Sunday Salon: Death By Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow

 Books reviewed

Death by Bubble Tea (LA Night Market #1)

by 

Jennifer J. Chow

July 5, 2022, Berkley

Genre: cozy mystery, culinary mystery, amateur sleuth

My review: Two cousins, Yale Lee and Celine, who is visiting from Hong Kong, become amateur sleuths when a young woman is found murdered at the Eastwood Village Night Market, where they were manning a food stall. Celine becomes a suspect because the bubble tea she served the victim may have led to the death. The two cousins are determined to find the real killer to clear their name and the reputation of Yale's father's restaurant.

I enjoyed the developing friendship between the two formerly long-distance cousins who together feature in this new amateur sleuth series. We eagerly follow Yale and Celine as they debate and investigate the crime at the same time as the police do. The culprit in the mystery is unexpected and so puts a twist at the end. 

Although it is sometimes hard to follow Yale's convoluted thinking about possible suspects and their guilt or innocence, the cozy was a satisfying read, and I look forward to reading more about the two in their next mystery. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Death in the Aegean: An Intrepid Traveler Mystery by  M.A. Monnin Own copy, Kindle edition, May 19, 2022 Genre: international mystery and crime  I learned about antiquities in Crete and Knossos, the museums there and the monuments still existing. The setting was an integral part of this mystery of a missing gold artifact and several murders. The main character seemed somewhat frantic in her thinking and behavior, and the plot convoluted until the final events that revealed all . I still liked the topics and of course, Greece. And the romance thrown in helped the book along. In the Dark We Forget by  Sandra S.G. Wong Published June 21, 2022, HarperCollins Publishers Genre:  psychological thriller, family suspense, multicultural interest My review:  I loved reading this book written from a Chinese-Canadian woman's point of view, although cultural considerations may have made the author deliberately ambiguous about the ending and the resolution of the crime. I think I know who the author intended as the culprit(s) of the crime(s), but I understand many people have been put off by what they see as a vague and ambiguous ending. Nevertheless, this ambiguity could add to the intrigue of the novel. Cleo is an unreliable narrator who gets our sympathies  as well as our wariness about her supposed reputation, real or unfairly imposed by a non-sympathetic society.  It's a book I'd like to read over again, such is its pull and draw.  Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley

What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday

First Chapter: Murder Is No Picnic by Amy Pershing

Murder Is No Picnic

(Cape Cod Foodie Mystery #3)

by 

Amy Pershing, publication June 7, 2022, Berkley Books

About the book: 

A search for the world's best blueberry buckle turns into a search for a killer in this delicious installment in the Cape Cod Foodie Mysteries by Amy Pershing.

 What could be better than a DIY clambake followed by the best blueberry buckle in the world? Sam has finally found the perfect recipe in the kitchen of Clara Foster, famed cookbook author and retired restaurateur.

But when Clara dies in a house fire blamed on carelessness in the kitchen, Sam doesn't believe it. Sam needs to find Clara's killer before the fireworks really start..

First chapter/first paragraph:

"Ladies and gentleman, I have an announcement," I said grandly.

My friends paused from wolfing down various decadent desserts and glanced at one another skeptically. They were not used to me saying anything grandly....

"My search for a blueberry buckle worthy of our upcoming Fourth of July is finally at an end," I said, still in grand mode. 

 

Would you read on ?

First Chapter/Intros meme is  hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. Each Tuesday post the first paragraph or two of a book you are reading or plan to read soon

It's Monday: New Novels by Asian Americans

 More Asian-American and Asian-Canadian authors are surfacing with light romantic comedies and cozy mysteries. On my TBR list:  

 

Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim, August 4, 2020, Berkley

Genre: romance, comedy

Setting: Paris

Ever since she can remember, Vanessa Yu has been able to see people’s fortunes at the bottom of their teacups.... To add to this plight, her romance life is so nonexistent that her parents enlist the services of a matchmaking expert from Shanghai. 

Mimi Lee Reads Between the Lines by Jennifer J. Chow, November 10, 2020, Berkely
Genre: light mystery, cozy    Setting: Los Angeles

When a local teacher is found dead, LA’s newest pet groomer Mimi Lee finds herself in a pawful predicament—with her younger sister’s livelihood on the line. She sets out to solve the crime and save her sister. 

