Death by Dumpling: A Noodle Shop Mystery

I love cozy murder mysteries and have never heard of Vivien Chein until she was recommended in some article. Decided to get the 1st book of the series. It was quick and fun read. Some of the characters were entertaining and a few funny moments. However, you can really tell the author was a "fresh" writer at this point. Some of the descriptions didn't give much and sometimes felt muddled together as some of the characters read the same. The dialogue between Lana and other characters, especially Megan (the best friend), felt too cliche and on the nose for me. I pretty much skimmed through their parts. Lastly, the book was pretty predictable from the early chapters. Everything you speculated within the 1st 50 pages, was exactly what you'd expect to happen. You knew who the murderer was, you knew why Thomas was killed, you knew what everyone was up to, and honestly, it sort of made me feel like our protagonist REALLY should leave it to the police because she wasn't a very good detective. Being the 1st book of the series I was expecting a few bumps, so I'll definitely be checking out a few more in the series to see if it gets any better. Overall, I do recommend as it's a fun, quick read, just don't expect to be surprised.