Tag: Singapore-set

series

Series Redux: Su Lin Mysteries

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I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since I wrote about Ovidia Yu’s Su Lin mysteries, also known as the Crown Colony series, but it has because there is a new one out next week! I am still stuck at number six – because number seven hasn’t gone into KU yet or dropped to a price that falls into my Kindle range. But I do own number eight because that has. But I’m stubborn and I’m refusing to go out of order because I’ve done everything else in order. Also and this is also related, be warned: if you’re behind in the series, do not read the blurb for the upcoming ninth book The Rose Apple Tree because it’s got a huge spoiler in it for something that has clearly happened in one of those two previous books – it’s hard to tell because book 7 doesn’t have a plot summary attached to it in the blurb at all, just “The next title in the Mystery Tree series, exploring Singapore after the Japanese retreat and in the aftermath of WWII” and book 8 is tagged as being set in 1949 and book 9 in 1947. And i am not reading the samples to find out because: spoilers.

Any way, I have really enjoyed reading these Singapore-set murder mysteries which have taken us from the Abdication crisis through to the end of the Second World War, from Su Lin’s teenage years to adulthood as she straddles the line between the Singaporean community and foreigners in power – which started as the British and then changed to the Japanese during the war.

The first six are still in Kindle Unlimited and they’re well worth a look, and as you can see, you can also find them in some of the bookshops with larger mystery sections.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Series I love

Series I Love: Crown Colony

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The eighth book in the Crown Colony series came out this week, so it’s the perfect time to talk about Ovidia Yu’s historical mystery series set in Singapore.

Our heroine is Su Lin, who in the first book steps in as governess for the acting Governor of Singapore. Su Lin’s family life is complicated – both of her parents are dead and she lives with her grandmother, but because she had polio as a child she’s seen as unlucky. She’s been educated at the mission school and her family are influential in the Chinese community so she has an outsider type perspective on almost everyone in someway but also understands a lot too.

I’ve read six of the eight – and that’s taken me through from the 1930s until the end of World War 2. There are a lot of mystery series set in the 1930s, and a few of them have tackled the war period – but I can’t think of another one that’s set out side of Europe. I loved the Singaporean setting of Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee series, and it’s even more fascinating in the past. I’m a history graduate but most of the bits that I’ve really studied have been British or French history – so it’s always really interesting to learn something new as well has having a good mystery.

The six Su Lin Mysteries that I have read have all been in Kindle Unlimited at some point – and I’m hoping that the arrival of number eight means that number seven with become a KU title soon, and as soon as it does, I’ll be all over it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Series I love

Series I Love: Aunty Lee

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Having mentioned the Singaporean super rich in last week’s Recommendsday, today I’m returning to the city for a mystery series and Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee books.

Rosie Lee is a widowed lady of a certain age, who runs a home cooking restaurant. She doesn’t need to work – her husband left her plenty of money – she does it keep her busy and because it helps her keep her finger on exactly what’s going on in the city. In the first book, two women are found dead and as she knows both of them – one has eaten at her restaurants, the other had been due to be a guest at a dinner party – she starts to investigate. This sets up both the way Aunty Lee straddles different parts of Singaporean society but also how she meets the police officer who appears through the series.

The mysteries aren’t always the most complicated – I’ve figured out the culprit fairly early more than once – but Aunty Lee’s and her world is a delightful space to spend time that it doesn’t actually matter. If you liked the world of Crazy Rich Asians, this is the cozy crime version of that except that I need to issue a warning: these books will make you hungry. The presence of food in a cozy crime series is nothing new – I mean lots of series have recipes included after all – but very few of them make your mouth water the way that Ovidia Yu’s do – even if you’re like me and you know that your chili tolerance is not enough to be able to cope with some of it! I have written about a couple of these before – there’s more about Aunty Lee in the posts about Deadly Specials and Meddling and Murder (which doesn’t seem to be attached to the series on any of the online vendors, even though it is and Aunty Lee book as you can see from the cover).

These are all available on Kindle and Kobo – and yes it really annoys me that the covers don’t match as a set – and I’ve occasionally spotted them in shops, I own one in paperback because of that!

Happy Reading!