Fatal Fried Rice: A Noodle Shop Mystery (A Noodle Shop Mystery, 7)

Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien is about Lana Lee learning how to cook so she can learn more about the dishes that they prepare at the restaurant.Can Lana keep this secret from her family and Adam?Lana LeeLana Lee is not the world's greatest chef. There are some dishes that Lana knows how to cook. It's just that none of them are Chinese dishes, and she wanted to surprise the people that she loves with her newfound cooking talent by learning how to cook Chinese cuisine. I felt terrible for Lana from the very beginning to the end. Because her heart was in the right place for her to learn to cook Chinese, but nothing ever goes right for her. I adore Lana in this book, and I felt happy that she is stepping up to learn more about the restaurant that she is running for her family.The MysteryOf course, just with any book in this series, we have a mystery. The mystery in this one is a bit of an odd one from the start to the time that the killer gets caught. Ms. Chien got me hooked in with the red herrings this time. I didn't think it was who did it as she wasn't on my radar. The victim happened to be Lana's cooking instructor, and Lana just happened to be there at the wrong time to discover the body.Again, to prove her innocence, Lana has to find out who actually killed Margo Han and why they wanted her gone. The mystery is finding out why and it was difficult for Lana and her sidekick Kimmy Tran. I know that I was surprised by who killed poor Ms. Han.Five StarsMy rating for Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien is five stars. Along with a massive recommendation to anyone that loves an excellent cozy culinary mystery. Ms. Chien has done a great job crafting and weaving this story together. I love these stories, and seeing how each plot point works together is always fun. Ms. Chien especially can create her own brilliant stories while still following a simple method with these cozy mysteries. I'm now off to read Hot and Sour Suspects by Vivien Chien.Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien.Until the next time,Karen the BaronessIf you would like to see other reviews like this one, check out BaronessBookTrove.com.

Hard to believe this is already the seventh in the noodle shop mystery series. Fatal Fried Rice is one of Vivien Chien’s best, and on par with Killer Kung Pao (book 6) and Murder Lo Mein (book 3). The great irony in the series of course highlights protagonist Lana Lee’s inability to cook any of the menu items at her family’s Chinese restaurant, keeping Lana strictly to her managerial duties when she isn’t solving crimes. Fatal Fried Rice not only winks at this idea but Chien leans into it as Lana enrolls in a Chinese cooking class at Barton Adult Learning Center - where a murder occurs on night one.This premise and the Barton setting inject equal parts fun and suspense as we meet several suspects/quirky characters when Lana investigates the crime. These characters/suspects all possess mysterious backgrounds making Lana, and therefore the reader, question their assumptions about these people. Placing much of the action outside of Asia Village, where Lana’s family’s restaurant is located, seems liberating and makes for a very satisfying story, one crafted as well as Chef Peter’s dishes. Chien’s deft plotting also (re)introduces us to someone we’ve met in book 3 - almost an Easter egg for series fans - and Lana’s frenemy Kimmie Tran plays a pivotal role in this book to great comedic effect. Now that Lana and Detective Adam have achieved the blissful couple stage in their romance, removing some of the dramatic tension from the story, Lana and Kimmie emerge as the duo I didn’t know I needed but want to see more. (To be clear, readers don’t need to have read any of the earlier books as this mystery stands on its own.)This St. Martin’s published book contained a few typos (pp. 59, 196, 299) including, inexplicably, the back cover misspelling the victim’s name. Typos aside, Fatal Fried Rice contains all the ingredients for an excellent and satisfying cozy.

I love this series because it takes place in Cleveland and I'm from south of there. However, something went wrong with the printing of this particular book. I had to buy 2 copies to get all the pages. Both books were missing different pages. Eventually, I finished and it was another good mystery.

Love this series

This series just gets better and better.

I really love this series. They are cute cozy stories that fill in time and differ my attention. I would recommend reading the whole series.

I just finished this book and OMG I love it. I definitely need more of this series. Even though there are no recipes in this book, I can always order some Asian cuisine while I enjoy this awesome read.

Enjoyed this new series and could not wait to get next book