Author: Vivien Chien
Published: March 27th 2018 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Format: eBook, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: A Noodle Shop Mystery #1
Walking out of her last job in a huff, and with no money in the bank, leaves twenty-seven-year-old Lana Lee with very few options. Her parents always knew that one day she would return to the family restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodle House in Northeast Ohio, but this was not her plan. Now six months later Lana is still at the restaurant in Asian Village when property manager, Thomas Feng, has been found dead after eating a dumpling that Lana had delivered.
This is where Vivien Chien starts throwing all the characters at the reader. Each shop owner in the village plus their spouses or children, angry Kimmy Tran, the Mahjong Matrons who come in every morning for their usual breakfast and gossip, the cook Peter and his mother Nancy, Ian Sung who has his own ideas on how the village should be run, and Donna Feng, Thomas’ unemotional wife, are in the mix of characters to remember.
Everyone in the village knew of Feng’s allergy to shellfish so when anaphylaxis is listed as the cause of death there is a buzz in the community since everyone knew that he carried an Epi-pen and it was not found in his pocket or anywhere in his office. Turns out that there are skeletons in the closet for this village that had nothing to do with the whispered rumors of a proposed rent hike that would have forced tenants to close their businesses for good. There are long buried family secrets at play and when one of the characters in this drama can no longer take it, passions flair and someone needed to pay.
To prevent Lana from moping around the apartment after her last breakup, her roommate Megan has encouraged her to investigate. Since both Lana and the cook Peter are prime suspect, and though Detective Adam Trudeau has told them repeatedly not to, Lana and Megan stumble into interesting situations, which reveal other secrets, and finally pull it all together with a simple photograph. Vivien Chien draws the reader down multiple paths that I hope will lead to additional books and expound upon revelations that not fully explored in this book.
This is where Vivien Chien starts throwing all the characters at the reader. Each shop owner in the village plus their spouses or children, angry Kimmy Tran, the Mahjong Matrons who come in every morning for their usual breakfast and gossip, the cook Peter and his mother Nancy, Ian Sung who has his own ideas on how the village should be run, and Donna Feng, Thomas’ unemotional wife, are in the mix of characters to remember.
Everyone in the village knew of Feng’s allergy to shellfish so when anaphylaxis is listed as the cause of death there is a buzz in the community since everyone knew that he carried an Epi-pen and it was not found in his pocket or anywhere in his office. Turns out that there are skeletons in the closet for this village that had nothing to do with the whispered rumors of a proposed rent hike that would have forced tenants to close their businesses for good. There are long buried family secrets at play and when one of the characters in this drama can no longer take it, passions flair and someone needed to pay.
To prevent Lana from moping around the apartment after her last breakup, her roommate Megan has encouraged her to investigate. Since both Lana and the cook Peter are prime suspect, and though Detective Adam Trudeau has told them repeatedly not to, Lana and Megan stumble into interesting situations, which reveal other secrets, and finally pull it all together with a simple photograph. Vivien Chien draws the reader down multiple paths that I hope will lead to additional books and expound upon revelations that not fully explored in this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment