AUNTY LEE’S CHILLED REVENGE by Ovidia Yu

Publisher:   William Morrow
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.

 

AUNTY LEE’S DEADLY SPECIALS by Ovidia Yu

Publisher:    William Morrow

Published:    September 30, 2014

ISBN:        978-0062338327

Genre:       Mystery

Format:     Print

Obtained via:  Publisher  

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

THREE-1/2 HEARTS

 

Law firm owner, Mabel Sung has just made her daughter, Sharon, partner which is cause for celebration.  Aunty Lee has gotten the job as caterer—a major feather in her cap.  While she is known for unique and fabulously tasty dishes, for this event she is determined to make something memorable.  Unfortunately for Aunty Lee, it’s not the food that is memorable, but the fact that Mabel and her son die in the middle of the party.  Worse, it looks like it is Aunty’s famous stewed chicken that killed the Sung family members. 

On top of that rumors are flying about town about illegal transplants.  While illegal, people desperate for money are still selling, or trying to see their body parts.  With her café closed because of the tainted food investigation what is Aunty to do but to start investigating?

I enjoyed Ovidia Yu’s first Singporean Mystery, AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS.  Life got away from me and it wasn’t until this past weekend I realized I hadn’t read book 2, AUNTY LEE’S DEADLY SPECIALS yet—with book 3 due out any day.

Yu has a unique voice.  While much of AUNTY LEE’S DEADLY SPECIALS has a lot of narrative, more than you would expect, Yu’s writing gives you the feeling of sitting in her living room enjoying one of Aunty’s dishes while the author tells the story.  You’re reading, but you have the sense of hearing Yu tell you what has come to pass.  There were times when I felt some of the comments were slightly off, but it’s just part of the character as well as Yu’s way of introducing readers to the mind-set of Singaporeans.  There is a frankness and honesty to the characters that is often lacking in our day-to-day dealings, particularly in the west.

The book also delves into the dark side of organ donation…or purchasing.  You can read the story as a good mystery or you can look at the cultural and dark side of some human beings.  There were times I felt the story dragged.  Those points were just too burdened with detail that didn’t add to the story.  There is a strong focus on food – not a good book to read if you’re hungry.  There is some wonderful wisdom in the pages as well – most notably for me is when Aunty Lee considers that you can learn a lot from the way people eat.  For instance, if someone is wolfing down an expensive dish and not really tasting the food, it’s about the cost/money/prestige and not enjoying a good meal.  And if that’s how they eat, that’s how they treat everything.

There are other fun yet educational life lessons through the book as well as an enticing mystery.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS by Ovidia Yu

Publisher:  William Morrow

Date published:   September 17, 2013
ISBN 978-0062227157
Genre:   Mystery
Format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

In the days after her husband’s death, Aunty Lee lived in a dark void. Bit by bit she returned to the world of the living and found that she not only had a special knack for preparing some of Singapore’s finest cuisine, but a way of reading people through their approach to food.  Known for tasty dishes visitors as well as locals come to her little café and dine on unique and fabulous dishes.  When step-son, Mark, comes to her with a plan to do wine centered dinners where he introduces special wines to go with different dishes she is ready to be there for him.  Each week new diners come, old diners return and new friendships, of a sort, form. On this particular week Laura Kwee who was to assist Mark doesn’t show. Some guests think her rude; others, like Aunty Lee, are concerned. After all, a body has washed up on Sentosa Beach—a woman wrapped in plastic. Aunty Lee has a feeling about the dead woman and is unable to tear her thoughts away from the crime.

How did this woman die?

Was it an accident?

Suicide?

Or murder?

When antoher woman turned up dead Aunty Lee cannot help but feel there is something more going on than two women dying in the same fashion. With her knack for studying people she begins to dig into the mystery of who the victims are and why were they killed.

Ovidia Yu, author of AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS is a new author to me. Ms. Yu has a warm and engaging story telling style. One gets the feeling that there is much of Aunty Lee’s ability to read and understand people in Ms. Yu. Or is it that there is much of Ms. Yu in Aunty Lee?  Either way, Ms. Yu has a wonderful writing voice; one I look forward to reading more of.

I enjoyed Aunty Lee’s relationship with her maid Nina—they reminded me a bit of Holmes and Watson in their give and take.

AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS is one of those stories that have several levels the reader can venture into while reading the story. It can be a simple mystery or some take readers into the inner workings of Singapore or delve into deeper aspects of relationships between men and women and those they fall in love with. The aspects of prejudice, jealousy and revenge are woven into the story and there for the reader to consider or to simply try to solve the mystery along with Aunty Lee.

I wasn’t quite prepared for why the murders were committed.  It took me a few pages to realized that yes, this is what the author is talking about…not because of her writing but because the concept was refreshingly new.

AUNTY LEE’S DELIGHTS appears to be a stand alone mystery. I hope it is not because I for one would enjoy more of Aunty Lee’s insights and crime solving.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement this book.