I’m still trying to figure out if I’m a cozy mystery person, but I really liked this (looking forward to the second one). For a good chunk of the book, the murder mystery took a backseat to the characters' day-to-day struggles, but I wasn’t into the mystery as much as I was into the characters so that worked for me.  

 

Energy: Assured. Cute. Animated. 

 

The amount of food consumed after being touched by a toddler was making me gag lol.

 

The writing style. The characters and their interactions. The lighthearted tone (without being cheesy). Funny, but in a genuine way. How it drew me in more as the story progressed. 

 

Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in the San Francisco Chinatown area, California

Perspectives (5): A widow with a grown son and owner of a run-down tea house with few customers. A suddenly single parent of a toddler after their spouse comes into money and leaves them. Two characters who are tangentially related to the victim that are drawn into the widow’s world. The brother of the victim. We also get snippets of the teahouse owner’s amateur sleuthing case notes. 

Timeline: Current (2010s or 2020s).

🔥 Fuel: Character evolution. Emotional investment. Mystery solving. Why did Marshall end up dead in the tea house? Was it murder? How are the other characters involved with him? Will Vera solve the case after police dismiss it? 

📖 Cred: Semi-realistic

 

Oolong tea. Sun visor. Flashdrive. Sweet flowers. Milk. Tangyuan. Toddler laughing. 

 

Content Heads-Up: Loss of spouse. Stroke. Alzheimer’s (off page). Marriage breakup, abandonment. Domestic abuse (verbal, emotional). Murder/dead body. Loss of parent (as child). Theft. Sibling rivalry. Allergic reaction. 

 

Rep: Black, Chinese, Indonesian, Indian, and Asian American. Cis. Hetero. Warm brown and ambiguous skin tones.

 

📚 Format: Kindle