To Helen Back by Susan McBride

(River Road #1)

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BOOK REVIEW:
This is the sixth book of Susan McBride I have read, and it is the sixth time I loved every minute of doing so! A River Road Mystery.

Book blurb: "In this fun and sassy new mystery, USA Today bestselling author Susan McBride introduces us to Helen Evans, a modern-day Miss Marple who must expose a murderer in a town full of suspects!"

Milton Grone was not the easiest man in town, and not a person anyone dashed off to become friends with. He is down-right scrooged, mean-spirited and sleek. Between Shotsie, his trophy bride, and Delilah, the incubator for his two sons, which he did not care about, a lot of love and admiration for him got lost as well. Then there were his parents, who did not feature him as the highest priority in their will, which embittered him even further. 

But oh dearie me, Miltie had it coming when he sold a piece of land to a developer, with many citizens up in arms. Added to this animosity, was Felicity's, his next-door neighbor's, ilk about him stealing six inches of her land and harassing her daily over the fence.

So when the first bulldozers droned in to clear out the pristine natural haven for birds and plants, someone snapped in tiny River Bend, Illinois. Yes, Miltie has gone too far... or has he?

As Floyd Red Crow Westerman said: "The Clan Mothers ran everything and had the last word. I think that's the answer." 

Sheriff Biddle could have uttered the same Indian wisdom, since he had a partner in solving the mystery: Helen Evans, a modern-day Miss Marple, a puzzle-lover and busybody grandmother, who knew how to handle the hornets nest where her hen-parties played cards and networked about everything from their cats' meal schedules, to the town's latest intrigue and secrets. 

Satirical, fast-tracked, uncomplicated, relaxing, smart. That was my experience of To Helen Back by Susan McBride. This author is fast becoming my favorite author in this genre. It is, after all, not a genre I indulged in often. But she knows how to enchant readers like me with her murder mysteries. I just love the ambiance and style of her stories.

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BOOK BLURB:
In this fun and sassy new mystery, USA Today bestselling author Susan McBride introduces us to Helen Evans, a modern-day Miss Marple who must expose a murderer in a town full of suspects!

When Milton Grone turns up dead in tiny River Bend, Illinois, nearly all the would-be suspects have the perfect alibi: attending Thursday night's town meeting. And as Milton was hardly beloved, plenty of folks had a reason to do him in ...

Grone's next-door neighbor was furious about a fence that encroached on her property, among other wicked deeds. A pair of zealous tree huggers wanted Grone's hide for selling a parcel of pristine land to a water park. Grone's current and ex-wife both wanted a cut of the profits, which Grone seemed unwilling to share. Even the town preacher knew Grone's soul was beyond saving.


Though most of River Bend would rather reward the killer than hang him, Sheriff Biddle's not about to let this one go … and neither is Helen Evans. With a penchant for puzzles and an ear for innuendo, Helen quickly fingers the culprit before Biddle puts the wrong suspect in jail.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan McBride is the author of Very Bad Things, a young adult thriller out from Delacorte in October of 2014. She also writes women's fiction, including The Truth About Love & Lightning (William Morrow, 02/13), Little Black Dress (09/11), and The Cougar Club (02/10). She has a short memoir called In the Pink: How I Met the Perfect (Younger) Man, Survived Breast Cancer, and Found True Happiness After 40 (06/12), about becoming an "accidental Cougar" at 41, marrying a younger man, being diagnosed with breast cancer at 42, and having her first child at 47. Susan was named "Survivor of the Year" by the St. Louis chapter of Susan G. Komen for the Cure in 2012 and was dubbed one of St. Louis's "Most Dynamic" in 2012 by the Ladue News.

Susan previously wrote the award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries (Avon Paperbacks), including Blue Blood, The Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, and Too Pretty To Die. She has authored several YA series books for Random House about debutantes in Houston, the debut in 2008 appropriately titled The Debs and followed by Love, Lies, And Texas Dips in 2009. Gloves Off, the third book, has not yet been released.

