Meddling and Murder: An Aunty Lee Mystery

Slavery of domestic servants from areas like the Phillipines does happen, so I was appalled by the author's casual tone in describing domestic abuse and entrapment. An employer who locks an employee inside with no access to outside communication, allows only a starvation diet, and ignores attempted rape...) is described as "strict". I only finished the book because I kept waiting for the supposedly sympathetic characters to recognize the degree of abuse, but that doesn't happen. I also kept waiting for some attractive, or interesting, aspect of Singapore culture to appear. It didn't. And I am baffled as to why anyone finds main character entertaining.

Singaporean author and playwright Ovidia Yu has returned with her fourth novel in her "cozy" series, "Meddling and Murder: An Aunty Lee Mystery". I somehow missed the third in the series after having read and enjoyed the first two. In "Meddling and Murder", Aunty Lee returns as the canny widow who is a fabulous cook and runs her own restaurant and catering service. Her old companions, Nina and Salim, Selina and Mark, and Cherril, and others are still with her. But Aunty Lee and her Philipina aide Nina are in a bit of a feud; Aunty Lee-style. Nina goes to work for the sister of an old friend, who basically keeps her in bondage and servitude and Aunty Lee can't seem to rescue her. Several people are murdered and Aunty Lee comes to the rescue. All is well til the next book in the series.The "Aunty-Lee" series is not a regular cozy series, at least for the non-Singaporean reader. Ovidia Yu is a writer who seems to capture the time and place and the society of Singapore. She writes about the mixed society in Singapore today that is both open and restrictive. She doesn't write about the city-state in a macro-view, but rather a micro one, looking at a small part of Singaporean society. It can be very instructive to the reader who gets a taste of a foreign country, without having to deal with the hot, humid weather! Her descriptions of the food that Aunty Lee and her helpers cook and serve are mouth-watering and I'd love to find a Singaporean restaurant where I live.I tend to rate a book that's part of a series based on what I've read before. I'm giving "Meddling and Murder" five stars because I believe that it continues Ovidia Yu's good writing.

Meddling and Murder is poorly translated and the Kindle edition is poorly edited. However, the story is interesting with a likable main character. That said, sixty percent of the book was finished before the story started sounding like a mystery. I like learning about other cultures so I continued to read the book.

Ovidia Yu hits it out of the park again. Auntie Lee is a hoot and is not a spring chicken. I'm not either and I love reading of an older woman running a business and kicking butt. It's also an insight into another culture and geographic area - Singapore.

Aunty Lee is just delightful. She is a character that could only be constructed by an extremely talented writer. The plot of Meddling And Murder has enough twists and turns to satisfy the most discerning mystery reader. Ovidia Yu never disappoints.

I didn't find this enjoyable at all. It may be a true picture of Singaporean life, but as someone else said, it is not a "cozy". It is knd of an odd mix of a dark thriller with some cozy parts thrown in. It was interesting to read about life in a foreign country, but I almost didn't finish this book and I would not read another in this series. Aunty Lee is certainly no Precious Ramotswe as the description implies. She seemed pretty slow at picking up what was going on.

I bought this Kindle book about a year ago -- on sale -- and filed it away in my Mystery collection.I started reading it a couple of days ago, could hardly put it down. In fact I stayed up unto 2:00 a.m. to finish.The locale is Singapore, which has always fascinated me. I looked up Singapore on the map, checked some words in the dictionary, and appreciated the comments the author made on regional politicsI liked the characters and the author did a great job of doing twists and turns in the plot.Highly recommend.

I adore books that explore a different culture or place on the globe and still delivers a great mystery.This book does just that.Set in modern Singapore, Auntie Lee is an older widow lady who manages a neighborhood restaurant (almost like a deli) who solves mystery on the side.This is a totally delightful mystery, delving into Singaporean society, and it left me wanting to try some of the dishes that Auntie Lee gleefully described.I would love to read the rest of the books in the series, however, I have this problem with paying more that $3 per book for a book I'm going to finish in less than a few days. I will snap them up if I see them on sale.5 strong stars!

This was my first of Auntie Lee books and the author did a good job to make sure you quickly got caught up on the characters. And what fun those characters are. The writing is smooth and funny and with descriptions of fabulous-sounding food will make you hungry. Like one of Auntie's stews this takes a long simmer to bring up the flavours, but that makes a nice change from the murder-on-the-first page , fast paced books crowding the market today. It's one to enjoy on vacation, for a bit of escapism.

Lighthearted easy to read short novel. Set in Singapore a culinary murder mystery with Auntie Leqd as the Miss Marple equivalent

Although this series is stronger on character than plots, it's very moreish and would make a great TV series.

Always a good read, and full of info about life in modern Singapore. Aunty Lee is one of my favourite characters, a new book is always a delight.

A well written enjoyable read.