Singaporean Mystery

This delectable and witty mystery introduces Rosie "Aunty" Lee, feisty widow, amateur sleuth, and proprietor of Singapore's best-loved home-cooking restaurant. After losing her husband, Rosie Lee could have become one of Singapore's "tai," an idle rich lady. Instead she is building a culinary empire from her restaurant, Aunty Lee's Delights, where spicy Singaporean meals are graciously served to locals and tourists alike. But when a body is found in one of Singapore's tourist havens and one of her guests fails to show at a dinner party, Aunty Lee knows that the two events are likely connected. The murder and disappearance throws together Aunty Lee's henpecked stepson, Mark, his social-climbing wife, Selina, a gay couple whose love is still illegal in Singapore, and an elderly Australian tourist couple whose visit may mask a deeper purpose. Investigating the murder are Police Commissioner Raja and Senior Staff Sergeant Salim, who quickly discover that Aunty Lee's sharp nose for intrigue can sniff out clues that elude law enforcers.

Few know more about what goes on in Singapore than Aunty Lee. When a scandal over illegal organ donation involving prominent citizens makes news, she already has a list of suspects. There's no time to snoop, though-Aunty Lee's Delights is catering a brunch for local socialites Henry and Mabel Sung at their opulent house. Rumor has it that the Sung's fortune is in trouble, and Aunty Lee wonders if the gossip is true. But soon after arriving at the Sung's house, her curiosity turns to suspicion. Why is a storage house she discovers locked? What is the couple arguing about behind closed doors? Where is the guest of honor who never showed up? Then, Mabel Sung and her son Leonard are found dead. The authorities blame it on Aunty Lee's special stewed chicken with buah keluak, a local black nut that can be poisonous if cooked improperly. Aunty Lee has never carelessly prepared a dish. She's certain the deaths are murder-and that they're somehow linked to the organ donor scandal. To save her business and her reputation, she's got to prove it-and unmask a dangerous killer whose next victim may just be Aunty Lee.

Slightly hobbled by a twisted ankle, crime-solving restaurateur Aunty Lee begrudgingly agrees to take a rest from running her famous cafe, Aunty Lee's Delights, and turns over operations to her friend and new business partner Cherril. The cafe serves as a meeting place for an animal rescue society that Cherril once supported. They were forced to dissolve three years earlier after a British expat killed the puppy she'd adopted, sparking a firestorm of scandal. The expat, Allison Fitzgerald, left Singapore in disgrace, but has returned with an ax to grind (and a lawsuit). At the cafe one afternoon, Cherril receives word that Allison has been found dead in her hotel-and foul play is suspected. When a veterinarian, who was also involved in the scandal, is found dead, suspicion soon falls on the animal activists. What started with an internet witch hunt has ended in murder-and in a tightly knit, law-and-order society like Singapore, everyone is on edge. Before anyone else gets hurt-and to save her business-Aunty Lee must get to the bottom of what really happened three years earlier, and figure out who is to be trusted in this tangled web of scandal and lies.

A delightfully warm and witty mystery from one of Singapore's best-known and most acclaimed writers. Aunty Lee is on the case! There is nothing Rosie "Aunty" Lee, amateur sleuth and proprietor of Singapore's best-loved restaurant, loves more than solving other people's problems. So when Beth Kwuan, an ambitious businesswoman, tells Aunty Lee her maid has disappeared, Aunty Lee is happy to let her own maid, Nina, help. Only as the weeks go by, little clues make Aunty Lee worry. And as she digs into what is really going on behind the closed doors of Beth's grand house, she starts to wonder-did Beth's maid just run away, or did she meet a darker fate? Now the race is on for Aunty Lee to get to the bottom of the mystery... and save Nina before it's too late!