7 White House Mystery and Thriller Books Steeped in Political Intrigue

The ghosts of the past are never truly gone. In the sixth book in the seven-book Joseph Antonelli series, Antonelli has established himself as a leading defense attorney.

At a Harvard Law School reunion, an old friend and the current vice president of the United States, Thomas Stern Browning, asks Antonelli to help defend a third classmate, James Haviland, in a decades old case involving a young woman who died when she fell out of a window at a party in law school.

Haviland is accused of her death, with Browning as a key witness who withheld information. While Antonelli wants to defend his former classmates from a murder charge, he discovers that truth and justice may not be the only things at play.

Is someone trying to take Browning out of the political game, or is something even worse happening?

Islamophobia is at a fever pitch in the country after a foiled bombing in the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and a rogue plane that was shot down before it reached the White House.

A Virginia Senator hysterically proposes registering all citizens who are Muslim and deporting non-citizens, and the idea is gaining ground in Congress via a hateful bill.

Speaker of the House, John Mahoney knows that nothing will come of this hysteria and calls on his bagman, Joe DeMarco to get to the bottom of the crisis to prevent the horrible bill from passing.

DeMarco may not seem like the best candidate for the job since his personal life is a huge mess, but he’s proven himself time and time again that he can get the work done.

It’s the third in the 18-book (so far) Joe DeMarco series.

Eleanor Roosevelt is the sleuth? Yes please!

In the 20th and last book in the Eleanor Roosevelt series, murder takes place under everyone’s noses in the White House itself.

There’s a killer inside the house, specifically the White House. Eleanor Roosevelt brings in her trusted investigators to find out who could have murdered a man at the door of the president’s bedroom and why.

Is this a failed assassination attempt? Will they try again? That’s what Roosevelt needs to get to the bottom of. As a bonus, the series was created by Elliott Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s son, who provided some inside knowledge about the Roosevelt White House.

If you want some inside scoop on the Roosevelt administration and the White House itself, check this one out!

Yes, it’s a book written by President Harry Truman’s daughter Margaret Truman. In the first in the 32-book Capital Crimes series, the Secretary of State is found strangled in the Lincoln Bedroom.

President Robert Webster is riding high after closing a major trade agreement. He asks White House Counsel Ron Fairbanks to find out who could have killed the Secretary of State.

But nothing about the man’s death is what it seems. Very few people could access the Lincoln Bedroom, including the president himself.

Can Fairbanks find out who killed the womanizing Secretary of State? And what political repercussions will it have?

In the 7th book in the 22-book Sean Dillion series, it’s the eve of major Irish Peace Talks, but someone is killing former members of the Sons of Erin, an IRA splinter group.

The murders are threatening the fragile peace, so the President and the British Prime Minister ask for help from Sean Dillion, a former IRA terrorist, and a presidential aide to find out who is behind the killings.

But they soon realize that not all killings are political; this time, it’s personal. 

This is book five in the seven-book Sean Drummond series. This one is for the folks who want a protagonist with a background in military law.

Sean Drummond was an Army lawyer but has now become part of the CIAs Office of Special Projects.

In this book, Major Sean Drummond has been called to investigate when six people are gunned down in a Virginia mansion, including the White House Chief of Staff.

But it’s more than a massacre, it’s just the start. The killer left a note that says the president will be next in two days. Now it’s a race against time to find the killer before he manages to take out the president. Who is behind the murders and can they be stopped?

This one is for people who want the insight scoop of the White House Kitchen. It’s the eve of  major Middle East Peace Talks. Everything is busier and more stressful than ever in the White House Kitchen.

White House Assistant Chef Olivia Para is trying to keep a cool head in the kitchen despite the high-stakes meals they have to prepare. The Executive Chef is retiring, and Para wants the job.

But she’s not the only one who wants it, including a nasty celebrity chef.

And she has immediate concerns: she finds a man being chased by the Secret Service on the White House lawns and decides to take him out with the skillet she happens to be holding.

But before he’s hauled away by the Secret Service, he hints at a terrorist plot against the peace process. Now she finds herself drawn into the intrigue and decides to get to the bottom of it all.

It’s the first in the nine-book White House Chef Mystery series.