Death by Sticky Rice

A ceremonial feast in an ancient teak courtyard. A golden plate of mango sticky rice. A greedy heir choked by his own silver spoon.When twenty-eight-year-old Bangkok noodle cook Chaiyan "e;Chai"e; Varma-Siri and his formidable grandmother, Yai Nok, travel north to Chiang Mai during the vibrant Songkran water festival, they expect a peaceful holiday catering the 70th birthday feast of northern dessert matriarch Mae Buaphan.Instead, they walk straight into an ancestral family war. Khun Kiet, Mae Buaphan's arrogant, debt-ridden eldest son, is threatening to bulldoze sixty acres of heirloom organic mango orchards to build a multi-billion-baht luxury golf resort.During the sacred water blessing ceremony, surrounded by one hundred guests, Kiet raises an antique silver spoon to taste the competition-grade mango sticky rice—and collapses headfirst into the sacred four-foot terracotta water urn, poisoned by an invisible glaze of lethal oleander cardenolides and bitter betel syrup.With local police threatening to shut down the kitchen and the 1938 Teakwood Royal Land Grant missing from the master safe, Chai must team up with:- Yai Nok: Armed with eighty years of street wisdom and a seasoned brass steaming paddle.- O-Liang: The faithful copper Soi dog with a folded ear and an uncanny radar for plant poisons and liars.- Som: The sixteen-year-old mechanic who pilots a high-speed songthaew through the water-soaked moats of the Old City.- Lieutenant Krit: The sharp Bangkok detective tracking an international agribusiness syndicate.From ancient Chinese apothecaries in Warorot Market to the candlelit lantern courtyards of Wat Phan Tao, Chai must race through the chaos of Songkran to unmask a ruthless family killer before an eighty-year-old agricultural legacy is lost forever.Death by Sticky Rice is the fast-paced, atmospheric second installment in The Bangkok Night Market Mysteries, perfect for fans of culinary whodunits, multicultural amateur sleuths, and lighthearted pet mysteries.Includes Mae Buaphan's Authentic Recipe for Salted Coconut Cream Mango Sticky Rice!