Book Review: Hot Pot Murder by Jennifer J. Chow (L.A. Night Market #2)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong leads, fun setting, good mystery

Cons: A couple of small ones, but nothing major

The Bottom Line:

Feast ends in murder

The lead characters shine here

In fun mystery

Shocking Ending to a Festive Meal

It’s always fun to read about places I know, so finding a cozy series set in the Los Angeles area is a treat, even when the neighborhood where the story takes place is fictional, like in the L.A. Night Market series from Jennifer J. Chow.  I was looking forward to revisiting the location and the characters in Hot Pot Murder, and I enjoyed my return visit.

This series focuses on Yale Yee who has started running a food stale at a night market in her neighborhood.  While she started out with recipes from the restaurant her father owns, she’s rediscovered her love of cooking and has branched out on her own.  Helping her out is her cousin, Celine, who is on an extended visit from Hong Kong.

Yale’s father belongs to an association of Asian restaurant owners in their smaller community, and this group is having a hot pot feast for Thanksgiving.  Yale and Celine have been invited as well.  Yale knows most of the people who are attending since her father has been a member for years.

While most of the group gets along well, there are some hostilities boiling just below the surface.  However, Yale doesn’t expect the night to end in murder.  That’s what happens when the association’s president goes to plug in an extension cord and gets electrocuted.  Unfortunately, the police think this wasn’t a horrible accident and focus their attention on the owners of the restaurant hosting the dinner, who happen to be close friends of the Yees.  Their alternative suspect?  Yale’s father.  Naturally, she uses her relationships with those in the group to try to figure out what really happened.  Can she do it?

One thing I had loved about the first book in the series was the relationship between Yale and Celine.  They hadn’t seen each other in years, and they had to form a relationship quickly.  That new friendship is built on here, and I loved seeing it grow.  I also enjoyed Yale facing some of her past in this book.  Yes, she still has room to grow, and she’d be the first to admit it, but the growth we got here felt earned.  Celine also grows, and I loved seeing her maturity.

Yale and Celine really are the focus of the book, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the cast aren’t great.  We’ve got a few other returning characters, and they get moments to shine.  The suspects are good as well, maybe not quite as strong as the rest of the characters, but they work well for the story.

And the mystery is good.  There were enough suspects and events to keep me guessing, and I loved how the solution played out.  A couple of times in the middle, I thought the pacing was slowing down, but then something would happen to kick things into gear again.

Even though most of the action takes place in a fictionalized neighborhood in L.A., Yale and Celine do manage to hit a few real locations over the course of the book.  I enjoyed spotting places I know when that happened.  Despite the big city setting, most of the action takes in a small part of it, keeping the cozy feel.

If all the talk of food in this book (and there is plenty) leaves you hungry, you’ll be happy with the two recipes at the end of the book.

Hot Pot Murder is a great second book in this series.  If you are looking for a cozy with a bit of a different setting and wonderful leads, this is a series you need to check out.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.