Friday, March 5, 2021

Book Review: Death by Dumpling (A Noodle Shop Mystery) by Vivien Chien

 

Death by Dumpling

A Noodle Shop Mystery

by Vivien Chien

Sometimes, when life is a little hard, you just need a nice cozy murder mystery to relax with. They’re safe, predictable, somewhat, and you know the hero/heroine is going to win in the end because he or she has to. They just do. (You can’t start a book series by killing off your main character.)

That doesn’t mean they don’t have to suffer a little along the way. But I really like it when they have a healthy sense of humor about it all.

“You know in the movies, where someone says ‘You can’t fire me, I quit!’ . . . maybe don’t do that in real life. Unless you don’t mind working as a server in your parents’ Chinese restaurant for the rest of your life.”

Lana Lee is in her late twenties, recently broken up with her boyfriend, sharing an apartment with her best friend Megan, has quit her job, and gone back to work at her parent’s restaurant, the Ho-Lee Noodle House in Cleveland, Ohio.

“I’m half English, half Taiwanese, and no, I don’t know Karate. I’m definitely not good at math and I don’t know how to spell your name in Chinese.”

Reading about Lana is like meeting your next best friend and bonding, or reminiscing about your twenty-something years – post college, short on money, living in an apartment, meeting new guys who “might” be of interest, sister annoying the heck out of you, etc.

She even has the cutest little dog, a black pug named Kikkoman. (Awww.)

Of course, into every cozy murder mystery, there must be added a murder, and this one is no different. Lana delivers lunch to an older family friend who manages the plaza their restaurant is in. Hours later he is dead.

Who did it? How? Why?

There are a few suspects and Lana finds herself on that list, along with her old friend Peter.

Obviously, she needs to clear their names, right?

This is a perfect light, fast-paced cozy mystery and I am thoroughly enjoying the series.


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