Hello, fellow readers! I’m back with a cozy mystery review. Let’s get into it!
- Title: Black Jade
- Series: Daiyu Wu Mystery
- Author: Gloria Oliver
- Publisher: Dimension Palace Publishing
- Publication Date: June 20, 2021
- ISBN: 9781733951173
- No. of Pages: 246
Daiyu Wu is a rarity in 1930s Texas: she’s Chinese and she’s blind. Though her parents have tried to shelter her from the worst of it, Dai is well aware of the fear surrounding the “Yellow Terror”. Many Chinese immigrants have left the area due to the prejudices against them.
But Dai doesn’t let her blindness or her heritage hold her back. She’s very curious about many things, and with the help of her friend and driver, Jacques, and her faithful pup Prince Razor, she sets out to solve the mystery of an arsenic-laced dress.
The use of an arsenic-laced ball gown as a murder weapon was a unique and interesting plot. I enjoyed trying to figure out how it was done, and what motive there could have been. Also, starting with the murder weapon, then having to find the body was a fun change to the cozy genre.
Though I enjoyed the story from Jacques’ perspective, I think it would be more interesting to have Dai as a narrator. Though she can’t use her eyes, she uses her other senses to her advantage. It would have been fun to be inside Dai’s head during her investigation.
The guilty party wasn’t hard to determine, though many of the characters had motive. I enjoyed the way that Gloria Oliver presented the clues through Dai and Jacques’ experiences.
Overall, I found Black Jade to be an enjoyable cozy mystery. I look forward to reading more in this series.
Black Jade will be available on June 20, 2021.
Thank you to Gloria Oliver for providing me an ARC of Black Jade. I received a copy of this book for free and am leaving this review voluntarily.
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