Hey all! Finished a Singaporean mystery titled Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu. Here’s the review
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.
- Print Length: 286 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (September 17, 2013)
- Publication Date: September 17, 2013
- Genre-Cozy Mystery
Ovidia Yu is one of Singapore’s best-known and most acclaimed writers. As well as award winning short stories and a children’s book, she has had over thirty plays performed and is author of the Aunty Lee books, featuring a crime solving Tai Tai, and the Colonial Crime series set in Colonial Singapore.
A Cozy Mystery novel and a Singaporean mystery. Has anyone been to Singapore?? Singapore is actually a law abiding country, beautiful and one of the safest places to live. I have been to Singapore like hundred times. So as I said, in the book, the story starts with tourists discovering a body floating up in the beaches of Sentosa Island. The body was identified that as Laura Kwee who was one of the dinner guests at Aunt Lee’s cafe, owned by Aunt Lee. And another person, Marianne Peters is also missing…
So I will briefly summarize my thoughts in a list form.
- The first few chapters were a bit boring but soon, towards the middle, the story got interesting.
- It was interesting to learn about the Singaporean culture particularly the Singaporean cuisine in the book–you got to learn them in the book, the names of the food and the description of those food, make your mouth water. Also at the last page, the author had written out the recipe for a meal which you can try at home!
- The characters in here are all likable, particularly the main character, Aunty Lee and her companionship with the Filipino maid, Nina.
- It was actually a bit predictable and also towards the end of the chapter, you kind of figured out who would be the killer.
- There were some twists and turns but not much.
- Some parts of the book was funny, and also the author had used simple English so you can understand easily what is happening with the story.
- I like the diversity of the characters in this book–ranging from whites, Chinese, Indians to Filipinos
Over all, this is a good book to worth four stars! This is the first book of the Aunt Lee’s series and maybe I will try to read the other books…
Tropical Girl Reads 