Scan barcode
A review by kblincoln
The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian
4.0
This book basically leaped off the shelf into my hands. A cozy mystery, set in Portland? With a hint of magic and an Asian-American love interest? Recipes in the back? Written by an author during her year of breast cancer treatment? Featuring Portland's Shanghai tunnels?
Seriously. No brainer.
Zoe Faust has decided to stop her traveling life and settle down in a tight-knit Portland, Oregon community where she will fix up a house and continue selling antiques.
However, the community holds some surprises for Zoe. First a teenager tries to break in, a surprise stowaway from Paris shows up, and then her contracter ends up dead, and then the friendly owner of the teashop where Zoe (and everybody else) hangs out is framed for the murder.
Zoe knows something strange is going on, because while the police say the contracter was stabbed to death, Zoe's sensitive nose detects poison. Not just any poison--alchemical poison. And Zoe just happens to be a centuries hold Alchemist attempting to make a fresh start in Portland.
There's also some glimmering interest in one of the police officers assigned to the case (at first, he then is put on administrative leave, and basically disappears for large portions of the book) but it is barely a flicker, really.
Mostly the book, while attempting to solve a murder, is mostly the story of Zoe and her tea/dietary preferences. The book obsesses over herbs, fragrances, and the ingredients and preparation of Zoe's meals by her culinary gifted stowaway. Plant-based meals are made, ingredients obtained, and even the teen aged boy thinks it's all incredibly delicious. There's even recipes at the end of the book.
But....and here's the rub. It's blurry. Yes the recipes are cool. Yes the historical alchemy bits were cool. But there's a lot of teenage boy disappearing and being found, and going into the tunnels without any trouble whatsoever, and cool love interest basically checks out of the investigation and the book for major portions when it would have made TOTAL LOGICAL SENSE for Zoe to confide/use him. And there's a whole blurry section in the middle where they're trying to figure out who poisoned who and why. Portland details don't shine through as much as I would like.
And then there's the kind of vague sense that Zoe just isn't as gung ho as she ought to be to find the magical MacGuffin book of alchemy to save her stowaway chef Dorian at times when she seems much more interested in just heading down to the local teashop. I mean, in the end, one of the teenager's friends finds the book on the internet in like two seconds flat-- why couldn't Zoe do that? (or Dorian for that matter)
I don't think this is one of those "too high expectations" kind of dealios, either. I think the concept was ultra-cool, but the author spends too much time with the weird murder plot and Zoe being proud of how delicious her vegan food is instead of developing the potential of Zoe's relationships.
I would pick up a sequel, if there is going to be one, to check out recipes and maybe give the author another chance to dig deep into the juicy details of Zoe's relationships, but it would have to step up its game a bit.
So if vegan recipes, alchemy, and Portland cozy mysteries aren't your catnip, this one is a safe pass. If that sounds delicious and healthy to you, you'll probably enjoy this one despite the blurriness.
Seriously. No brainer.
Zoe Faust has decided to stop her traveling life and settle down in a tight-knit Portland, Oregon community where she will fix up a house and continue selling antiques.
However, the community holds some surprises for Zoe. First a teenager tries to break in, a surprise stowaway from Paris shows up, and then her contracter ends up dead, and then the friendly owner of the teashop where Zoe (and everybody else) hangs out is framed for the murder.
Zoe knows something strange is going on, because while the police say the contracter was stabbed to death, Zoe's sensitive nose detects poison. Not just any poison--alchemical poison. And Zoe just happens to be a centuries hold Alchemist attempting to make a fresh start in Portland.
There's also some glimmering interest in one of the police officers assigned to the case (at first, he then is put on administrative leave, and basically disappears for large portions of the book) but it is barely a flicker, really.
Mostly the book, while attempting to solve a murder, is mostly the story of Zoe and her tea/dietary preferences. The book obsesses over herbs, fragrances, and the ingredients and preparation of Zoe's meals by her culinary gifted stowaway. Plant-based meals are made, ingredients obtained, and even the teen aged boy thinks it's all incredibly delicious. There's even recipes at the end of the book.
But....and here's the rub. It's blurry. Yes the recipes are cool. Yes the historical alchemy bits were cool. But there's a lot of teenage boy disappearing and being found, and going into the tunnels without any trouble whatsoever, and cool love interest basically checks out of the investigation and the book for major portions when it would have made TOTAL LOGICAL SENSE for Zoe to confide/use him. And there's a whole blurry section in the middle where they're trying to figure out who poisoned who and why. Portland details don't shine through as much as I would like.
And then there's the kind of vague sense that Zoe just isn't as gung ho as she ought to be to find the magical MacGuffin book of alchemy to save her stowaway chef Dorian at times when she seems much more interested in just heading down to the local teashop. I mean, in the end, one of the teenager's friends finds the book on the internet in like two seconds flat-- why couldn't Zoe do that? (or Dorian for that matter)
I don't think this is one of those "too high expectations" kind of dealios, either. I think the concept was ultra-cool, but the author spends too much time with the weird murder plot and Zoe being proud of how delicious her vegan food is instead of developing the potential of Zoe's relationships.
I would pick up a sequel, if there is going to be one, to check out recipes and maybe give the author another chance to dig deep into the juicy details of Zoe's relationships, but it would have to step up its game a bit.
So if vegan recipes, alchemy, and Portland cozy mysteries aren't your catnip, this one is a safe pass. If that sounds delicious and healthy to you, you'll probably enjoy this one despite the blurriness.