In new series, Chinese food flavors a murder mystery

SANDUSKY — Lana Lee, the protagonist of Vivien Chien's mystery novel, "Death by Dumpling," has a problem. A customer taking a delivery from her parents' Chinese restaurant who is allergic to shellfish has died after accidentally eating shrimp dumplings.Worse, Lee made the delivery, so she's a suspect in a possible murder, as the handsome detective at the Fairview Park police station points out. I'm a big fan of Chinese food, so I tried "Death by Dumpling" and discovered that it's a good mystery novel. In "Death by Dumpling," its sequel "The Dim Sum of All Fears" and in the upcoming "Murder Lo Mein," Cleveland mystery author Vivien Chien has her protagonist deal with murder in a milieu that includes Asian food culture and various Cleveland locations, many of them real. In "Death by Dumpling," for example, the bad guy attempts to murder Lana Lee inside the Li Wah restaurant, a genuine Chinese restaurant east of Cleveland's downtown, where I've eaten. (It's quite good, but my favorite Chinese restaurant in Cleveland is the Szechuan Gourmet. Chien's favorite restaurant is the Siam Cafe.) Lana Lee appears to resemble the author in certain ways — both share a passion for doughnuts, for example. We asked Chien to take some questions and explore the line between reality and fiction, and she obliged. Q. Food mysteries are big right now, but I thought it was cool someone has started a mystery series about Chinese food. Do you hope your books will stimulate interest in authentic Chinese food?Vivien Chien: Absolutely. Asian cuisine has so much to offer, but for obvious reasons, a lot of it has been Americanized. Some of the things that are so common here, like General Tso's chicken, are rarely (if at all) mentioned in a place like Taiwan, and I imagine China, as well. So while I do mention some of the more commonplace dishes that everyone can be familiar with, I sprinkle in a few things that maybe people haven't heard. It could spark interest in being a little daring on their next Asian restaurant visit.Q. I'm assuming you haven't been solving murders or breaking into locked buildings, but should we assume that Lana Lee resembles you in some ways?Vivien Chien: Aside from the occasional Netflix unsolved murder documentaries, you would be correct. But I'd like to think of Lana as a representation of an alternate timeline of myself. "What would have happened if..." I will occasionally put Lana through actual things I've experienced in life. Some of them have been embellished and some of them require no tampering whatsoever. There is no greater fiction than reality.Q. I enjoyed reading about the actual Cleveland locations in "Death by Dumpling" — I've eaten at the Li Wah, for example. Do you think a strong sense of place helps convince readers that a story is "really happening"?Vivien Chien: In a way, I suppose it does. Although, at the same time, I feel if the author is descriptive enough, they can make a fictional location seem just as realistic. For me, I enjoy it because it creates a sense of familiarity for some of my readers. I've had a lot of locals contact me and say they loved recognizing the different places that Lana ventured to. It's a nod to a city and a group of people that don't get recognized as often as some of the larger cities in the U.S.Q. Have you lived in the Cleveland area all your life? Will you keep exploring Cleveland locales in your work, as Les Roberts does? (See my interview with Les Roberts.) Vivien Chien: Yes, I was born and raised here. And despite our mostly painful winters, I love this city to pieces. I plan to continue showcasing different parts of Cleveland including various suburbs and maybe even take Lana on some adventures around Northeast Ohio. Who knows, she may end up in Sandusky at some point!Q. Is it interesting for you to both explore Asian culture and push back against stereotypes? Your protagonist tells us early on that she isn't "good at math" and can't write our names in Chinese.Vivien Chien: In the entirety of my life, it has always been interesting (and fun) to push back at the Asian stereotypes. Growing up, my mother always told me to have a good sense of humor. You need to be able to laugh at yourself and not take some of these things so seriously. Along with that, I spent a lot of time watching Margaret Cho when I was little and her comedy stuck with me as a grew up.On the flip side of that coin, I have a tremendous respect for my cultural background and it has been a great experience to learn more about it as I delve further into these books. I hope to share some of the fascinating aspects of the culture while providing a laugh or two to my reader.Mystery writer Vivien Chien.