Visit Susan's web site at http://SusanMcBride.com for more info.
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BOOK INFORMATION
Genres: Murder, Mystery, Suspense, Satire,  Illinois, Drama
Formats: eBook
Number of pages: 200 pages
Publisher: Witness Impulse - digital imprint of HarperCollins
Publishing date: May 27, 2014
Edition Language: English
ASIN: B00IRCZIPA
Purchase links:  iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Amazon.com  | Google Play

Awards: Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award winner, Best Amateur Sleuth Mystery

Eyes Closed Tight by Peter Leonard

Genres: Crime, Murder, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Florida, Detroit

Formats: Paperback, Kindle, Nook

Number of pages: 300 pages

Publisher: Story Plant, The

Publishing date: March 4, 2014

Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.

Language: English

ASIN: B00FO81YSA

ISBN-10: 1611881145

ISBN-13: 978-1611881141

Purchase links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

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AMAZON BOOK BLURB

O'Clair is a former Detroit homicide investigator who now owns a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida in his retirement. He runs the place with his much younger girlfriend, Virginia, who's a knockout and can fix anything. One morning, he’s cleaning up after the previous night’s partiers when he sees a lovely young woman stretched out asleep on a lounge chair. He shakes her gently. Then he touches her neck and feels for a pulse. There isn't one. Her skin is cold, body starting to stiffen, definitely in the early stages of rigor.

When a second girl is murdered, O'Clair knows someone is trying to send him a message. The way the girls are killed reminds O'Clair of a case he investigated years earlier. Now convinced the Pompano murders are related, O'Clair returns to Detroit Police Homicide to review the murder file and try to figure out what he might have missed.

And when Virginia is kidnapped by the killer, the stakes grow exponentially higher.

The most powerful work to date by one of the most thrilling suspense novelists of our time, EYES CLOSED TIGHT is relentless, surprising, and deeply satisfying.
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REVIEW
Pompano Beach, Florida. Beautiful nice, hot weather, blue ocean vistas, shorts and tops, endless sandy beaches, long cool drinks, good company, delicious sea food. You get it, right?

No, actually, you don't! Forty-five year old Oak O'Claire was happy in his retirement from the Detroit Police Force, managing Pirate’s Cove, the motel he bought on the beach front. His personal life couldn't get better with the beautiful twenty-six year old Virginia at his side who knew more about maintenance than he could ever learn. Their life was perfect, until a young blond woman is discovered in one of his deck chairs on the beach. Then another body is found. This time he knows the victim and the modus operandi reminds him of a murder case he handled fifteen years before. Once a detective...

The plot gets messy, the drama escalates, the reader gets edgy and nervous, especially being part of the psyhco killer's plans, embedded in his brain, knowing exactly what he is going to do and nobody can stop him...

A highly entertaining murder mystery! Yes, it will keep you fidgeting in your chair, never leaving the story for one second, trying to find excuses to read. I almost got myself into trouble today, thanks to this book. And of course, as with a good suspense crime drama, nothing is what it seems to be. There is an interesting twist. The murderer is known to the reader, or so I thought. It is a cat and mouse game with the reader being the willing mouse in this ingenious plot! Oh, you have no idea how willing!

All the good characters are believable and lovable. No over-indulgence in heroics, unrealistic perfect human beings, or potty-mouth verbal diarrhea to pollute a perfect story. No clichés. Fast moving, never a dull moment. The title is so applicable! Just thinking about it sends my arteries on a shivering cruise down my spine! I hyperventilate.

Eyes Closed Tight is destined for release in March 2014. I rate it five stars for being a tasteful, exciting, light, easy read. However, do not make a mistake, this is a THRILLER! I don't think I want to close my eyes ever again!

If you need a quick, exciting holiday, read this book. Believe me, it works!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Leonard lives in Birmingham, Michigan with his wife and four children. He is a partner in the ad agency Leonard, Mayer & Tocco, Inc.

