This has got to be the worst day of my life. Scratch that. The second worst day, but I try to avoid thinking of. . . Anyway, I just got laid off from my job at a bookstore haven called The Literary Narnia. I’m a great worker, but the owners, the Tanaka sisters, can’t keep me on anymore. Budget issues.

Will I have to go back to the family restaurant? I’m sure Ba will take me in, and I’ll be able to get all the delicious dim sum I want. But I stopped working there for a reason. I couldn’t deal with the intense emotions. It’s why I fled to the peace and comfort of sorting and shelving books.

I want to escape now, preferably into an Austen novel, but I know that won’t solve my impending money troubles. I barely make ends meet as it is.

Oh, wait. Ba offered me a gig to take over his food stall for the launch of the new local night market. I’ll even get to keep the profits from the weekend. The catch? He wants me to run it with my estranged cousin—who I haven’t seen in decades. Apparently she’s in town on a whim (of course, because that’s her style).

Celine and I are polar opposites. I plan on poring over my cookbooks to find the best recipes for the weekend event. She’ll probably be rummaging through her closet for the perfect night market outfit. Will we be able to run a food stall together? Ba thinks that working side by side will help us bond. Here’s hoping we don’t kill each other instead—or anyone else for that matter.

Death by Bubble Tea, An L.A. Night Market Mystery #1
Genre: Cozy
Release: July 2022
Purchase Link

Two cousins who start a food stall at their local night market get a serving of murder in this first novel of a delicious new cozy mystery series by Jennifer J. Chow, author of Mimi Lee Gets a Clue.

When Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is obliged to play tour guide to a relative she hasn’t seen in twenty years. Not only that, but her father thinks it’s a wonderful idea for them to bond by running a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Yale hasn’t cooked in years, and she hardly considers Celine’s career as a social media influencer as adequate experience, but because she’s just lost her job at her local bookstore, she feels she has no choice.

Yale and Celine serve small dishes and refreshing drinks, and while business is slow, it eventually picks up thanks to Celine’s surprisingly useful marketing ideas. They’re quite shocked that their bubble tea, in particular, is a hit—literally—when one of their customers turns up dead. Yale and Celine are prime suspects due to the gold flakes that Celine added to the sweet drink as a garnish. Though the two cousins are polar opposites in every way, they must work together to find out what really happened to the victim or the only thing they’ll be serving is time.

About the author
Jennifer J. Chow is the author of quirky cultural cozy mysteries, including her Lefty Award-nominated Sassy Cat Mysteries. The first in the Sassy Cat series, Mimi Lee Gets A Clue, was selected as an OverDrive Recommended Read, a PopSugar Best Summer Beach Read, and one of BuzzFeed’s Top 5 Books by AAPI authors. Her new series is the L.A. Night Market Mysteries, and the first book is Death by Bubble Tea (July 5). She currently serves as Vice President on the national board of Sisters in Crime and is an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Mystery Writers of America. Connect with her online at jenniferjchow.com.

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