun and delicious. Sit back and enjoy the show.

[Mike Vines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable, recommended to foodies and mystery buffs. Food, wine, and murder among the jet set. Much fun, well-written. Remember to shop your local, independent bookstores. They need your support.

[Hereswhatsgoingon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - a pleasant read, by a new to me author. I didn't enjoy the attempted intersection of spy novel and cozy mystery. On the plus side, it might be a good movie or TV series. :) If I have the opportunity, I'll try one more by this author, but not with high hopes. His style isn't for me.

[SAM · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too bloody for my taste --

More like a tv script than a book... More show, less tell. Great that kindle has translate so now I can cuss in foreign language. Three stars because there are moments.

[Holly Storkel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - mildly entertaining. Good characters. A fun glimpse into the culinary show world.

[Satinder Hawkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fun read, perfect for summer. I hope it’s the start of a series because this is a character I would happily spend more time with.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trite spy story. Cliche set pieces. Not as funny as I expected from a sitcom writer.

[Nann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.
I finished it but didn't find it as engaging as the reviews said it would be.