What I’m Reading – The Dim Sum of All Fears

The Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien (2018) – Lana Lee works in her family’s restaurant, Ho-Lee Noodles.  It’s a boring life that she would really love to put behind her.  Unfortunately, she has to turn down her big break when her parents go to care for her grandmother on the other side of the planet.  While they’re gone, one of Lana’s best friends is murdered right next door. Now she has to figure out the secrets behind it all.  The second book in the Noodle Shop Mysteries series.

This is a lot of fun little mystery.  There are a lot of parallels with Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.  But they are mostly superficial, which allows Chien to bring a very different cultural setting to the stories.  Lana has family issues that include a “perfect” sister and a mom who knows exactly what Lana needs to do with her life.  Add in a kinda-sorta police detective boyfriend all of it seasoned with Chinese spices and you get a winning combination.

For the second time in a year, Asia Village, the small shopping center that is home to Ho-Lee Noodles, is the scene of a murder.  The owners of the gift shop next door are found dead in the store.  Lana and Isabelle had discovered that they had a lot in common and a friendship had sprung up between them.  After Isabelle and her husband are killed, Lana begins to discover that there were many mysteries that surround her friend.  All she has to do is figure out which one killed the couple.

I will admit that the title is the primary reason I grabbed this book.  I haven’t read the first book in the series, “Death by Dumpling”, but I was in the mood for a mystery.  My first thought was the Tom Clancy novel with a similar title, and it rang a distant bell as a quote (turns out to be from Churchill).  Anyone cheeky enough to try that title on for size deserved a shot!  Chien writes with a real affection for her hometown of Cleveland and that appeals to me as well.  All stories do not need to be set in NYC, LA, Chicago or Miami.  It turned out to be a lucky choice.

“The Dim Sum of All Fears” is brand new on the bookshelves! (Debuted August 28)

Why You Will Like It: Fun characters and an engaging mystery to solve.  You will enjoy trying to piece it all together while enjoying a trip into a culture a little different from most of ours.

Rating – **** Recommended