恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Tiger. Chinese New Year starts February 14, Valentine's Day. For the Valentine's Day Mystery list, go HERE.
Living in San Francisco, the City that Knows How, I put together a special mystery list last year for Chinese New Year! It was not an easy task. Yes, there was the Nancy Drew, The Chinese New Year Mystery that's part of the Nancy Drew Notebooks ( by Carolyn Keene and Jan Naimo Jones), but I was looking for adult mysteries.
This year I've added a few titles to the list.
Year of the Dog by Henry Chang
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee by Robert Van Gulik (7th Century china) "New Year's Eve in Lan-Fang"
Dim Sum Dead by Jerrilyn Farmer
Neon Dragon by John Dobbyn
Year of the Dragon by Robert Daley
The Skull Cage Key by Michael Marriott
City of Dragons by Kelli Stanley
The Shanghai Moon by S.J. Rozan
And, a short story by Mary Reed and Eric Mayer: "The Lady Fish Mystery", EQMM, September/October 1996.
I seem to remember a mystery by William Marshall (Yellowthread Street mysteries) set during Chinese New Year, but I may be mistaken.
This was a challenge. During my search I discovered some information about typical foods for Chinese New Year. Did you know that carp is a typical main course on New Year's Eve? Carp symbolizes a profitable year ahead. Now carp reminds me of another holiday completely, and one of my favorite holiday books, not a mystery, is The Carp in the Bathtub by Barbara Cohen, illustrated by Joan Halpern. Yes, gefilte fish is made from carp.
But I digress. Must be because of the paucity of titles I've been able to come up with. The Chinatown Parade is next week not this Sunday, but I'll be there to see the parade of dragons and hear the firecrackers, or at least I hope that's what they are. Real shots often sound a lot like firecrackers, and this is a mystery Blog.
My mother made Polish style carp for Passover and Rosh Hashannah. I don't eat much fish, but this was delicious. When I was in Poland I had their version, and my mother's was better.
ReplyDeleteThe book list looks fun. Judge Dee is always good and I remember Dim Sum Dead. Shanghai Moon is on my TBR list. will have to try some of the others.