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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