Death by Dumpling: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 1)
Death by Dumpling: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 1) book cover

Death by Dumpling: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 1)

Mass Market Paperback – March 27, 2018

by
Price
$8.99
Publisher
St. Martin's Paperbacks
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-1250129154
Dimensions
4.15 x 0.85 x 6.75 inches
Weight
4.8 ounces

Description

One of "The Best Modern Murder Mystery Books"―The Mary Sue "A charming debut with plenty of red herrings. The heroine's future looks bright."― Kirkus Reviews "Thoroughly entertaining... A fun and delicious read!"―RT Book Reviews"Life does not always take the path you want it to, which is an understatement when you find yourself delivering the dumplings that kill a man. The ending certainly left me wanting to continue reading a series starring Lee."―Book Riot"Cozy fans rejoice! It is an honor to state that author Vivien Chien has done a fantastic job with both characters and plot. You will long for the next course that Vivien Chien serves up."― Suspense Magazine "Vivien Chien serves up a delicious mystery with a side order of soy sauce and sass. A tasty start to a new mystery series!" ―Kylie Logan, bestselling author of Gone with the Twins "Vivien Chien brings a fresh new voice to cozies. Death by Dumpling is a fun and sassy debut with unique flavor, local flair, and heart." ―Amanda Flower, Agatha Award-Winning author of Lethal Licorice "A cozy mystery with laughs, and a relatable amateur sleuth."―Book Riot " Vivien Chien's story circles around culinary cuisine, pestering family dynamics, hometown drama, and mystery."―The Mary Sue"What a charming book! This will definitely appeal to any cozy mystery. The Asian venue was a fresh and unique setting for the mystery. This isn't your average everyday cozy!"―Mystereity Reviews"Chien's fun and funny debut mystery delivers a full menu of engaging characters, a cleverly conceived mystery plot, and just the right dash of dry humor."―Voice of Youth Advocates magazine"The setting (a shopping plaza dedicated to Asian businesses) and the characters (the various merchants who work in the plaza and their friends and family members) were really well-done."―Read-At-Home Mom VIVIEN CHIEN (she/her) was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio where she grew up in a mixed-race home, making for some very interesting cultural experiences. She found her love of books and the written word at an early age while writing short stories about her classmates in elementary school. When she’s not writing, Vivien enjoys frequenting local Asian restaurants, frolicking in bookstores, and searching for her next donut.She is the author of the Noodle Shop Mystery series, including Death by Dumpling .

Features & Highlights

  • Welcome to the Ho-Lee Noodle House, where the Chinese food is to die for. . .
  • The last place Lana Lee thought she would ever end up is back at her family’s restaurant. But after a brutal break-up and a dramatic workplace walk-out, she figures that helping wait tables is her best option for putting her life back together. Even if that means having to put up with her mother, who is dead-set on finding her a husband. Lana’s love life soon becomes yesterday’s news once the restaurant’s property manager, Mr. Feng, turns up dead―after a delivery of shrimp dumplings from Ho-Lee. But how could this have happened when everyone on staff knew about Mr. Feng’s severe, life-threatening shellfish allergy? Now, with the whole restaurant under suspicion for murder and the local media in a feeding frenzy―to say nothing of the gorgeous police detective who keeps turning up for take-out―it’s up to Lana to find out who is behind Feng’s killer order. . . before her own number is up.“Vivien Chien serves up a delicious mystery with a side order of soy sauce and sass. A tasty start to a new mystery series!” ―Kylie Logan, bestselling author of
  • Gone with the Twins
  • "
  • Death by
  • Dumpling
  • is a fun and sassy debut with unique flavor, local flair, and heart.” ―Amanda Flower, Agatha Award--winning author of
  • Lethal Licorice

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(503)
★★★★
25%
(419)
★★★
15%
(251)
★★
7%
(117)
★
23%
(385)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

3 or 4 stars

A solid 3 stars, maybe 4. I’m not sure if the amount of stress in my life affected my view of this book or not so I’m going to give it 4 stars. The world building was fantastic. So many cozies get bogged down in detail to the point that it’s obnoxious. Not this book. And yet she still managed to make me feel like I could walk right into the noodle shop and see the Mahjong Matrons. That being said, it felt flat. No peaks and valleys. I wasn’t feeling the romance. BUT because of the world building and main character I still really enjoyed it and will definitely read the next book.
10 people found this helpful
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Fabulous first by a promising new author.

Chien has really put her best foot forward with the first in her new noodle shop mystery series. It was perfectly paced, funny and had just the right amount of red herrings.

Lana Lee is the quirky, likeable heroine in this series. She’s Asian-American, loves donuts, and experimenting with hair color. After quitting her corporate job (she is second-guessing that move), she has to return to waitressing duties at her parent’s Asian restaurant in order to pay the bills and help keep a roof over her and her best friend Megan’s, heads.

