Wonton Terror by Vivien Chien

St. Martin's Publishing Group | 27 August 2019 | 320 pgs

Source: Library 

This is the 4th installment of Vivien Chien's Noodle Shop Mystery series. In this book, the reader learned that the protagonist, Lana Lee, has already settled nicely in her role as a manager at her parents' restaurant, the Ho-Lee Noodle House set in Cleveland, Ohio. Her relationship with Detective Adam Trudeau has blossomed and they're planning for a romantic getaway. The Asian community in their neighbourhood is organising its popular Night Market festivities in which a variety of food trucks and the likes would line up the streets for their businesses. Lana is excited to man the booth with their head chef, Peter Huang, and she's looking forward to the evening until there's an explosion. 

It turns out that a nearby food truck, Wonton on Wheels, was the one getting hit and the explosion has killed one of its proprietors and injures a few others in the nearby vicinity. There are a few speculations surrounding the accident. While some have pointed out that there's family dispute between the couple, there are others who speculated that it might be due to money matters or even an insinuation for insurance claim which has gone terribly wrong. Regardless of whichever it claims to be, the suspect falls onto the immediate family members and one of their relatives who just showed up in town. 

As Lana digs into the case, she also find herself being caught in her own family drama when her mother's sister, Aunt Grace, comes to visit. Now Lana's mother and Grace's personalities don't really click and Lana always find herself being caught in the middle. 

There seems to be a common theme in this installment (family relationship and drama) and Lana, together with a few of the regular cast, continue to be a delightful read and it was a pleasure seeing their developments as the series go. For this reason, I'd recommend reading from the first book though it isn't a must and the author managed to cover the background well so it could be read as a standalone too. All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I've to say the covers always make me crave for the food. 

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