Aunty Lee's Chilled Revenge (Singaporean Mystery, #3) by Ovidia Yu

2 1/2 out of 5 stars.

I received this book as part of the Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

Rosie “Aunty” Lee is an amateur sleuth and restaurant owner in Singapore. This is the 3rd book in the series.

It could be because I did not read the first two books, but I did not like Aunty Lee as much as the characters in the book did. I got the impression that she was a much loved individual, but for me, she wasn’t overly likable. Mind you I didn’t hate her or find her completely annoying or anything like that, I just didn’t see her as a lovable character. What I did find a little annoying is that she used way too many food analogies. I also didn’t feel like she really connected with any of her friends. I felt she mostly used them for information. I didn’t feel any real relationship between any of them. There is one thing that did really bother me though….a little over halfway through the book, Aunty Lee made a comment about how bipolar medication, for people who suffer from the disease, does nothing but cause people to be addicted to it and all these people need is to eat better and exercise regularly and all that “bad energy” would just go away. Having worked with mental health patients, I found that to be a ridiculous statement, and given what was going on at the time it was stated, didn’t understand why it needed to be said.

As for the rest of the characters, they were rather bland and forgettable. I never felt like I got a sense of who they were and how they really fit into Aunty Lee’s life or how long they had been there. I also didn’t get a sense of their feelings or connections to each other. There was also something that continued to be “off” about this story while I read it, but until the end, I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Simply put, I never felt like I was reading a mystery book. I didn't feel like there was really any sleuthing or investigating going on like you have in most amateur sleuth type mysteries.

The mystery itself was not very complicated and I was able to figure it out almost immediately. I do read a lot of mystery books though so I won’t rate down for that.

All in all I can’t say that I loved this book, but I also didn’t hate it. I found it to be ok, but it’s not one that will stick with me. However, due to not having read the previous books, my rating will lean more towards 2 ½ stars rather than 2 as I think that is fair.