February 5, 2024
Three girls navigate a murder investigation with personal stakes in this slow-burn mystery by Lee (Winston Chu vs. the Whimsies). In 1932 Chinatown Los Angeles, sisters May, Gemma, and Peony Chow sell flowers as part of their family business. When they discover the body of movie star Lulu Wong, their hometown celebrity and May’s former friend, the siblings worry that justice will not be served and endeavor to honor Lulu’s legacy—and prevent the killer from striking again—by solving her murder. Led by ambitious, headstrong, mischievous Gemma, the trio push forward with
their inquiry, though they’re met with resistance from the police, who underplay Lulu’s death and reject the plausibility of homicide, and political forces that want to paint Chinatown as a “mysterious
and sinister” place full of “drunken and slovenly” people. While poking around town, the girls make discoveries hinting that the mystery goes deeper than they expected—and may involve people
they know. Told in alternating POVs
and interwoven with details from 1930s Chinese American culture, this immersive narrative gradually unspools an intricate murder mystery while exploring elements of prejudice, grief, and deceit. Ages 12–up.
March 1, 2024
Grades 9-12 In 1932 Los Angeles, Hollywood is in its golden age, bringing wealth to a lucky few. A great many others, however, are scrounging to survive, due to the Great Depression. The Chow sisters are among the latter, running the family's flower business after their father falls ill. Despite their hardships, they still enjoy the camaraderie of the city's close-knit and cosmopolitan Chinatown. That solace is shattered when the body of Lulu Wong, a movie star and one of Chinatown's own, is found. When the city police prove to be uninterested--or worse, willfully intransigent--the sisters decide to become gumshoes, piecing together clues that may implicate the highest echelons of Los Angeles society. The eldest two Chow sisters take turns as first-person narrators; May, reserved and careful, clashes with the younger Gemma, who is bold and reckless. While they make enjoyable detectives, the real star of the book is 1930s Los Angeles. Evocative details transport readers into that time and place, creating a nicely paced, engaging mystery made all the better by its lovingly rendered historical setting.
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March 15, 2024
Sisters investigate the murder of rising film star Lulu Wong in this story set in L.A.'s Chinatown during the golden age of Hollywood. After their father left home to undergo treatment for tuberculosis, 19-year-old May Chow and her 18-year-old sister, Gemma, took over his flower-selling business in order to support their family, which also includes 12-year-old Peony and Ma, who's expecting a fourth child. With the country still gripped by economic depression, money is tight, and the girls' meager earnings barely make ends meet. Making matters worse is news of a proposed train station in Chinatown that would effectively destroy the community. Thanks to prejudice and discrimination against Chinese Americans, influenced in part by negative media portrayals, the city council largely ignores residents' concerns and opposition to the station. When May and Gemma stumble across Lulu's body in an abandoned lot in Chinatown, the scandal fuels even more negative feelings toward the neighborhood. Aware that prejudice and police corruption might allow Lulu's murderer to escape justice, Gemma decides to conduct her own investigation with help from Peony, a mystery novel aficionado, and May, whose sense of familial duty competes with her desire to honor her dear childhood friend Lulu. This twisty mystery, brought to life by a vibrant cast and abundant historical details, will keep readers in suspense until the very end. Themes of community, representation, and sisterhood add an emotionally satisfying element to the narrative. Riveting. (author's note) (Historical mystery. 13-18)
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Starred review from May 1, 2024
Gr 9 Up-In 1932, in Chinatown in Los Angeles, three sisters try to solve the murder of their friend and movie star Lulu Wong. What started as a typical day selling flowers for May and Gemma Chow led to the discovery of a dead body. Lulu Wong may be a budding actress, but nobody beyond the Chinese community truly cares about finding justice for her death, especially since outsiders are looking to bulldoze Chinatown. With the help of their younger sister Peony, May and Gemma decide they need to be the ones to find Lulu's killer if the police department won't, especially when the police arrest a Chinese neighbor the Chow sisters believe innocent. Told in the alternating perspectives of May and Gemma, the book takes readers on a wild ride. Woven into the mystery are elements of grief, romance, family dynamics, struggle, prejudice, and deceit. Lee skillfully introduces actual history into this fictional story, leading readers to learn what the residents of LA's Old Chinatown faced. The story contains intriguing characters, but not everyone is who or what they appear-these twists will delight readers. VERDICT Whether teens enjoy mysteries, historical fiction, or both, this is one to get into their hands.-Amanda Borgia
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