Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Death By Dumpling

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.



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