AUNTY LEE'S DELIGHTS BY OVIDIA YU

GIVEAWAY!  TWO COPIES OF AUNTY LEE'S DELIGHTS!

I only rarely read a cozy mystery so I tend to forget how much fun they can be.  This one is a good reminder of that because of its quirky main character.  Aunty Lee lives in Singapore where she has a small restaurant.  She is a wealthy widow more interested in the people she serves than in building a huge business.  Her stepson and his wife have been having wine and food tasting events to promote the business.  The wife is a witch, spelled more correctly with a "b."

One evening a tourist couple, a man presenting himself as a sort of jaded world traveler, and Aunty Lee's sister-in-law show up.  Another woman who was supposed to help has texted to say she won't be there.  Later, during dessert, a young American woman shows up in a panic because she can't find her friend or the other woman who didn't show up that evening.  Meanwhile, a body has been found on a beach and no one knows who she is.

Aunty Lee loves a good mystery so right away she sticks her eccentric little nose into everyone's business to solve this one.  And solve it she does, but only after lots of red herrings and taking food along to insinuate herself into the right situations to get information.  Her employee Nina goes along with her and, since no one notices a lowly serving girl, acts as a spy.

These characters are only a slight exaggeration of people we've all met at one time or another and Aunty Lee is really funny.  There's a cop that she more or less trails in her wake as she investigates the crime.  I'm kind of proud of myself that I figured out who the murderer was and why fairly early, but I still loved following the story.

Now the Giveaway.  I actually have two copies of this lovely book to give to two lucky readers.  I like to keep things simple, so all you have to do to enter the contest is leave a comment at the end of this post saying you want to enter.  The deadline is November 15th, at which time I'll draw two names at random.  I'll need your email address to let the winners know, after which you can send me your address and you'll soon have the book.  Good luck!

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Source:  William Morrow Publishers