Death by Dumpling (2018) by Vivien Chien: A Noodle Shop Cozy Mystery

🍜 A little confession: I was first interested in this book because of the word "dumpling" in the title, and a bowl of noodles in the cover. And that's because: I love noodles - especially wonton noodles! A cozy murder mystery with noodles and dumplings in it? Yes, please!

🍜 Our sleuth is a American-Taiwanese girl called Lana Lee. After a nasty breakup from her boyfriend and from her former workplace, Lana reluctantly helps as a server in her family's culinary business: Ho Lee Noodle House. The restaurant is located at the Asian Village Plaza, a mall full with shops related to Chinese/Asian culture, founded by a Mr. Feng.

🍜 On that fatal day Lana must hand-deliver Mr. Feng's lunch order to his office. Later that day, Mr. Feng was found dead from asphyxiation after he ate his lunch of shrimp dumplings, to which he was allergic. This was strange, because Ho Lee Noodle House is always careful not to serve shrimp for Mr. Feng's lunch, who was their loyal customer. There's definitely no dumpling in that lunch box Lana delivered. Moreover, Lana is sure she saw Mr. Feng's epipen in his pocket when she delivered the food, but it was evidently not there when the asphyxiation attacked him, for otherwise, it could have saved his life. Where was it?

🍜 When Peter the cook was arrested by the police, Ho Lee Noodle House began to lose customers, and she herself was regarded with suspicion by the Asian community, Lana made up her mind to investigate the murder case, if not to save her friend Peter, whom she believes is innocent, then, to save herself.

🍜 Little by little Lana collects a handfuls of information from and about people inside the Asian Village community to build her list of suspects. From these efforts, we could see how vulnerable Lana herself is actually. She isn't built for a strong brave sleuth, and only manages to do what she did because her best friend assists her, and the handsome police detective, who's clearly smitten by her, protects her.

🍜 In the end, Lana's investigation reveals hidden dark secrets and consequences from ill-fated decisions, which become the murder motive. And suddenly all the pieces of the puzzle fit into place; but not before an attempt of murder to herself. I wonder how Lana couldn't see for herself when the murderer's identity was very clear, at least from that incident.

🍜 All in all, this was a very promising debut of a series. Vivien Chien succeeded in well-constructing her foundation. She laid the cultural background beautifully without overly doing it to a point of stereotyping; while her characters and their struggles are believable without exaggeration. It's probably an average murder mystery, but a little deeper, with a tinge of romance and humour, which makes it enjoyable.

Rating: 4 / 5