More about the author can be found on his website: http://peterleonardbooks.com/

Leonard, a 1974 Eastern Michigan graduate, is the son of renowned Detroit native and crime writer Elmore Leonard, known for his 45 novels and screenplays, many of them featuring gritty, street-wise Detroit characters.

Peter Leonard, an Eastern Michigan graduate, has five books to his name. (Photo by Bill Schwab, courtesy of Leonard's website)

Now the author of five novels, Peter Leonard has made a name for himself. During a 2012 interview with CNN's Ann O'Neill, Leonard said, his  "first effort,Invasion, had 37 characters, no hero and no publisher." After a total rewrite, his efforts ended in his second book, "Trust Me."

Peter Leonard followed in his father's footsteps by writing ads for 20 years, but his life changed, thanks to a creative writing class.  When his father read one of his first stories, which ran only six pages, Leonard senior said, "Your characters are like strips of leather drying in the sun. They all look and sound the same." Did the criticism affect him? Only for 27 years, Peter told CNN's O'Neill.

Leonard doesn't view himself as a crime writer, although he admits his writing has been influenced by such writers as John D. McDonald, Ernest Hemingway, Robert Parker and James Lee Burke.

On Peter Leonard's website, popular crime writer Carl Hiaasen, who's also known for his shady characters, said, "Elmore Leonard is a tough act to follow, but son Peter is off to a terrific start... Clearly great storytelling runs in the Leonard family DNA."

Leonard's advice for beginning writers is simple, something his dad, Elmore, drilled into him: "Writers are set apart from others because they believe that real life is, 'a story ripe for plunder.' You can't make this stuff up." ( SOURCE )

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The Last Savannah - by Mike Bond

Genres: Africa, Action, Adventure, Crime,
Formats: Kindle, Soft cover, Nook
Number of Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Mandevilla Press
Publication Date: November 20, 2013
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00CKAGJPS
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

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AMAZON BOOK BLURB:
With Africa's last elephants dying under the poachers' guns, Kenya rancher and former SAS officer Ian MacAdam leads a commando squad against them. Pursuing the poachers through jungled mountains and searing deserts he battles thirst, solitude, terror and lethal animals, only to find that the poachers have kidnapped a young archaeologist, Rebecca Hecht, whom he once loved and bitterly lost. McAdam embarks upon a desperate trek to save not only Rebecca but his own soul in an Africa torn apart by wars, overpopulation, and the slaughter of its last wildlife. Based on the author's experiences pursuing elephant poachers in the wilds of East Africa.

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REVIEW:
The Last Savannah is an African action adventure playing itself out in the deserts, savannas and wildness of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.

Ian MacAdam, a Kenyan farmer and former SAS officer, cannot deny his assistance when an old friend who saved is life numerous times, ask him to join a commando hunting down the poachers of the last elephants of Kenya. This request forces him to a make a final choice about his love and dedication to Africa when his wife, a lonely alcoholic, announces her departure to England for good. She never wants to see Africa again. He never wants to leave it. "He will die with his boots on" she says. Ian wants to go on this mission and use it as an opportunity to make a decision about his future. Through the aspirations of a young poacher in love, another dimension will be added to the battle, when he kidnaps Rebecca Hecht, an internationally well-known archaeologist who was also once the big love of Ian's life.

The story is constructed from two different points of view. One is the do-good group of soldiers and a few ex-soldiers who are instructed to find and kill the poachers of the last elephants in Kenya. The opposing group, the poachers, are poor, desperate Somalian men who have no other means of survival. In between the two groups are international role players, such as embassy personnel of ivory-seeking countries, local corrupt politicians and big global corporations.

“You know it won't stop till every elephant is dead. The problem's Africa—the world wants copper so Africa rips open its belly. The world wants diamonds so Africa sends its young men down mines to die for them. People want ivory and colobus skins and oil and slaves so Africa plunders herself for them.”

