Monday, February 19, 2024

Review: Ill-Fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow

 



About the Book


Genre
Cozy Mystery

Format
E-ARC

Publisher
Minotaur Books

Release Date
February 20, 2024

Synopsis from Goodreads:

The first in the heart-warming and deliciously mysterious Magical Fortune Cookie series from Lefty Award-nominee Jennifer J. Chow.

Felicity Jin grew up literally hanging onto Mom’s apron strings in their magical bakery in the quaint town of Pixie, California. Her mother’s enchanted baked goods, including puffy pineapple buns and creamy egg tarts, bring instant joy to all who consume them. Felicity has always been hesitant in the kitchen herself after many failed attempts, but a takeout meal gone wrong inspires her to craft some

handmade fortune cookies.

They become so popular that Felicity runs out of generic fortunes and starts making her own personalized predictions. When one customer’s ill-fated fortune results in his murder, Felicity’s suspiciously specific fortune has the police focusing on her as the main culprit. Now Felicity must find a way to turn her luck around and get cleared from suspicion.

My Review

The Jin family is thrilled with the success of their magical bakery.  Felicity Jin’s mother bakes pineapple buns and egg tarts filled with happiness and joy.  Her customers love every bite.  Although hesitant, Felicity joins the fun by baking fortune cookies filled with magic and fortune’s she personally creates for each customer.  Everything is going well for them in the small town of Pixie, California until tragedy strikes.  One of her customers dies after eating her cookie which included a fortune that is suspiciously accurate about his demise.

The police investigate and all the attention turns to Felicity being responsible for the man’s death.  Naturally, their bakery suffers when customers are afraid to eat there.  Plus, the joy is gone from baking and the taste of their baked goods reflects the sadness and hurt.  

Felicity, and her best friend Kelvin, are determined to discover the truth and clear Felicity’s name.  Not to mention it will save the bakery’s reputation.

This is the first book in a new series.  It’s off to a solid start.  The idea of personalized fortune cookies is quite an interesting concept.  Felicity, her mother and Kelvin are all well written and make a great team.  

The author keeps you guessing as to “whodunit”.  There are several legitimate suspects.  I sort of figured it out, but I didn’t figure out the specific “whys” and “hows”.  The book moves at a steady pace.  There were a couple of spots that were a bit slow, but overall, a good start to a new series.

I’m looking forward to reading the next one in the series.

For reading challenges:

Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge 2024
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2024
Cruisin’ thru the Cozies Reading Challenge 2024
Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 2024


FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.

4 comments:

  1. That's a fun plot twist, the unfortunate fortune cookie.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is on my TBR list. It sounds good! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I thought this was really fun too! It's a bit different from any of the other cozies I've read lately.

    ReplyDelete

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