(See my review of the author's first Mimi Lee mystery, Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.) 

Meme: It's Monday: What Are You Reading? 

Sunday Salon: The Punjab and Charleston

 What are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal

Published April 30, 2019, William Morrow

Genre and setting: England and India; family drama, travel novel, women's fiction

Source: ARC

The Shergill sisters - Rajni, Jezmeen, and Shirina - are on a journey or pilgrimage to the Punjab, fulfilling the dying wishes of their now deceased mother, Sita. Born in England, they are westernized to a large degree, but know about their heritage and culture from their mother.

The eldest sister Rajni and the youngest, Shirina, both have secrets they carry on their trip. As they travel to the Sikh shrines and holy places outlined by their mother as places they must visit in the Punjab, the three very different sisters clash and reconcile in turn and finally help each other. 

This is family drama as well as a travel novel, rich in detail of places and people, with unexpected stories behind each of their lives. 

I am three-quarters of the way through and enjoying the book more than I had expected at the beginning. 

Haunted Hibiscus (A Tea Shop Mystery) by Laura Childs

Publication: March 2, 2021, Berkley

Genre and setting: Charleston, cozy mystery

Source: ARC, ebook

Theodosia Browning, proprietor of the Indigo Tea Shop, and her tea sommelier, Drayton, solve another mystery in fashionable Charleston, while serving tea, scones, and other goodies in their elegant tea shop. 

I am looking forward to reading this one, lighter fare in between heavier books. 

What books do you plan to read ? 

Sunday Salon: New Books

Two new mystery novels:

A Stroke of Malice by Anna Lee Huber, April 7, 2020, Berkley

Lady Kiera Darby and her husband Sebastian Gage are looking forward to relaxing with new friends at an exciting yearly soiree, but...they soon have to solve a murder.

Setting: Scotland,  1832

Gone with the Whisker by Laurie Cass, March 31, 2020, Berkley

A friendly feline and a feisty librarian merrily roll along in the newest Bookmobile Cat mystery

Location: Chilson, Mich. 

Currently reading:

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Murder in Aix by Susan Kiernan-Lewis

What books have you chosen to read?

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon: Mysteries set in France and England

Finished reading: 

Murder a la Carte by Susan Kiernan-Lewis, July 2011, San Marco Press

Genre: cozy mystery set in France

Source: Amazon Unlimited ebook

Maggie accompanies her French chef boyfriend, Laurent, to France to look at a house and vineyard he has inherited in a tiny village there. She discovers that the property has a gory history, and that previous foreign owners had been shot at the house and a local man imprisoned for the crime.

When another foreigner, an American, is killed during a harvest party at the house, Maggie questions whether she wants to stay or not in France and try to get along with very  secretive and close-knit villagers.

The setting in a small town in rural France, with village life, customs, and food is very much an integral part of this interesting mystery novel.

Submitted for the

European Reading Challenge hosted by Rose City Reader

Currently reading: 

Death at High Tide by Hannah Dennison, #1 in the Island Sisters Mystery series

Publication: August 18, 2020; Minotaur Books 

Genre: cozy mystery set on Scilly Islands, off the coast of Cornwall, England

Source: Amazon Unlimited ebook

Evie and her sister Margot believe that Evie has inherited a house on an island off of Cornwall, and travel there to scout it out. They have to deal with the current owner/residents, however, who have no idea that the property may now belong to one of the sisters. Murder and mayhem follow, with Evie as a suspect. 

I'm enjoying this so far - with the rocky island setting as a big draw, as much as the unpredictable story line and well drawn characters.

I'm on a cozy binge this winter!

What are you reading this week?
Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon: Cozies for November

Shot through the Hearth by Kate Carlisle, October 31, 2019, Berkley

Contractor Shannon Hammer tries to clear the name of her tech billionaire pal who is accused of murder at a conference on eco-living

The Dog Who Knew Too Much by Krista Davis

November 26, 2019, Berkley Books

There are several books by different authors with the same title as this one, but this is the most recent, the 6th in the Paws and Claws Mystery series

Inn owner Holly Miller has to prove that her dog Trixie is really hers, when a stranger claims he is the rightful owner.

