annieb123's Review of Death By Dumpling (Noodle Shop Mystery, #1)

by Vivien Chien

Lana Lee never thought she'd be stuck working at the family restaurant in her late twenties, but here she is, wiping down tables sticky with the remnants of General Tso's chicken. But after a messy breakup and a dead-end job, she figured working at the Ho-Lee Noodle House wouldn't be too bad, right? The charming shopping plaza, Asia Village, is where Lana spent most of her childhood and although she'd rather avoid it for that specific reason; she agrees to work full-time at the restaurant until a better prospect of employment comes along.

Things seem to be going smoothly enough until one of the property managers of the shopping plaza, Thomas Feng, is found dead in his office. Unfortunately, for Lana and the restaurant's head chef, the death looks like murder, and the murder weapon looks like dumplings from none other than the Ho-Lee Noodle House. While the dumplings look innocent enough, it's what's on the inside that counts, which is pork and shrimp, a deadly combination for Thomas, who everyone knows suffers from a severe shellfish allergy. The police immediately suspect Lana's family, and now, with her parents' restaurant at stake, she sees no other option but to figure out what really happened to Thomas, and why.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Death By Dumpling is the first book in the Noodle Shop mysteries by Vivien Chien. Due out 27th March, 2018 from St. Martin's Press, it's 352 pages and available in ebook and paperback formats.
I'm a huge fan of cozies and this one is lovely.

I was surprised that this is apparently a first book release for this author; she has a confident and comfortable voice. I enjoyed the plotting and characterizations very much. It doesn't often happen that an a series finds its way right out of the starting gate. This one delivers.

The length is a little longer than most cozies at over 350 pages but the plotting is tight and it doesn't drag. The clues are well interspersed in the narrative and the book follows the 'rules' for amateur detective fiction. Lately I've gotten my fill of southern catering homestyle bookmobile cat loving bakery shop ladies; this young woman with a great best friend and good relationship with her parents is such a breath of fresh air. There's a lot of warmth and humor here. The book is relatively clean, with only a sprinkling of 'hell' and 'damn' and nothing more objectionable in the book. Definitely safe-for-lunch reading at work.

It was a delight to read and I'll definitely be back for a second helping (the second book, Dim Sum of All Fears is due out in August 2018). Only downside, I've been craving noodles. I've gotten takeaway sesame pho three times from my favorite Vietnamese restaurant after work in the last week!

Five stars, delightfully fun light cozy mystery.

Disclosure: I received an electronic-ARC at no cost from the author/publisher.

Death By Dumpling (Noodle Shop Mystery, #1)

by Vivien Chien

Reviewed by annieb123 on Apr 29, 2018

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