Caught Dead: A Rick Van Lam Mystery
Andrew Lanh
Poisoned Pen, Nov 4 2014, $24.95
ISBN 9781464203329
The Hartford Vietnamese population is stunned with the drive-by
shooting homicide of one of the “beautiful Le sisters,” Mary Le Vu in the
Goodwin Square gang and drug deadly zone.
HPD Detective Ardlino believes Mary’s murder is just another victim of a-hole
gang members who frustratingly never will be caught. Mary’s distant relative Hank Nguyen, Grandma
the Buddhist and the victim’s twin claim she never left her home in Little Saigon
or her husband Benny’s grocery.
Grandma insists that flabbergasted insurance fraud investigator
Rick Van Lam look into Mary’s death; which the astonished chosen sleuth says
involves a drug dealer with a semi and a posse.
As Rick persistently states he is not on a case, he asks questions
trying to ascertain why Mary was where she was.
A second family murder changes the official premise from Mary being in
the wrong place at the wrong time.
This is an excellent Vietnamese-American murder mystery in which
the sleuthing provides a fantastic look at the subculture; a glimpse I personally
appreciate since I live in a county with a large Vietnamese population. The cast makes this a winner as each person
is an enigma wrapped in an epidermal shell.
Harriet Klausner
No comments:
Post a Comment