by Vivien Chien
Part of Noodle Shop Mystery
First published 2021
Lana Lee manages her family's Chinese restaurant in Cleveland's Asia Village, but her cooking skills barely extend beyond boiling rice. She secretly enrolls in culinary school to prove she belongs in the kitchen. When her instructor Margo Chan dies after class, Lana finds the body and becomes the prime suspect. She must clear her name while tracking down the real killer. Detective Adam Trudeau might help, but Lana launches her own investigation into Margo's past. Her search takes her between the culinary school and back to the Ho-Lee noodle shop. The murderer may be hiding much closer to home than Lana realizes. She races to solve the case before she gets framed for a crime she didn't commit.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, cozy-mystery, amateur-sleuth
Vibes: cozy, engaging, fast-paced, lighthearted-mystery, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, fish-out-of-water, found-family, wrong-place-wrong-time
Setting: Cleveland, Asia Village, Ho-Lee noodle shop, culinary school
Period: 21st-century, contemporary
320 pages · Paperback · St. Martin's Griffin
Content warnings: murder