Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge
Ratings3
Average rating3.7
It was rather complicated, but I had figured out a part of the mystery about halfway through. I like being in another culture when I'm reading it and I think the author does a good job of explaining things to the foreign audience. Enjoyable.
Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge is the third book in the Singaporean mystery series. Keep in mind, while reading this review, that I haven't read the first two in the series. I'm also not generally a big reader of cozy mysteries, so this was a bit outside the box for me. That being said, I actually enjoyed this very much! Rest assured that this is an excellent standalone novel.
Aunty Lee is one of those characters who is instantly likable. She's that incorrigible family member that everyone loves, but also has a tendency to be a bit nosy. Which, of course, makes her the perfect character for a story like this. I loved Aunty Lee, and her amateur sleuthing. She was definitely my favorite part of this story. Even though this was the third book in the series, I didn't feel like I missed out on one bit of her personality, which was great.
I can't say the same for the other main characters though. This isn't the book's fault, obviously. Coming in after the initial book is always a gamble. However, that was one of the things that made me a bit wobbly with my foothold in this story. Aunty Lee is an extremely clever, and well drawn out character. So it was just a tiny bit frustrating not to feel that same way about all the characters she interacted with, especially since they were so close to her. The good news is that it makes me want to read the first two!
As for the story itself, it was a perfectly paced mystery. It kept my attention extremely well, throwing out little bread crumbs here and there to keep me following the same path as Aunty Lee. I got a good feel for the way she does things which, well, let's just say that it isn't always exactly orthodox. It was interesting to watch her interact with people, and see the little pieces of her culture thrown in with the standard sleuthing practices.
Overall, this was a pretty solid read! I can attest that this is fine as a standalone, although you'll probably end up like I did and want to go back and catch up on the first two. I enjoyed Ovidia Yu's writing, and I would absolutely come back for more.