TLC Book Tours: Aunty Lee's Delights

Author: Ovidia Yu
Title: Aunty Lee's Delights
Publisher: William Morrow
Publish Date: Sept 17, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: TLC Book Tours
Book Blurb: 

This delectable and witty mystery introduces Rosie "Aunty" Lee, feisty widow, amateur sleuth, and proprietor of Singapore's best-loved home-cooking restaurant

After losing her husband, Rosie Lee could have become one of Singapore's "tai tai," an idle rich lady. Instead she is building a culinary empire from her restaurant, Aunty Lee's Delights, where spicy Singaporean meals are graciously served to locals and tourists alike. But when a body is found in one of Singapore's tourist havens and one of her guests fails to show at a dinner party, Aunty Lee knows that the two events are likely connected.

The murder and disappearance throws together Aunty Lee's henpecked stepson, Mark, his social-climbing wife, Selina, a gay couple whose love is still illegal in Singapore, and an elderly Australian tourist couple whose visit may mask a deeper purpose. Investigating the murder are Police Commissioner Raja and Senior Staff Sergeant Salim, who quickly discover that Aunty Lee's sharp nose for intrigue can sniff out clues that elude law enforcers.

Wise, witty, and charming, Aunty Lee's Delights is a spicy mystery about love, friendship, and food in Singapore, where money flows freely and people of many religions and ethnicities coexist peacefully, but where tensions lurk just below the surface, sometimes with deadly consequences.

Review:  If the cover of this wonderful cozy mystery doesn't draw you in, I don't know what will. There is just so much to love about this book.

In fact...

How do I love thee...let me count the ways.

1. Aunty Lee aka Rosie Lee is the most awesome older lady. She's smart and fun, and at times smarter than the police heading the investigation

2. The cast of characters. All of Rosie's family members, as well as all the suspects, gave new meaning to the word quirky.

3. This was a different kind of cozy. There is s certain formula these days to cozy mystery series, but Aunty Lee is different. The cops aren't so bumbling and Rosie is smarter than the average cozy heroine.

4. The mystery doesn't give itself away. I love that you really didn't have any idea of who the killer was. That made the pages worth turning.

Aunty Lee really made this book. I can't say that enough. I loved reading a cozy that wasn't set in the US or England as well. I also loved Aunty Lee's cooking. Reading this book can definitely make you hungry.

You also got to look at how another nation views homosexuality. Some of this may upset readers, because in Singapore this is not accepted and is in fact, illegal. (It is also part of the crime)

I absolutely loved this book. It a great start to what we can hope will be a long series of novels.

Rating: 5 flowers