Egg Drop Dead by Vivien Chien

Egg Drop Dead (Noodle Shop Mystery)

by Vivien Chien

When Donna Feng enlists Lana Lee and the rest of Ho-Lee Noodle House to cater a dinner party at her home for some of her family and prestigious friends, Lana is happy to accept. The summer months can be slow at Asia Village, so this will bring a much-needed boost to the budget.

The dinner party goes off without a hitch - though there is a strange moment when Donna explodes at her live-in nanny. The next day the nanny is found dead, and Donna Feng - along with some of her guests - is suspected of foul play. Before the police arrived, however, Donna found a piece of evidence at the crime scene that causes her to believe the nanny's murder was a message for her: a mysterious thumb-drive shaped like a terracotta soldier. Donna entrusts the evidence to Lana, along with the secrets it contains. Once again, it's up to Lana to catch a killer.

Then, a fire at the Feng residence puts Donna and her family in the hospital, and tensions rise for the amateur sleuth and her best friend, Megan Riley. Lana and Megan ping pong back and forth between the guests at the party, a potential hit man, or the possibility that Donna Feng has truly lost her mind.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

4 of 5 stars

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Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Egg Drop Dead is the 5th Noodle Shop mystery by Vivien Chien. Due out 25th Feb 2020 from Macmillan on their St. Martin's imprint, it's 320 pages and will be available in ebook and paperback formats.

This is a well written and plotted series with appealing characters and a fun cozy vibe. With this, the fifth, book, the returning characters are more fleshed out and three dimensional and main character Lana Lee is a mix of feisty, vulnerable, and sweet. There were admittedly a few places in the story which had me smacking my forehead at her naiveté, but there weren't all that many.

Although it's the 5th book in the series, the author is quite adept at weaving the necessary backstory into the narrative and it works perfectly well as a standalone. I enjoyed finding out more about family friend Donna Feng and her family's shady past. There is nothing triggering or violent (apart from the requisite murders, which are not graphic), and the language is clean (apart from a few mild curse words) and there's no sexual content other than a few chaste kisses.

The plot and revolving characters center around a fictive Chinese shopping area called Asia Village where Lana manages her family's restaurant. The only thing which really required massive amounts of suspension of disbelief for me at this point in the series is the staggering statistical improbability of all these murders happening in the same area with the same extended families and being (mostly) unconnected. I really -love- Chinese cuisine from all areas of China, and I think even I would be wary of eating there. She's like the Asian version of Jessica Fletcher.

Well written and fun. I have enjoyed the series.

Four stars.

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

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