A box of ARCS (Advanced Readers Copies) arrived the other week and one title caught my eye. It was called The Marlow Murder Club. I must admit that I felt a little dismissive about the title, it felt a little like trying to benefit from the amazing success of Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books especially when the major character seemed to be a seventy-seven-year woman. While imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, I was not that enthused about reading it. When I did a little more research, I realized that the author was Robert Thorogood, the creator of the popular television show Death in Paradise. To cut a long story short, I did read the book and after a bit of muttering do we need another murder club, I did really enjoy it. The main character is a crossword puzzle creator, and I learned some things about how to approach cryptic crossword clues. Definitely, an engaging and worthwhile read. There is a second title Death Comes to Marlow due in the Fall. The Marlow Murder Club is due to be released on May 3rd (trade paper $24.99).
Most of my reading in the last couple of months seems to have featured Asian women. I finally caught up with Ian Hamilton’s new Ava Lee title, The Sultan of Sarawak, which was released in January. While I have not loved every title this continues to be a good series. I have not read any of the three titles in the spin off, the Lost Decades of Uncle Chow Tung series. The fourth and final title in the series, Finale, is being released in July (trade paper $19.99).
A book that we had missed when it was released in April 2021 was Jesse Q Sutanto’ s Dial A for Aunties. I found out about the book when I saw the details of the second book in the series due to be published soon. I ordered the first title and soon discovered why it had been named as one of NPR’S Best Books of 2021, this is a laugh out loud book. The series is centered on a Chinese-Indonesian family who run a wedding business in California and the first book deals with an accidental murder and the problems it creates for a business in the midst of organizing a 2,000 guest billionaire wedding, (In stock now trade paper $22). The second title in the series Four Aunties and a Wedding, revolves around the mishaps that occur when the Chan family engage another wedding company to organize a wedding for one of the family. But it seems that their main business may not be weddings but assassinations! (Not yet received, trade paper $22).
Michael has been enthusing about Jane Pek’s The Verifiers, since he read an Advanced Reader’s copy last Fall. Claudia Lin is a first-generation Chinese American who has just taken a job with an agency whose purpose is to check out the credentials of people you are matched with at dating sites. Are they really what they say they are? I have to agree with Michael and Laura that this is a good read. It is a little quirky but thoroughly enjoyable. I am limited in what I can say because it is the Book Club book for April. Although there is no second book listed, when we did the Zoom interview with the author from New York earlier this year she made it clear that a second title will be forthcoming. (In stock, trade paper $23).