Silence has a flavor too. This one is bitter.
Twelve years ago, Madam Kee stayed quiet when she should have spoken - and a man died because of it.
Now she's retired, running the best congee stall in a bustling Petaling Jaya hawker centre, where the worst crime is usually an overcharged bowl of laksa. Until an old colleague collapse at a glittering pharmaceutical conference, dead before the ambulance arrives, with a half-finished cup of coffee cooling beside her.
The police call it natural causes. Madam Kee - a retired clinical pharmacist who knows exactly what a poisoned cup looks like - knows better.
As she follows the trail from the hawker stalls of Kuala Lumpur into hospital boardrooms and regulatory committees, she uncovers a cover-up twelve years in the making - one that reaches back to the silence she has never forgiven herself for keeping. But someone is watching. Someone who has already killed once to protect the secret. And they would much rather the quiet aunty behind the congee pot mind her own business.
The trouble is, Madam Kee has spent long enough being quiet.
The Silent Brew is the fifth novel in the Madam Kee Mysteries - a series of cozy culinary murder mysteries set in the food courts, kitchens, and back lanes of Malaysia, featuring a sharp-eyed older woman who solves the crimes everyone else overlooks. Rich with the flavours of Malaysian street food and a heroine who proves that being underestimated is the deadliest weapon of all.
Perfect for readers who love:
• Clean, cozy mysteries with no gore, graphic violence, or profanity
• A clever amateur sleuth in her sixties who has seen it all
• Vivid international settings and mouthwatering food
Each Madam Kee mystery can be enjoyed on its own - but readers who start at the beginning get the fullest taste.
A glossary of Malaysian terms is included.
Pour yourself something warm, and settle in. Just maybe, check the cup first.
