Published: April 6, 2016
ISBN: 978-0062416490
Genre: Mystery
Format: Print
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address: Gina Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com
FIVE HEARTS
Aunty Lee is not having a good week. All she was trying to do was rearrange some things on a shelf and she fell and sprained her ankle. Okay, so it may not have been the smartest thing for her to construct a haphazard ladder substitute instead of asking for help or using an actual ladder, but still…
She needs something to distract her and the only thing better
than cooking and food is a murder to solve.
Several years ago Singapore was abuzz with a puppy killing. A
rescue organization adopted one of their puppies and the woman who adopted it
just up and had it put down, alleging that the puppy was vicious. Local
residents and social media went after Allison Fitzgerald with a vengeance, so
much so she and her husband, Mike, had to leave Singapore. Now she has returned
and this time it is to sue the animal rights people who she insists ruined her
life. The three main participants agree to meet with her at Aunty Lee’s café,
but before Allison can arrive they receive a call – Allison is dead. Murdered.
Could the killer be one of the three animal rescue people…all friends of Aunty
Lee? Or it the ex-husband? Or is someone
else stirring up the pot?
I love Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee’s Delights series for many reasons. First and foremost is Aunty Lee herself. Aunty Lee is a complex, wise and warm hearted woman. While she might enjoy solving a good mystery…or murder…her bottom line is helping people. She opens her heart and her home. I really enjoy the way Yu has Aunty Lee using food preparation and eating to solve the various crimes. She is an astute observer of people.
Yu also takes her readers into the streets and culture of
Singapore such that you feel you would know where to go and what to do if you
have the chance to travel there. In fact her descriptions of Singapore make me
want to travel there myself.
The mysteries in this series are solid. Dealing with real crime
(in Aunty Lee’s Deadly Specials it was organ farming) the steps to finding the
killer are filled with delightful insights and just enough hints to make the
reader feel he or she is helping to find the killer.
Aunty Lee’s Delights series isn’t your typical mystery because
of its setting and the uniqueness of the characters. That said, if you aren’t reading it, you are
missing one of the best series out there.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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