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Murder On Bamboo Lane (2014)

by Naomi Hirahara(Favorite Author)

3.76 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0425264955 (ISBN13: 9780425264959)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Berkley

review 1: I read this book after reading a review and really enjoyed it. This is the first in a series about Ellie Rush, a bicycle cop for the LAPD. She's young - just out of college - and eager to move up. She's also half Asian as a result of her American-born mother. Having an aunt who is in the hierarchy is both a blessing and a curse. Ellie isn't enjoying her bicycle cop status. For one thing people don't take her seriously. Most of her work involves keeping order at parades, patrolling farmers markets as well as doing community outreach. We also learn about her friends and a former boyfriend who broke her heart. A lot of her friends didn't understand why she wanted to become a cop. When one of her former college classmates is murdered, Ellie is drawn into it. Soon her high powe... morered aunt asks her to assist with the investigation. This draws the ire of some of her fellow police officer who see her being treated differently because of her family connections. This is obviously the first in the series, and it's not as smooth as it could be. I really enjoyed the writer's description of different neighborhoods in LA including Little Tokyo. The reader also learns a lot about her family in the book as well. This is very different from what I've read which is why I really liked it. I look forward to the next book in the series. (The author also has another series involving a Japanese gardener names Mas Harai who came to California in the 1940's from Hiroshima.)
review 2: Although half-Japanese bicycle policeman Ellie Rush makes a charming detective, I do miss Hirahara's first series, which is, in writing style, characters and plot, unique. Ellie, however, and her college friends and her family, does remind the reader of other smart, tough heroines. The body turns out to be that of a girl Ellie knew in college, and she helps identify her. Then she finds herself working way above her rank, thanks partly to the intercession of her highly-placed aunt. She irritates the lead detective by finding an alibi for the victim's boyfriend, his lead suspect, and then insisting that there are political implications in the death. less

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