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Vivien Chien's Noodle Shop Mysteries are always such a treat. But I particularly savored her latest, Misfortune Cookie. Because restaurant manager-slash-sleuth Lana Lee flees snowy Cleveland for California! Lana is attending a restaurant convention, and her big sis Anna May is tagging along in the wake of her breakup with a married man. Both are staying with their gracious and glamorous Aunt Grace. But all is not blue skies and bon appetits. Aunt Grace's bestie gets into a kerfuffle with a fortune cookie vendor only to plummet to her death. And for once, Lana is staying out of it. After all, she promised her detective boyfriend Adam that she'd stick to potstickers. Yet Aunt Grace is distraught and beseeches her niece to find justice for her friend. What's a semi-retired, amateur PI to do? Snoop in the deceased's home office, of course. Even if it means outsmarting a smarmy widower and dealing with law student Anna May's million objections.
Speaking of Anna May, I didn't expect to like her so much. She's usually relegated to the background in these novels, passing judgment while Lana and her roommate Megan have the fun of solving the murders. But being the other woman humanizes her, making her seem like less of a killjoy and more like a genuinely concerned sister. Plus, she's smart and sassy like Lana, and her legal expertise brings a fresh perspective. Sure, she and Lana still snipe at each other. But they also get closer, adding depth to the story.
So, can the sisters save the day? And what will Adam have to say? Most importantly, will fortune cookies ever have real fortunes instead of stuff like "Keep calm and eat more fortune cookies."?!
Only that contentious cookie vendor knows for sure. And something tells me she's not telling.
