Death by Bubble Tea (LA Night Market #1) by Jennifer J. Chow

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a book."

Yale Yee discovers her cousin Celine is visiting from Hong Kong, she is roped into playing tour guide, even though she hasn't seen her in twenty years. Her restaurant owner/chef father goes one step further and thinks it would be a good idea for them to run a food stall together at the Eastwood Village Night Market. Feeling that she's been left with no other option, Yale agrees even though she hasn't cooked in years, but with the help of Celine's social media career it might be worth a shot. They spend the night serving drinks in a catchy design and small food dishes and are shocked when their one drink is a favorite amongst the crowd. Unfortunately, this drink is also found beside the body of a dead patron, and Celine and Yale are the main suspects. Even as opposites, Celine and Yale work together to prove their innocence and to get to the bottom of this crime.

This book was such a delightful cozy mystery with lovely cultural aspects thrown in that it immediately makes you fall in love with the characters. The community building and the character growth in the book was incredible. Yale and Celine made the perfect buddy cop duo, and they actually get results from their amateur sleuthing. Even when everything they suggest to the lead detective sounds straight out of a law-and-order episode, it seems to work! Throughout the story it feels like Yale and Celine become more like sisters than cousins, and that they realize they are stronger together then apart. I'd go as far as to say that their individual trauma was similar and that it helped them forge such a strong bond. Just a quick shout out to the food and the recipes included, absolutely everything made my mouth water. I enjoyed that the characters were mainly female and that it was a female led story, but that all of the characters were extremely fleshed out. I look forward to reading the next in the series. Truly it was just full of fun banter, love, friendship, and powerful badass women.

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