Photo Flash: Ed Lin Celebrates '99 Ways To Die' Book Release At MOCA
By: Stephi Wild Oct. 15, 2018
The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) in New York was abuzz last Thursday when critical darling Ed Lin celebrated the release of his latest mystery, 99 Ways to Die (Soho Crime), featuring an evening of Taiwanese street snacks, a book signing, music and a raffle.
Lin dazzles with atmospheric detail and offbeat humor in the third installment of the food-forward Taipei Night Market mysteries, where the kidnapping of a Mainlander billionaire throws national media into a tizzy-not least because of the famous victim's vitriolic anti-immigration politics.
Publishers Weekly summed it all up in a starred review for 99 Ways to Die:
At the start of Lin's stellar third Taipei Night Market novel (after 2016's Incensed), Jing-nan Chen, who "makes the best skewers and stews in the Shilin Night Market," receives a distress call from high school classmate Peggy Lee. Peggy's wealthy businessman father, Tommy Lee Tong-ming, "who controlled some of the most powerful tax-dodging entities in Taiwan" and is also Jing-nan's landlord in the market, has been brazenly kidnapped at a banquet. Since a police escort was present, the Taipei PD is desperate to keep their embarrassing security lapse private. Peggy asks Jing-nan to get involved after the kidnappers demand the design for a "power-efficient mobile chip" that they insist is in her father's files, despite her ignorance of its existence. Jing-nan reluctantly agrees to reach out to a relative with underworld connections as well as to his girlfriend's former lover, a tech executive imprisoned for bribery who might know the design's location. Jing-nan has three days to come up with results before the kidnappers' deadline expires. Lin effortlessly blends humor, plausible plot twists, and the politics and economics of contemporary Taiwan.
Ed Lin is a journalist by training and an all-around stand-up kinda guy. He's the author of several books: Waylaid, his literary debut, and his Robert Chow crime series, set in 1970s Manhattan Chinatown: This Is a Bust, Snakes Can't Run, and One Red Bastard. Lin, who is of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, is the first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards. Lin lives in New York with his wife, actress Cindy Cheung.
Catch up with Mr. Lin on his book tour in California and Arizona.
October 15 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Vroman's, 695 E. Colorado Boulevard
October 17 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Beverly Hills Public Library, 444 N. Rexford Dr
Beverly Hills, CA
October 18 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
GR2, 2062 Sawtelle Blvd
October 20 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Poisoned Pen, 4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101
Click here to order the book.
For more info on Ed Lin please go to edlinforpresident.com
Photo Credit: Lia Chang
Author Ed Lin
Author Ed Lin
Ian Wen, Lia Chang and author Ed Lin
Deborah S. Craig, author Ed Lin, Ralph Pena, Jorge Ortoll, Cindy Cheung, Jo Mei and Nandita Shenoy
Judy Lei, author Ed Lin and The Sucklord
Carmen Chan, author Ed Lin and Ken Moritsugu
Jo Mei, David Shih, Deborah S. Craig, author Ed Lin and his wife Cindy Cheung
Cindy Cheung and playwright Sam Chanse
David Shih and author Ed Lin
Authors Karl Jacoby, Marie Myung-Ok Lee and Ed Lin
June Jee and author Ed Lin
Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA)
Ed Lin
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