Lady Takes the Case by Eliza Casey

November 26, 2019, Berkley Books

A new historical mystery case featuring Lady Cecilia Bates and  her intuitive Manor House cat Jack, in England, 1912

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Mailbox Monday and the Sunday Salon

Sunday Salon: Exotic Environments for Three New Mystery Novels

Mysteries and cozies are more and more using exotic environments and atmosphere to appeal to readers who may want something different from the traditional settings - bookstore, library, specialty and candy shops, local tea and coffee shops, bed and breakfasts, or hotels, etc.

I  have three new mysteries with an African safari theme, a Singapore setting, and a Budapest-style, Hungarian tea house.


Love and Death Among the Cheetahs by Rhys Bowen, August 6, 2019, Berkley Books
Setting: 1930s England and Kenya
Georgie and Darcy are finally on their honeymoon in Kenya's Happy Valley, but murder intervenes (publisher)

Death in a Budapest Butterfly by Julia Buckley is the first Hungarian Tea House Mystery, publication July 30, 2019, Berkley Books. Hanna Keller runs her family's Tea House,  but when a customer keels over from a poisoned cuppa, Hanna and her tea-leaf reading grandma will have to catch a killer. (publisher)

Singapore Sapphire by A.M. Stuart is the first Harriet Gordon Mystery, August 6, 2019, Berkley, Harriet Gordon stumbles into a web of stolen gems and cutthroat thieves as she runs from her tragic past in a new historical mystery series set in early 20th century Singapore.  (publisher)

Memes: 

The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and the Sunday Salon,  Mailbox Monday.

It's Monday: What Are You Reading?

What am I reading this week?

After the Monsoon by Robert Karjel, (Ernst Grip #2). I'm almost finished with this one, set in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, a novel dealing with Somali pirates, a kidnapped family of four from the open seas, a murder of a Swedish lieutenant on Djibouti, and the fight against terrorism. Quite eye-opening and suspenseful.

Next on the list is a library book: 

Murder on the Left Bank by Cara Black, the 18th in the Aimee Leduc Investigations series set in Paris. 

New on my desk is this cozy:

A Dark and Twisting Path by Julia Buckley, the 3rd in A Writer's Apprentice mystery, features an apprentice to a suspense novelist, set in a small town in Indiana.

Meme:  It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date.

Once Upon a Spine by Kate Carlisle

Once Upon a Spine: A Bibliophile Mystery by Kate Carlisle

Published June 5, 2018; Berkley/Penguin Random House

Brooklyn  and Derek, owners of the Brothers Bookstore, get ready to host Derek's British parents while trying to solve a murder and vandalism.
This is the 11th in the mystery series though each book can be read on its own.

Book beginning:

Lately, I've resorted to stalking. Not a person, but a book. For weeks now I'd been visiting the book almost daily. It was a little embarrassing to continually beg the bookstore owner to let me hold it, page through it, study it. I just wanted to touch it, stroke it, and once, when he wasn't looking, sniff it. But he didn't seem to mind my book fixation. He's as big a book nerd as I am.

Many readers can empathize with Brooklyn and her extreme love of books. The fact that she is a book binder and an amateur sleuth adds spice to this novel. The British in-laws- to-be add to the plot interest and the solving of the mystery.

Page 56:

The fact that I had walked in and found two unconscious people - one almost certainly dead - was something I should have been used to by now. 

The amateur sleuth gets some help later on from her future mother-in-law, a psychic.
This is definitely a book for readers, bibliophiles, and mystery lovers.

Thanks to the publisher for a paperback review copy of this book. 
Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

Book Beginning: Dipped to Death by Kelly Lane

Dipped to Death: An Olive Grove Mystery by Kelly Lane
Published March 6, 2018; Berkley
Setting: South Georgia

... authorities determine that Eva Knox's ex was poisoned by one of Eva's family's olive oils. She'll have to find the real killer before her family is caught for murder.

Book beginning:
Given the bizarreness of the night before, all in all, it'd been a pretty ho-hum September day in Abundance, Georgia. Right up to the moment Dolly and I spied that odd mop of brown stuff bobbing in the pond.

Of course, the last thing I expected to find was another dead body. 

But, there he was. 

Page 56:
"Did I say I was interested in Buck Tanner?"
"You didn't have to," sniggered Pep. 

What new books are you reading this weekend? 
Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

Sunday Salon: Literary Fiction and Cozies

The cold freeze has broken, at least for a while, and I can go about doing chores again without bundling up like a bear. Next week will be busy.

