So, we begin Laura Resnick's The Misfortune Cookie in the week after Christmas, as she's busy cursing herself for consummating her relationship with Connor Lopez, who has yet to call her after the events. So, given her restaurant job is off again at the moment due to the number of art majors home from college for the holidays and her lack of auditions due to the holidays, she's not very happy. Stella, her employer at the restaurant, calls her to ask if she'd like a New Year's Eve shift. Which starts with Esther turning over a new leaf, vowing to forget about Lopez. Who promptly arrives right after midnight to bust Stella for money laundering. One small fight with Lopez during the bust lands Esther in jail for assaulting an officer, as well as letting their secrets out of the bag in front of the Gambello Family and most of the Mafia investigating squad of the NYPD.
Her friend Lucky, the Gambello hit man, manages to escape the bust and goes undercover in Chinatown, living with family friends at a funeral home that serves Italian funerals on one side and Chinese funerals on the other. He contacts Esther and Max after the mysterious death of Benny Yee, a fairly high up member of one of the Tongs.
Seems Benny got a cursed fortune cookie that caused, well misfortune.
While investigating at the funeral, Esther manages to land a role in John Lee's indie movie, which gets her deeper into the Chinatown mystery.
Eventually, towards the climax, Lopez gets a Misfortune cookie, Esther and Max solve the mystery, and the climax comes during the Chinese New Year parade.
It's an enjoyable volume, filled with bits of history about the formation of New York's Chinatown and its gradual expansion across Canal Street into Little Italy. I'm also a bit sad, since after the next volume, there isn't anymore currently in the series.
Good, if quick read, that left me craving dumplings.
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