Food, family, and drama (and maybe a little murder) | Book recommendations

By Samantha Pak
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

The Family Recipe

By Carolyn Huynh
Atria Books, 2025

Duc Tran, founder of the Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich chain Duc’s Sandwiches, is retiring. No one has heard from his wife Evelyn in 20 years after she abandoned the family without a trace. But the money has to go to someone.

So with the help of the family lawyer, Duc informs his children that in order to receive their inheritance, his four estranged daughters (Jane, Paulina, Bingo, and Georgina) each have to renovate rundown shops around the country within a year. But if his firstborn son, Jude, gets married first, everything goes to him.

Needless to say, drama and hilarity ensues as each daughter tries to find her way in revitalizing her shop, and Jude tries to find a suitable bride. Of course, Duc’s scheme is more about the inheritance and everyone learns valuable lessons along the way—as well as some family secrets.

“Family Recipe” is a story about an estranged family finding themselves and their way back to each other. Over the years, all five Tran children have somewhat lost their way and it’s really fun to see them remember who they are and what’s important to them. It’s also fun to see them all learn more about their parents and the choices they have made over their lifetime for their children. Huynh does a great job of balancing humor with heart and over-the-top drama (the confrontation scene when everything comes to a head will have you laughing and crying at the same time).

In addition to the family drama, “Family Recipe” also shines a light on a part of U.S. history I’m sure not many people know about—when Vietnamese fishermen faced off with the Ku Klux Klan in Seadrift, Texas. I hadn’t known about this and while it was great to learn some Asian American history, it was also heartbreaking and harrowing as it’s not a fun story. But Huynh reminds readers that even if it might be difficult to read, it’s important to remember that people lived through these experiences, and they should not be forgotten.

Peking Duck and Cover

By Vivien Chien
Minotaur Books, 2024

Lana Lee and her friends are back for this tenth (yes, tenth) installment of Chien’s Noodle Shop mystery series. And this time, they’re celebrating Chinese New Year. When Asia Village hosts a Chinese New Year celebration, all of the shop owners jump at the chance to participate and bring some positive light to the plaza. And Lana, whose family owns a restaurant in the plaza, somehow gets roped into being the head event planner for the celebration.

But at the end of the night, during the elaborate fireworks display, a member of the lion dance performance team is found dead backstage, with a bullet through the heart and red envelope in their pocket containing four one-dollar bills—an omen of death. Of course, Lana is on the case and starts investigating to find the killer before they strike again.

I love a good cozy mystery. There’s something very comforting about knowing how a story will end (our protagonist solves the murder), but not knowing the path they’ll take to get there. And with this being Lana’s tenth (mis)adventure, it’s fun to see how she’s settled into her amateur sleuth status and how her loved ones have come to accept it as well (sometimes directly asking for her help, or helping her along the way).

Regular readers will know that I also love a good series. It’s always fun to catch up on characters and see what they’ve been up to since the last time we’ve seen them. And in addition to the mystery in each story, Chien has done a great job of building Lana’s Asia Village universe. In “Peking Duck,” we continue to see how Lana and her loved ones evolve and grow—from her complicated relationship with her sister, to her detective boyfriend’s acceptance of her constant sleuthing. Personally, I’m always excited to see what Lana’s best friend, Kimmy Tran, is up to and what she does to help (or hinder, in some cases) with the investigations. And as usual, Chien does not disappoint.

Murder and Mamon

By Mia P. Manansala
Berkley, 2023

Lila Macapagal’s godmothers April, Mae, and June (otherwise known as the Calendar Crew) are celebrating the opening of their latest joint business venture, a new laundromat to much fanfare—and controversy. But the joyous occasion quickly turns to tragedy when they discover the building has been vandalized and the body of Ninang April’s niece, who just arrived from the Philippines, next to a chilling message spray painted on the floor.

Now it’s up to Lila to investigate and figure out whether the message was for the victim or for Lila’s godmothers—whose gossipy ways have earned the ire of more than a few people around town. And Lila has to figure out who has a vendetta against her aunties, before the killer strikes again.

In “Murder and Mamon,” the tables have turned for Lila. In the past, she has solved murders in order to clear her loved ones’ names. But this time around, she has to solve a murder so her loved ones don’t become victims. This also means turning the tables on her godmothers—who have always stuck their noses in everybody’s business—and digging into their lives. I really enjoyed the theme of how our actions, and even our words, have consequences. And while you think what you’re doing is harmless, or that you’re doing the right thing, others who are affected might not think that.

This is the fourth installment of Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen mystery series and one of the things I love about it is the community she has built around Lila. Many cozy mystery series will have the protagonist investigating alone, or with minimal help. But here, Lila relies on the help of her family and friends—often planning and debriefing together around a delicious-sounding Filipino meal (you definitely shouldn’t read these stories while hungry). I appreciate this as it feels more realistic (as realistic as an everyday citizen solving murders can be), especially in an Asian American family, as people are almost always in your business and I imagine it can be difficult to hide such dangerous extracurricular activities from them.