As if it’s not hard enough to work for her mother, who tells her she needs to find a man to take care of her, she gets involved in a murder. Mr. Feng, the owner of the Asian plaza where her family restaurant is located, turns up dead, possibly from the food she had just delivered to him. Everyone is looking at her and her family suspiciously, and she’s afraid the rumors and bad publicity will put her mom out of business.

Everyone in the plaza is like family to Lana so she can’t imagine who would have wanted to murder mind-mannered Mr. Feng. But in order to remove herself from the suspect list and clear her family’s name, she bumbles through an investigation of her own, along with Megan’s help, and meets a handsome detective along the way.
10 people found this helpful
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Not a great role model; immature and sneaky.

I wanted to like this book. Although a lot of the characters are Asian, and much of the setting is in a noodle shop, I think any reader who likes a mystery would find the book mildly interesting. As another reviewer said, however,
"Home invasion, lying and stealing evidence are not only not pleasant, they have the potential to damage the ability of the police to properly investigate or prosecute. However our heroine only seems to be concerned with getting caught.
Usually my main concern with cozy mysteries is the lead character setting herself up to stumble into danger. Here the stumbling block is some kind of blind spot where the lead characters self image as a nice young women makes breaking into houses and stealing evidence ok."

This is spot on. Very difficult to feel any interest in a person who is so sneaky and dishonest.

I did appreciate that there was very little ugly language, and not many issues with informal language. The "Me and mom" construction is always jarring, although, in keeping with this character, consistent with who she really is by putting herself first, even in her speech. Over all, I am a little sad for the writer. The book feels like she wants to do a good job, but the main character is just not likeable.
5 people found this helpful
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When I saw this book cover, I was immediately ...

When I saw this book cover, I was immediately interested. Unfortunately, I did not finish the book. I could not relate to anyone in the story and nothing captured my interest.

I voluntarily read an ARC of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.
5 people found this helpful
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Dumplings Can Be Deadly!

Death by Dumpling is the first book in A Noodle Shop Mystery series. This is also the first book I've read by this author and it definitely won't be the last! After a brutal breakup and a job loss Lana Lee finds herself back in Cleveland working at her parents restaurant. Not exactly where she wants to be but it will do while she gets her life back in order. When the property manager, Mr. Feng, is found dead and the means of death was a severe allergy to to shellfish, found in the dumplings Lana delivered to him, questions abound. Everyone knew about his allergy so how did the shellfish end up in the dumplings? Who would want him dead and why? Lana begins to investigate on her own. I love all the characters in this book and the mystery is well written. In fact I loved it so much I went out and bought the next several books in the series! I highly recommend this book!
4 people found this helpful
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Death by Dumpling

Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien is the first book in the new cozy A Noodle Shop Mystery series. The series brings a bit of diversity to the genre by being set in the Asian Village Plaza, a mall with the shops full of Chinese culture.

Lana Lee has found herself returning home to her parents and working in their restaurant, the Ho-Lee Noodle House. When one of the staff asks Lana to pitch in and deliver an order to Mr. Feng, the plaza’s property manager, little did she know it would end up putting her in the middle of the murder case.

After Mr. Feng’s order was dropped off Lana had returned to the restaurant only to have everyone in a panic shortly after when it became clear Mr. Feng had been found dead. The problem for Lana was it looks like the food she’d taken may have been the cause of his death putting her and the cook in the line of the investigation.

While Death by Dumpling was a solid start to this new Asian flavored cozy there was a bit of a spark missing for me personally to absolutely fall in love with the series just yet. As anyone knows that has read my cozy reviews before I tend to love series that are oozing eccentricity or quirkiness and I don’t think that stood out much in this one unfortunately.

I did however enjoy visiting Lana’s culture for a bit and the setting within this series. Lana was about as realistic as a young adult of Asian descent that’s been raised in America could be, she is on the edge between the cultures which is normally the case in that age where he parents and other adults around her are what give more glimpses at the culture. When finished with this one I’d definitely try the next to see if the author could give the series a bit more of it’s own unique spark to make it shine going forward.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.
3 people found this helpful
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Great debut by Vivien Chen

I picked this book up to try something different and was not disappointed. The characters are unique yet modern, and the cultural references gave me a new perspective through a lens I've never really peered through. Really looking forward to the next installments of the series as well as watching Chen continue to hone her clear talent for crafting a story.
2 people found this helpful
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Enjoyable fun read.

Good mystery. A little on the young side (teen audience) but otherwise well crafted.
1 people found this helpful
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A Little Slow, but Good

I liked this book. I disagree with the review stating that Lana is unlikeable. This book is a little slow and Lana is the reason I continued reading. It was cute, and I will probably read the next book, but I won't be running out to the store for it.
1 people found this helpful
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Great start to the series--I feel invested in the characters!

4 1/2 stars. The cover art totally sucked me in on this cozy mystery! Isn't it AMAZING? Death by Dumpling was a great kickoff to the series, and I feel invested in the characters. The writing style is clean and the plot was twisty enough that I didn't see the ending coming too early. Looking forward to reading more in this series!
1 people found this helpful

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