‘Misfortune Cookie’ contains a slip of mystery | Book Talk

Lana Lee is like a fish out of water in “Misfortune Cookie,” ninth in the Noodle Shop Mysteries series by Cleveland author Vivien Chien. Or maybe a dumpling out of the soup.

Lana, who manages her family’s Ho-Lee Noodle House in Cleveland, dodges a blizzard while attending a restaurant convention in California. She’s accompanied by her by-the-book older sister, who’s going through a relationship crisis, and with whom she has her own contentious relationship.

Instead of a hotel, Lana and Anna May will be holed up at a lavish house in Newport Beach, courtesy of their well-off aunt. Lana attends the first day of the convention and doesn’t make it even one circuit of the exhibits when she sees a vendor having a dispute with an attendee.

The vendor, who make and sells organic fortune cookies (or so she claims), confronts a magazine reporter who, she said, wrote an article disputing the cookie ingredients, calling her a “hack journalist.” The yelling attracts a security guard who ejects the reporter, a woman named Nora Blackwell.

That evening, Aunt Grace takes the sisters to a fancy cocktail party, where they meet some of Grace’s colleagues. They hear a crash from outside, and Lana steps out to see what happened. A woman has fallen — or been thrown — from the roof. In the chaos, Aunt Grace faints — the woman was her friend, Nora Blackwell.

Knowing that Lana has solved mysteries in Cleveland, albeit to the consternation of her boyfriend, a police detective, Grace asks Lana to investigate. They agree to keep the arrangement from Anna May, but she soon finds out and protests. The tense relationship between the sisters is a big part of “Misfortune Cookie,” as they could not be less alike. Lana’s hair was purple in Book Five, “Egg Drop Dead.” It had been pink and blue in previous books. Now it’s “mint chocolate chip.” Anna May, a lawyer, disapproves of everything Lana does, but now they must work together.

This installment is lacking Lana’s roommate Megan, who’s always ready to help Lana with surveillance, and the Mahjong Matrons, a group of ladies who hang out at Ho-Lee. It’s unexpected to see Lana away from Cleveland, and we hope she and her supporting players will return for Book Ten.

Vivien Chien will launch “Misfortune Cookie” from 2 to 4 p.m. July 8 at Walls of Books, 7783 W. Ridgewood Road, Parma.

‘Food for Thought’

“Food for Thought: Twenty-Minute Life Recipes from Mom” is part recipes, part advice and part storytelling by former Hudson resident Amy Elizabeth Matuza.

Matuza, who has a great conversational style, like your funny next-door neighbor, talks about her husband and children, her friends and her adventurous past: while she and her future husband were in graduate school, they took an impromptu trip to Alaska in a comically dilapidated Winnebago with nine friends, two of whom were eloping.

Matuza talks about running marathons and having morning sickness, and about her husband’s family who endured great hardship in their emigration from Ukraine. The household holds a monthly Swear Night dinner, at which “no swear is off the table” as they try to outdo each other with the most elaborate and imaginative profanity.

Many of the recipes use convenience products like rotisserie chicken, reflecting her life of getting meals on the table for her surgeon husband and three children. Some are suitable for casual family meals (sloppy Joes) and some more elegant (shrimp scampi with couscous). In one moving chapter, Matuza gives a recipe that her friend, a cancer patient, developed.

Advice about self-care, gratitude and friendship is given with humor and affection.

“Food for Thought” (332 pages, softcover) costs $16.95 from online retailers. Amy Elizabeth Matuza attended Hudson Public Schools and now lives in Massachusetts.

‘Growth Rings’

How many trees has Kent’s Davey Tree Expert Co. serviced in 130 years? That statistic may be the only one not in “Growth Rings: A History of the Davey Tree Expert Company” by Matt Fredmonsky, manager of corporate content.

The book, a continuation to the smaller 1977 “Green Leaves,” starts in 1961 when Martin L. Davey Jr., grandson of company founder John Davey, stepped down as president to be succeeded by his brother-in-law Alexander M. Smith. The company thrived and expanded until corporate volatity in 1977 resulted in Davey being offered for sale. Fortunately, employees stepped up and Davey has been employee-owned since 1979.

Fredmonsky follows the company through new leadership, new technology and new solutions. It’s clearly a company product, but “Growth Rings” is an interesting example of a local heritage company operates.

“Growth Rings” (200 pages, softcover) costs $18.80 from Davey Tree.

Worth noting

Bainbridge Township native John Coming contributed a story, “The Island on the Lake,” to the anthology “L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 38,” released June 28.

Events

Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere Blvd., Shaker Heights): James Renner talks about his true-crime book “Little, Crazy Children,” featured June 25 in Book Talk, 1 p.m. Sunday. From noon to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, the Author Alley event continues with a nonfiction and poetry showcase.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (Beachwood branch, 25501 Shaker Blvd.): James Renner talks “Little, Crazy Children,” 7 to 8 p.m. Monday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library: Erin Alladin pays a virtual visit to the Born Naturalist group to talk about “Outside, You Notice,”) 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday. Recommended for ages 3-6. Go to heightslibrary.org.

Cleveland Public Library: Wendy Walker joins the Writers Unplugged series to talk about her psychological suspense novel “What Remains,” 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Go to cpl.org.

Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Cliff Annis signs “Magic in a Bottle,” about Ohio’s wine industry, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Advance notice for an event sure to sell out: Crime novelist Karin Slaughter will visit the Parma-Powers branch of Cuyahoga County Public Library at 2 p.m. Aug. 27 to discuss “After That Night,” 11th in her Will Trent thriller series. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. I tweet at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Misfortune Cookie’ is new mystery from Cleveland author Vivien Chien