“Tom Straw's Sebastian Pike is a wonderful addition to the annals of amateur sleuths of the crime/spy genre. Wisecracking and wounded, his clear, innocent voice carries a deep understanding of the world we know and, more importantly, the world that we suspect. The Accidental Joe is a Hitchcockian spy story: surrounded by more spies than he knows, Pike is the ultimate amateur, a chef-provocateur for a cable TV reality show balancing a tower of croquembouche in the South of France amidst a dizzyingly fast-paced mission filled with assassins and betrayals.”

—WALTER MOSLEY, author of EVERY MAN A KING and the forthcoming Easy Rawlins, FAREWELL, AMETHYSTINE.

“Tom Straw has set the bar for culinary, espionage, travel thrillers. Actually, I think he invented the bar. And it’s a bar I’d meet him at anytime.”

—ALTON BROWN, Culinary personality but also totally a spy.

“A masterful beginning to a series I hope runs forever. The writing is superb, the action thrilling, the story both exciting and gut wrenching. Bourdain, le Carré, Herron, and Greene, make room for Straw.”

—REED FARREL COLEMAN, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of SLEEPLESS CITY.

“I couldn't put it down -- and I sure didn't want to! Great action, clever tradecraft, behind-the-scenes TV production, and food porn, all offered up by one of the most appealing narrators I've come across in years. I hope Tom Straw is intending this to be a series because I'm already on line for the next one.”

—SJ ROZAN, best-selling author of THE MAYORS OF NEW YORK.

“A line from some other novelist comes to mind where this terrific thriller starring a TV chef turned spy is concerned: Please, sir, I want some more. This book has everything. Suspense, humor, intrigue, great locales and dialogue. Top shelf.”

—LINWOOD BARCLAY, Author of THE LIE MAKER, a London Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller.