"Lana Lee’s stake in her family’s Chinese restaurant is higher than ever now that she’s been made manager. So when she enters Ho-Lee into Cleveland’s Best Noodle Contest, Lana makes it her business to win—at all costs. But when a local food critic receives a threatening note in a fortune cookie and is later found dead, face-down in a bowl of lo mein, all bets are off. . .
Now, along with her sweet-and-sour boyfriend Detective Adam Trudeau, Lana decides to take matters into her own hands and dig into the lives of everyone involved in the contest. But when she receives an ill-fated fortune, Lana realizes that in order to save the reputation of her restaurant, she needs to save herself first. . "
My Thoughts:
Murder Lo Mein was a fun cozy mystery that has left me itching to catch up with the other books in the series! I'm notorious for starting and reading series books out of order which is exactly what happened here. This is only book three so I'm not too far behind, but I also jumped right into the middle of this series. Honestly, it didn't effect my enjoyment in the slightest! I found myself caught up in the pages of this book on the hunt for the murderer right alongside Lana Lee. She's a great main character and both her and her family were fun to read about! I'm sure that I'm missing out on some details and background thanks to not having read the first two books but it really didn't seem to matter. I was still just swept away by the noodle contest and the hunt for the murderer. There were plenty of suspects to choose from and I'm pretty sure that I suspected them all at one point or another. My one and only complaint is that I would have loved more food descriptions because everything she ate sounded so delicious. This only comes from the fact that many of the cozies I read are more food focused so I was hoping for this to be the same. It wasn't but it still left me very hungry and craving spring rolls more than once! I especially appreciated all of the secondary characters in this book including Lana's grandmother. One of the things that I love about cozy mysteries is that they usually have great characters and this book was no different. I'm eager to get back to the first book and see how Lana and Adam first met!
Overall, this was an enjoyable read that has me excited about this new to me cozy mystery series! I'm already planning on reading the first two books in the very near future so that I can be all caught up with the series before the next book releases. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what kind of trouble Lana can get herself into next! Side note here but how great is the title of this book?!? I absolutely love it to be honest! It's cute and catchy which fits with this book perfectly! I was left guessing until the end of this book which is always a plus as well. All of this adds up to make a very easy book for me to recommend!
Bottom Line: An enjoyable read that made me instantly want to catch up with the rest of the series!
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. Thoughts are my own.
I read the second book in this series and really enjoyed it! I meant to read the first book right after but you know how that goes and I definitely need to add this to my list!
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I do that all of the time! I really do want to go back and read those first two books though! Sometime soon at least :)
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