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee is a new book I found while browsing with no thought of buying until I started reading and had to take it home.

It's a heartbreaking page turner that pulls you into the lives of two sisters, how the elder one, Miranda, handles her younger sister's severe bipolar disorder. I was left wondering, what if...? Could a different approach have made a difference? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.

I recommend the novel for its insight into family dynamics, the immigrant experience, and the problem of mental illness in families. The book covers several timely topics.

Rating: 5/5

Three paperback cozies I received from Berkley Prime Crime have the expected teasing titles and eye catching covers.

Clairvoyant and Present Danger

Clairvoyant and Present Danger by Lena Gregory is #3 in the Bay Island Psychic Mystery.
After communications with a ghost land her in the middle of a murder investigation, Cass Donovan has to wonder if her gifts are really more a curse.

Pekoe Most Poison by Laura Childs is the 18th in the Tea Shop Mystery Series.  I love these books for their descriptions of the more genteel and traditional side of the south, in particular Charleston, and for the recipes for sandwiches, scones, and cookies always included at the end of each book. 

The setting is the Indigo Tea Shop with owner Theodosia Browning and her tea expert/sommelier Drayton, who manage to become embroiled in intrigues and murders that they have to help solve. In this book, Theodosia is invited to a "Rat Tea" by a prominent Charleston hostess. I can't wait to find out just what a rat tea is and why it has this off-putting name.

The Fast and the Furriest by Sofie Ryan is #5 in the Second Chance Cat Mystery series set in North Harbor, Maine. Sarah Grayson runs the Second Chance bookstore with the help of her right-hand man Mac and her rescue cat, Elvis. Mac gets into trouble when an old flame shows up in town and then get killed. He is the main suspect. 

What are you reading this week?

The Sunday Post  hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer,  It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date., and Mailbox Monday.

Twelve Angry Librarians by Miranda James

Twelve Angry Librarians is the eighth in the Cat in the Stacks series, by Miranda James
Published February 21, 2018, Berkley
Genre: cozy mystery
Charlie and Diesel must find a killer in a room full of librarians... 
Light-hearted librarian Charlie Harris is known around his hometown of Athena, Mississippi, for walking his cat, a rescued Maine Coon named Diesel. 

Book beginning:
"But I don't want to do it."
I glared at my administrative assistant and longtime friend, Melba Gilley. "You know how much I hate public speaking. Why can't Forrest Wyatt do it? College presidents do this kind of thing all the time."

Page 56:

"I grant you he's a colossal annoyance most of the time," I said. "But what has he done that would make someone see killing him as a solution?"

A room full of librarians would certainly prevent me from doing many things, not to mention commit a murder. Who would be so daring? The premise of the mystery is certainly an intriguing one. And having a Maine Coon cat as an assistant sleuth is an added intriguing entertainment in this cozy. 

Memes: The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader

It's Monday: Cozies and French thrillers

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? by Book Date. Visit also Mailbox Monday.
The title of this cozy, Twelve Angry Librarians, February 21, 2017, caught my eye. I can't imagine twelve angry librarians, at least not in the same space. The book is the eighth in the Cat in the Stacks series.

Dial M for Mousse by Laura Bradford, Emergency Dessert Squad Mystery #3, January 2, 2018, from Berkley.
Baker Winnie Johnson works overtime to satisfy the emergency cravings of Silver Lake, Ohio and solves a murder mystery along the way. 

Death Below Stairs by Jennifer Ashley, January 2, 2018, Berkley Books
Victorian cook Kat Holloway takes a position in a Mayfair mansion and soon finds herself immersed in the odd household of Lord Rankin. Kat is unbothered by the family’s eccentricities as long as they stay away from her kitchen, but trouble finds its way below stairs when her young Irish assistant is murdered. 


Other reading last week: I finally finished a French thriller by Michel Bussi,
 N'oublier jamais, one I can recommend to those who read in French sometimes. A plot with so many twists and turns and unbelievably complex and interesting characters, not to mention the setting on the coast of Normandy, France.

I am now reading another thriller by Bussi, Ne lache pas ma main, set in the island of Reunion, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. Its about a tourist mother who disappears from her hotel on the island, leaving behind her young daughter and husband. I am eager to see if she fled or if she was abducted. I'm sure the plot will have more twists and turns.


Happy reading week everyone!