Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien

Fatal Fried Rice (Noodle Shop Mystery, #7)

by Vivien Chien

Fed up with her sister picking on her lack of culinary skills, Lana Lee decides to secretly take a cooking class in order to prove she has what it takes in the kitchen. It seems harmless enough until the course instructor - Margo Chan - is found murdered after class with one of the utensils used in her demonstration earlier that evening.

The attention of the police is immediately directed at the school’s staff members and students, including Lana, who was unfortunate enough to discover the body. In an effort to clear her own name, she decides to begin her own investigation - starting with the same group the police have under suspicion. When Lana’s line of questioning leads her on a wild goose chase back and forth between the school and Margo’s personal life, Lana begins to wonder if the guilty party is closer than she thinks.

Then as odd, threatening packages start showing up at Ho-Lee Noodle House, Lana fears that the killer knows what’s she’s up to, and if she can’t put the pieces together fast enough, it might be her that’s next on the chopping block.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Fatal Fried Rice is the 7th Noodle Shop mystery by Vivien Chien. Due out 9th March 2021 from Macmillan on their St. Martin's Press imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a very cozy series featuring a sweet heroine who is a manager of her family's Chinese restaurant. Main character Lana Lee is plucky and loyal but she's not too saccharine sweet or perfect. Despite working at her family's Chinese noodle restaurant, she's never learned to cook and she gets drawn into yet another murder mystery when she discovers her cooking school instructor literally stabbed in the back.

The background story is well interwoven in the book, and it works as a standalone without needing to have read the previous books. (I can heartily recommend them as well, if you're looking for a new light cozy series to binge read).

It's a little longer than most cozies at over 300 pages but the plotting is tight and it doesn't drag. Lately I've gotten my fill of southern catering homestyle bookmobile cat loving bakery shop ladies; this young woman with a great best friend, brightly colored changeable hair, and good relationship with her parents and her boyfriend 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 than implied consensual overnight stays from her boyfriend (a police detective) in the book. Definitely safe for reading at work or on the bus.

I joke around about the death count in her immediate vicinity - she always finds out whodunit, but at this point I would imagine the sheer statistical impossibility would make her a real life typhoid Mary. (Oh, it's okay Lana, you don't have to come to the wedding! Just send a card *nervous laughter*).

Four stars, delightfully fun light cozy mystery.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 5 March, 2021: Finished reading
  • 5 March, 2021: Reviewed