It's macho-lit book written for the man's man. Yes, if a term like that is allowed. The action is real, it happens everyday in Africa and the multitude of animals crossing the characters paths are real too.

Interesting social opinions are lightly splashed over the text, which adds another level of interest to the book. For instance: "Like malaria, Africa. Once bitten you can never shake it. They used to call acacias “fever trees”, thinking malaria came from them. Now they “know” malaria comes from mosquitoes. Some day they’ll realize malaria comes from the continent itself: Africa is a fever. For Africa there’s no chloroquine. No matter if you leave it, it’s engraved in your blood."

The story also highlights the fundamental and very real challenges in Africa. Although it is also applicable to the rest of the world, it is more so in Africa which is exploited from all over the planet for its natural resources:

"Now the land, the trees, the animals are gone; the whites were right—God’s not so hard to kill. And most of the whites had gone, too, leaving behind them a plague to finish off what they began. This plague, MacAdam had reflected so many bitter times, was medicine without birth control. It allowed the weak to live, populations to explode, the limitless savannas and jungles cut into tiny shambas where swollen families burnt and hacked the vegetation, then clung to the malnourished soil till it eroded to bedrock. Without the grass and trees the soil dried, the rains died and you could see a man coming miles away by the dust he raised."

These opinions are controversial, severely oversimplified, and debatable of course. It serves a particular agenda - saying what the world wants to hear. The book also describes the desolation, yet unimaginable beauty of the natural surroundings.

Apart from the selfish greed of everyone involved, the men are also inspired into action by the loss, or hope of their love for women which drives them. A rebellion against a love that conquers and tame them. “Her influence, little cousin. Woman’s influence is impure, and spreads around her like the disease that kills the camels, except that it kills men’s honor and will.”

It was a good read. An entertaining one. Not the best book I have ever read in the African adventure genre, but well written. Some parts, which was boring and predictable, could have been cut, resulting in heightened drama, but that is my personal opinion. Some elements were a bit unrealistic. For instance, a man who was kerfuffled by a buffalo horn in the chest, resulting in six broken ribs, cannot run around shooting and shouting like it never happened, trying to save damsels in distress. I've seen the results of a buffalo encounter, and boy, the hero might be macho and God's gift to women, but his superman stunts in the story after the encounter, do not fit the real deal at all. Yes, I know, do not allow reality to interfere with a good story, right? Right you are! The end was a total surprise!

So, really, enjoy this book. It is really based on much of the reality of modern day Africa, with not too much fantasy added. Every element in this narrative is either possible or true.

It is not the last book I want to read from the author, Mike Bond. I appreciate his observations of all the countries he has covered as journalist. He has many good, as well as valid, stories to tell.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Author: Mike Bond

MIKE BOND has been called the “master of the existential thriller” by the BBC and “one of the 21st century’s most exciting authors” by the Washington Times

Hawaii-based bestselling novelist, international energy expert, war and human rights correspondent and award-winning poet, Mike Bond has lived and worked in many dangerous, remote and war-torn regions of the world.

His critically acclaimed novels depict the innate hunger of the human heart for good, the intense joys of love, the terror and fury of battle, the sinister vagaries of international politics and multinational corporations, and the vanishing beauty of the natural world.

Visit the author's website at: www.MikeBondBooks.com

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This is Rage by Ken Goldstein

Genres: Crime, Thriller, Suspense, Adventure, Silicon Valley, Wall Street
Formats: Kindle, Nook, Paperback
Pages: 532
Published: October 8, 2013
Publishers: The Story Plant.
ISBN: 1611880718
Edition language: English
Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

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BOOK BLURB
This is the story of Investors, Bankers, and Operators in Silicon Valley and the variation on real they’re creating for our consumption.
This is the story of a disgraced shock jock turned Internet radio phenomenon and how he becomes the catalyst he never imagined being.
This is the story of two entrepreneurs-turned kidnappers-turned anti-heroes.
This is business in the Twenty-first Century.
This is the unpredictability of the human element.
This is rage
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REVIEW
This is such a profound, evocative, thought-provoking novel, that it is difficult to just dot down a few thoughts on it. Why I wanted to read it? Because if America coughs, the rest of the world gets pneumonia, and I wanted to know how it happens.

