Death by Bubble Tea
Books | Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Cozy / Culinary
3.5
Jennifer J. Chow
Two cousins who start a food stall at their local night market get a serving of murder in this first novel of a delicious new cozy mystery series by Jennifer J. Chow, bestselling author of Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale hasn’t cooked in years, and she hardly considers Celine’s career as a social media influencer as adequate experience, but because she’s just lost her job at her local bookstore, she feels she has no choice. Yale and Celine serve small dishes and refreshing drinks, and while business is slow, it eventually picks up thanks to Celine’s surprisingly useful marketing ideas. They’re quite shocked that their bubble tea, in particular, is a hit—literally—when one of their customers turns up dead. Yale and Celine are prime suspects due to the gold flakes that Celine added to the sweet drink as a garnish. Though the two cousins are polar opposites in every way, they must work together to find out what really happened to the victim or the only thing they’ll be serving is time.
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More Details:
Author
Jennifer J. Chow
Pages
304
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2022-07-05
ISBN
0593336534 9780593336533
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was my first cozy mystery, and I honestly enjoyed it. I was surprised by how well-crafted the mystery was, it was definitely multi-layered (I think I avoided this genre for so long because I thought there would be more coziness and the mystery would be underdeveloped.) The culprit was one of the lead suspects, but I didn’t find it predictable. I also liked the dynamic between Yale and Celine, and how they were polar opposites but still worked well together. I do think the book would have been fine if all the Instagram references were removed, the book was a bit heavy on the talk about food influencers (but it wasn’t the entire focus of the book.) And there was also great Asian American representation, plus the food described sounded amazing (but there was far less bubble tea than I expected). I don’t know if I would say this is a good book to read for your first cozy mystery, but I do recommend this."