This is the 6th book in the series by Vivien Chien about an Chinese American woman, Lana, trying to find her way in the world. She has found her way to managing her family's restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodles in Asia Village in Cleveland, OH. This was not her life goal but she is slowly realizing this might be the right place for her to be. Unfortunately she keeps stumbling upon murder scenes and cannot help but follow her nosy inclinations and look into the cases, even when her family and boyfriend try to dissuade her.
The stories do a wonderful job of mixing quirky characters with cozy mysteries. The family dynamics that Ms. Chien intertwines in the stories are relatable to everyone, but are particularly recognizable if you have any close friends who are Chinese by heritage.
This is not my favorite installment in the series as it took me a while to be engaged by the plot. I am not sure if it was the story or just my mood. There were plenty of twists and turns and false leads of who was the guilty party. The ending was a surprise and the motive was well explained. Lana continues to find herself in crazy situations and we wonder if she will ever learn not to place herself in them but that is part of the appeal to the stories.
There is a bit of a plot cliff teaser involving Lana's sister Anna May so I will definitely be watching for the next book in the series, Fatal Fried Rice, to appear at my library.
Killer Kung Pao by Vivien ChienMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Lana is at it again in this latest installment of the Noodle House mysteries. She just cannot seem to stay out of trouble, even when she swears she will not involve herself. This mystery is well done and has the twists and turns and false leads that make cozy mysteries interesting. For some reason though I just had trouble getting started in this story. I am not sure if it was my own mood or if it was the fact the story just wasn't grabbing me at the start. Either way, I am glad I stuck it out and finished. I would not recommend reading this book without reading the others in the series. There is just too much history and previous character development that is needed as a foundation of this book. There are some cliff hangers in the story that will have to be answered in a future book so I will keep going with the series for sure
Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #2
- Literary Escapes #LiteraryEscapes OH
- AtoZ #2021AtoZReadingChallenge #AlphabetSoupChallenge K
- Alphabet Soup Author Edition #AlphabetSoupAuthorChallenge V
- Finishing the Series #FinishingTheSeries2021 yes caught up on series
- Beat the Backlist #BTB2021 #51 author has a book releasing in 2021
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021 Book #2
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #3
- Cozy Mysteries #1 3 word title
- Cruisin thru Cozies #1 culinary #1
- Cloak & Dagger #CloakDaggerChal Book #3
- Craving for Cozies Book #3
- PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #36 fewer than 1,000 reviews on Amazon or Goodreads
- Around the Year in 52 Books #15. A book that features siblings as the main characters
- 52 Book Club #the52bookclub2021 #2 Featuring The Legal Profession
- The Unofficial Magnus Archives Challenge #TMARC21 #42. Benoît Maçon: with an unexpected partnership/romance
- A Pretty Mess Challenge # 5. Next book in a series
- NJM Book Challenge #NJMBookChallenge2021 #9 sassy heroine
- While I was Reading #8 A cozy mystery
- Nerd Daily #NERDREADING2021 #12. PROTAGONIST STARTING WITH L
- Bookworm #42 book with the letter V in the title or author's name
- Magic in the Books Book 7 #1 Includes Twins
- Spells and Spaceships Asian Inspiration Badge
- #13 book inspired by culture, history or identity of Asia
- Pick your Poison #35 Bringing the World into Your Home 3 About a culture other than your own
- Bloggers Bookshelf #bloggersbookshelf #23 with flowers on the cover
- Medical Examiner Challenge 1 Toe Tags
- Beachcomber Challenge
- Crime Scenes
- Row 3 Bar, store, restaurant- Nail Salon
- Weapons
- Row 3 Drowning, water, ice- Electrocution with appliance
- Detectives- Lana/Megan
- Victims- Millie
- Six Shooter Challenge Target # 33 Shot #2
- 52 books in 52 weeks #Row 3-3 different culture
No comments:
Post a Comment