What can happen if two disgruntled IT people, two cousins named Dennis Swerlow and Sam Kisinski, decides to kidnap one of the biggest players in Silicon Valley, Daniel Steyer, and hold him for ransom. Not to take the money and run, but to start their own company? 

As things work in the modern world, it took seconds for several billionaire egomaniacs, aspiring politicians, and down and out journalists to try and cash in on the situation. What looked like heroics was nothing short of attempts to score like vultures from the situation.

Everything went magnificently wrong. The kidnappers ended up with Stepen J. Finkelman and Calvin Choy, two star CEO's of Envisionlink as hostages, with the banker, Charles McFrank,dead. The FBI agent is unable to do his job. Feisty, street-smart Congresswoman Payne gets in on the action, raining on everyone's parade. The parade being a private Boeing which serves as the hostage hold. Employees walk out when rumors of a merger between Envisionlink and Atom Heart Entertainment start circulating. The Street (Wall Street) starts an avalanche of stones gathering no moss at a unprecedented rate, thundering down into a possible depression, fueling the fires and ripping several hidden agendas open.

The only common factor, trying to keep hold of the strings, is the internet radio freak, Kimo Balthazer. 

"He was all mouth, no camera candy, but he could bottle wrath and sell it in a rainbow of flavors. He’s a mud scavenger. He goes where the mud is and makes misery his triumph."

Kimo, with his 'This is Rage' internet radio show will throw a cat in a mouse nest, understanding the soul of America, the workers who make it happen. He creates chaos which he will have to solve.

"Management was in it for themselves, job security was as ancient a myth as the protective rule of the Roman Empire, C-level executives bought weekend ranches while employees lost their leveraged homes, and job engagement was limited to a tiny guild of decision-makers invited with invisible whispers to join the inner circle. It may well have been a self-selecting set of participants crying foul, but the malaise was inescapable. Employees were afraid. They felt helpless. They were angry."

All Kimo wants is the US Constitution and its Bill of Rights uniting with his own Merger Bill of Rights.

"When people go to the ice cream shop, they usually pick something reliable like strawberry or chocolate chip, but every now and again a flavor of the day catches their fancy and they just don’t know why they are devouring bubblegum swirl. The problem with Mr. Balthazer’s bubblegum swirl is that it is unexpectedly influential—it is getting under people’s skin like a narcotic and causing them to make poor decisions."

My comments: An exhausting, but absolutely brilliant book. How it will resonate in the American psyche, or the rest of the world's, begs to be seen. The author's background knowledge of Big Boys with Big Money and their counterpart the Small Boys with the Small Voices is masterfully applied to this crime thriller.

In the end, the old cliché is confirmed: the difference between a Communist and a Capitalist is a fat bank account with a noble fiduciary duty all over the ambitious journey where the common man, a few billion of the world's inhabitants, are caught in the cross-fire. "This big challenge needs a big champion."

But the most sober thought for me is: while we all nobly eek out honest reviews for masterfully writing like this, doing it for free, someone else, the High Tech ‘Masters of the Universe, is making money from the algorithms on our computers. After all, everything is for sale, keyword for keyword, in Silicon Valley, and nothing goes by unnoticed or untraceable, with privacy being only the last noble aspiration of a dying brain ...

I recommend this action thriller debut novel to everyone who needs to know the contemporary world we are living in today. I agree, Ken Goldstein's book is smart, insightful and engaging. It enlightens while it entertains. He is one of those authors who really knows what he is talking about. Brilliant writing! Brilliant story. Really a contemporary must-read!

