I don’t really write cozy mysteries, but I want to. I mean, I’ve written one cozy and more than a half dozen other mysteries. I’ve written historical fiction. But I love cozies. So maybe this NaNoWriMo, I’ll tackle a cozy again.
To that end, I read ten (yes 10!!!) cozy mysteries in a series. The Ho Lee Noodle House Mystery series, by Vivien Chien is set in Cleveland, Ohio (my old home town). It features an Asian American main character, which I relate to now having lived in the Pacific for nearly 40 years. And it’s main “home” setting is a Chinese restaurant, and I love eating out (and my usual restaurants are a Thai-American diner and a Chinese-American family café).
My Choice
So this cozy mystery series, Noodle Shop Mystery, seemed to be one that would be right up my alley of likes and within my potential for my own writing.
For my September preparation for NaNoWriMo, I read:
1. Death by Dumpling
2. Dim Sum of All Fears
3. Murder Lo Mein
4. Wonton Terror
5. Egg Drop Dead
6. Killer Kung Pao
7. Fatal Fried Rice
8. Hot and sourt Suspects
9. MisFortune Cookie
10. Peking Duck and Cover
What I liked
Family & Culture
The main character is second-generation Taiwanese-American. The perspective combines both the old world and the new, with tensions within the family arising from cultural differences. With sisters, parents, a grandmother and an aunt, the family is sketched out gradually into greater and greater detail. Who speaks Taiwanese and who doesn’t? Who feels the pressure of parental or cultural expectations and how do they deal with it? What patterns repeat in the generations? This aspect of the series is handled well and feels familiar, but is still interesting.
Setting
As noted above, the main setting of all but one of the ten novels is Cleveland, Ohio, the West side. There is only occasional action downtown or a cross-over to the East side. (Well, every Sunday there is dim sum on the East side, but real action is rarely there.) There is some local weather (lake effect!) and some local color (suburbs like Parma and Brookpark). I like a strong sense of place, so I would really prefer more detail that makes it clear the stories are rooted in this place. But thank you for a Cleveland cozy!
The Set-up
All cozy mysteries have a set-up and the murder or violence is off the page. These all follow that pattern. You get a glimpse of the ugly pain of untimely death, but it’s handled to appease the squeamish. My general impression, however, was that the set-up was evident because of the back-cover copy. I would like a little more mystery, but each one has an interesting hook, so that’s good.
The Cast of Characters-both plus and minus
The cast of characters was very much the cozy trope. Besides the main character Lana Lee, there is her best friend, her cop boyfriend, her co-workers (cook Peter, his mother, annoying teen waitress), others who work in the same Asian Village, family, and the odd side characters like the gossipy Mahjong Matrons who come in for breakfast every day at the same time and order the exact same thing. The characters move in stereotypical fashion and provide drama, humor, and subtext. While I found them fun to read, I never felt any special connection to any one of the characters. They never come to life on the page—they are cardboard cut-outs used for a diorama play that is entertaining but not real. This is a serious drawback for me.
The Writing
And then there’s the writing. Thank you, Vivien Chien, for good grammar, good punctuation, good syntax, good vocabulary. The writing is a strong point for this series, although I find the pacing too slow even for the amble of a cozy novel.
What I Didn’t Like
Plot Choices-Main Character sleuthing
What detracted most for me was the plot—choices made by the main character. I hate stupid. When a murder has occurred, I want characters to take cognizance of that with some awe and even fear. I expect some worry or at least acknowledgement there is a reason for caution. I don’t like main characters who are so stubborn or self-absorbed that they rush off taking risks doing dangerous things like chasing after someone they think is a witness or a liar or has some critical evidence without telling others, alone, without a plan, without even a nod to the possibility of prudence.
Plot Choices-Ignoring the Reader
I also dislike novels where the obvious is ignored. The reader has it figured out by page thirty but the main character never even considers the obvious suspect for another 150 pages.
Plot Choices-Interactions with Police & Other Authorities
And there’s the relationship with the police. I am not a fan of amateur detectives who don’t work well with the police. Just me, perhaps. I don’t find it cute or endearing or appropriate to repeatedly butt heads with officials doing their jobs. I understand the situation where there’s a bad cop, or an investigation focused in the wrong direction, but I dislike when those tropes are exaggerated unrealistically. I don’t really see how Lana Lee can have a boyfriend cop and go to the extremes she does in her sleuthing with any amount of plausibility.
Titles
Finally, I wish the titles were more meaningful or that the story did a better job linking the title in so that the title would trigger some memory of the story. I mean, sure, the dish appears somewhere in the novel. The last one—Duck and Cover—relates to tradition so I remember when the story is set. And the MisFortune Cookie is directly connected to the plot. But most of the titles do not seem to be anything other than culinary references added in so there is a title for the next and the next and the next.
Key Take-aways
All in all, what I learned from reading this series is that cozy mysteries are easy reading but perhaps not easy writing, even for well-liked, published authors. Also, analysis helped me formulate a better list of what I don’t like in my cozy mysteries, and what I do like.
What now?
What are you reading? How is it helping you shape your next novel? Let’s discuss! I’ll be at the JKPL on Saturday mornings. Stop by and chat with me!