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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
- Arkansas (1)
- California (11)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut (2)
- Delaware (1)
- Florida (3)
- Georgia (4)
- Hawaii (1)
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois (4)
- Indiana (4)
- Iowa (1)
- Kansas (1)
- Kentucky (1)
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland (1)
- Massachusetts (4)
- Michigan (1)
- Minnesota (2)
- Mississippi (1)
- Missouri (1)
- Montana (1)
- Nebraska (1)
- Nevada (2)
- New Hampshire (1)
- New Jersey (1)
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- New York (9)
- North Carolina (4)
- North Dakota (1)
- Ohio (3)
- Oklahoma (2)
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania (2)
- Rhode Island (1)
- South Carolina (1)
- South Dakota (1)
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (4)
- Utah (4)
- Vermont (2)
- Virginia (2)
- Washington (3)
- West Virginia (1)
- Wisconsin (1)
- Wyoming (2)
- Washington, D.C.* (2)

International:
- Argentina (1)
- Australia (5)
- Austria (1)
- Bolivia (1)
- Canada (3)
- China (2)
- England (25)
- France (1)
- Ghana (1)
- India (1)
- Indonesia (1)
- Ireland (4)
- Italy (1)
- Poland (2)
- Russia (2)
- Scotland (3)
- The Netherlands (1)

My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 52 books. 98% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


5 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 19% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


49 / 100 books. 49% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 109 books. 90% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


137 / 165 books. 83% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


88 / 100 names. 88% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


32 / 80 skills. 40% done!
Friday, April 05, 2019

China-Infused Cozy an Entertaining Delight

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Lana Lee is a spunky, independent woman whose career goals do not include waitressing at Ho-Lee Noodle House, her family's Chinese restaurant.  A dramatic walkout at her last job, however, leaves her little choice.  Now she's taking orders, bussing tables, and trying to ignore her mother's constant needling about finding Lana a husband.  

Lana's got enough problems without becoming a suspect in a murder investigation, but that's what happens after she delivers a takeout order for the restaurant's too-busy chef.  Everyone at Ho-Lee knew about Thomas Feng's shellfish allergy—so how did the property manager end up eating a shrimp dumpling that left him dead?  Now, the whole restaurant staff, as well as the other proprietors in the Asian Village strip mall Feng owned, are under suspicion for offing their landlord.  Motives abound, but who actually did the dirty deed?  In order to clear her name, Lana launches her own investigation, despite being warned off by the handsome detective who's in charge of the case.  Can she identify the killer before she finds herself in the slammer?  Or, worse, in the morgue?

I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with cozy mysteries.  They appeal because they're light and clean, without all the grimness and gore that can be difficult to stomach in heavier mysteries/thrillers.  However, they're too often poorly written, with cliché characters, predictable plots, and improbable, unrealistic situations.  So, I'm picky about which ones I read.  When someone (Katherine, probably) mentioned the Noodle Shop Mystery series by Vivien Chien, I decided to give it a go.  And, guess what?  I enjoyed Death by Dumpling, the series opener, quite a lot!  It's a fun, easy read featuring a unique setting, likable characters, and an engaging plot.  The mystery is pretty straightforward, but I didn't get it all figured out until the end of the story.  Overall, then, I found Death By Dumpling an enjoyable, entertaining read.  Immediately after finishing it, I checked the next book out from the library so I could continue with this delightful series.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of cozy mysteries by Ellie Alexander, Lena Gregory, Hannah Fluke, etc.)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for brief, mild language (no F-bombs) and some violence

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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