GOOD NEWS!!!!

read more about it HERE
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR



Ken Goldstein advises start-ups and established corporations in technology, entertainment, media, and e-commerce. He served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of SHOP.COM, a market leader in online consumer commerce acquired by Market America. He previously served as executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online, and as vice president of entertainment at Broderbund Software. Earlier in his career, he developed computer games for Philips Interactive Media and Cinemaware Corporation, and also worked as a television executive. He is active in children's welfare issues and has served on the boards of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Greater Los Angeles, Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services, and Full Circle Programs, and is involved in local government. He speaks and teaches frequently on topics of management, leadership, and creative destruction. He and his wife Shelley, who teaches English as a Second Language, make their home in Southern California. He received his BA in Theater Studies and Philosophy from Yale. This is Rage is his first novel.( Source: Goodreads)

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The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Genres: community-life, crime, family, historical-fiction, murder-mystery, paranormal, romance
Formats: Hardcover(368 pages), Kindle, Nook
Published: August 6th 2013 by William Morrow (first published August 1st 2013)
Original title: The Ghost Bride
ISBN 0062227327 (ISBN13: 9780062227324) 
Purchase links: Amazon , Barnes & Noble 

Literary awards: Indie Next Pick Aug (2013), Barnes & Noble Fall '13 Discover Great New Writers, Glamour Magazine Beach Read

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From Amazon book blurp: Choo’s remarkably strong and arresting first novel explores the concept of Chinese spirit marriages in late-nineteenth-­century Malaya through the eyes of the highly relatable Li Lan, a poor but spunky young woman, who is approached by the wealthy family of a dead man to become his bride. Li Lan prefers to rebuff the unusual offer despite its implications of good social standing and financial rescue for her money-strapped family. But when her dreams are brusquely invaded by the rather unsavory dead man, Lim Tian Ching, she realizes she may already be in over her head. Her dead suitor’s living cousin, Tian Bai, now the family heir, further complicates matters as Li Lan wrestles with her very real attraction to him. As the angry ghost becomes more possessive in her dreams, and his family more demanding that she marry him, Li Lan’s involvement with the Lim family becomes even murkier and potentially dangerous. With its gripping tangles of plot and engaging characters, this truly compelling read is sure to garner much well-deserved attention. --Julie Trevelyan 

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REVIEW 

The title of the book captured my attention immediately. I just had to read it.

Li Lan, the eighteen-year-old narrator stemmed from a Chinese family who settled in Malaya in the 1800s. Although there were various other influences in their lives from the multitude of cultures present at the time, including the British influences, her family, as most Chinese families, still maintained their own belief systems. Hence it resulted in her being subjected to one of the traditions of providing prosperity and catering to all the needs of the deceased in the afterlife.

When her formerly affluent father landed in dire straits, losing his inherited wealth, he asked her to become the ghost bride to the deceased son of the Lim family. Through the meddling of his mother, a grieving woman, Lim Tian Ching accessed Li Lan's dreams, haunting and harassing her to become his wife. When she refused, ghost started to fly. Literary!

Through different avenues and assistants, she managed to meet up with more deceased members of both her and her supposedly new family-in-law, resulting in one fast-paced exhilarating journey through different worlds with different tutors in the form of different characters that died and were waiting to be called to Judgement Day. They would ultimately teach her enough so that she can meet love on her own terms in the end. And what a surprise it was.

I haven't read a book like this before and did not want to be trapped in a spiritual world much longer than the first few chapters, as it made me uncomfortable, but the writing was so good, that I just could not stop reading after I started! In the process I learnt so much more about all the different Malay cultures - I even looked up how to roast water melon seeds the right way.

The book is a complete testament to Chinese food, languages, beliefs, and cultural practices. Informative, thrilling, and evocative.

Mmm, I did not believe in ghosts before, but now I wonder.... ;-)

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR(Goodreads profile): 
Yangsze Choo is a fourth generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. Due to a childhood spent in various countries such as Germany and Japan, she can eavesdrop (badly) in several languages. After graduating from Harvard, she worked as a management consultant and at a startup before writing her first novel. Yangsze eats and reads too much, and often does both at the same time.