Ovidia Yu

This series came up in WSIRN, because it’s set in Singapore.

It was an unusual mystery - the clues and solutions are figured out mostly by talking to people. Aunty Lee talks to everyone - to Vallerie, to Josephine, to the police (Salim and Raja), to Nina. She didn’t give away much about what she was thinking, but it was pretty clear what she had in mind. I caught on when Aunty Lee and Nina called the Woons in LA - the attorneys that were helping Allison with her will, and were so attached to Vallerie (how could that be, given how crazy Vallerie was in Singapore?!)

And it was a twisty plot - Allison/Vallerie, Dr Kang and Brian are murdered, there is the fire at the vets office, Vallerie’s unwillingness to help the investigation. It was a fun read, and I liked Aunty Lee.… (meer)

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the Singaporean culture. I picked up most of it from the dialogue between the characters and there was alot of it. However, as a mystery novel the story fell short. There were large gaps in the investigation to make space for wedding preparations for Su Lin's girlfriend Parshanti as well as their interactions with other characters. I feel that the murder investigation should have never stopped once the body was found. The book shined more as historical fiction than as the historical mystery it is advertised to be. Perhaps something was lost in the translation.

The series' protagonist, twenty-six year old Su Lin, is a great character. She lives with her grandmother, uncle, aunt and niece. On the third day of the Chinese New Year, she finds that an old associate of her uncle is at the door. She refused admittance to the house because Lin's uncle was too ill to meet anyone. The associate was subsequently murdered after leaving Su Lin's home. In his pocket were some yellow rambutan skins. I thought these skins were an awesome clue. Having never heard of them before, I headed to Wikipedia for more information.

I have mixed feelings about the book. The setting was exquisite but the murder investigation seemed secondary to the setting.… (meer)

I love Cozy Mysteries, especially ones that are set in specific locales. I tend to read any I can find that are set in San Francisco, New Orleans, France, Scotland, Ireland or England. Never having been to Singapore, I can only assume that Chilled Revenge has an accurate description of that city-state. What I know is that it gives an accurate enough description of the food scene there that I want to try all the dishes described. Oh, and the mystery is good too. I loved this book so much I read it twice, and thought I'd already written a review of it. My bad. If you like cozy mysteries set in exotic locales, you'll love this book.… (meer)