Cozy Mystery Review: Ill-Fated Fortune | Jennifer J. Chow | A Magical Fortune Cookie #1

The first book in Jennifer J. Chow’s new cozy mystery series—A Magical Fortune Cookie—absolutely charmed me! In Ill-Fated Fortune, a young woman finds her family magic just before a dead body turns up with one of her fortunes.

About the Book | Ill-Fated Fortune

The first in the heart-warming and deliciously mysterious Magical Fortune Cookie series from Lefty Award-nominee Jennifer J. Chow.

Felicity Jin grew up literally hanging onto Mom’s apron strings in their magical bakery in the quaint town of Pixie, California. Her mother’s enchanted baked goods, including puffy pineapple buns and creamy egg tarts, bring instant joy to all who consume them. Felicity has always been hesitant in the kitchen herself after many failed attempts, but a takeout meal gone wrong inspires her to craft some handmade fortune cookies.

They become so popular that Felicity runs out of generic fortunes and starts making her own personalized predictions. When one customer’s ill-fated fortune results in his murder, Felicity’s suspiciously specific fortune has the police focusing on her as the main culprit. Now Felicity must find a way to turn her luck around and get cleared from suspicion. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

Review | Ill-Fated Fortune

In a book focusing on how the emotions put into baking can bring joy to those that eat them, Ill-Fated Fortune is the type of book that fills the reader with joy. The magic element is a lot of fun and relates to the central character’s family lineage with a special emphasis on her and her mother working together. At it’s core, this is a book about family, finding your passion, and believing in yourself. And of course a side of murder mystery!

Felicity Jin works at her mother’s bakery in Pixie, CA. While many cozy mysteries begin with a character losing something and looking to start over, this book opens with Felicity finding something—her magic! The women in Felicity’s family have been blessed by one of their Jin ancestors to bestow the gift of spreading joy through baking on all the daughters in their lineage.

Felicity has always worried that her magical gift has never shown up. She works the cash register at her mother’s bakery and fears she’ll be the first woman in her family history to not have the magic inside of her. But as the book opens, a mediocre take-out meal with her best friend Kelvin and two rancid fortune cookies prompted Felicity to make her own, and suddenly the magic flowed through her and into the cookies. It seems the customers can taste the magic too, because the fortune cookies start selling immediately after the bakery opens.

“It’s not about the external ingredients you use but the internal ones […] When I bake, I pour forth all my joy into it.”

While most of the cookies have a generic fortune inside, a customer asks for one after Felicity hands him a cookie that she forgot to put a fortune in, and something unexpected happens. Felicity feels dizzy and scribbles down a fortune, but she has no memory of what she wrote. It felt like the fortune was pulled from somewhere inside of her. Even stranger, the fortune she wrote quickly comes true.

When Felicity experiences the magic fortune writing ability with a second customer at the end of the day, she wonders what she wrote down on the fortune. She doesn’t have to wait long for the answer, though. The customer (who happens to own a fortune cookie factory) is found murdered in the dumpster behind the bakery with Felicity’s hand-written fortune on him. It appears the fortune eerily predicted his death in a rather specific way, causing the police to look at her as a suspect. Can Felicity learn to harness her magic and hone her sleuthing skills to find the murderer?

“There was something beautiful about us putting out treats together side by side in the oven. It was like they were meant to be near each other. As though Mom and I were meant be together, to support one another, always.”

The mystery is engaging and I realize that so far I’ve spoken more about the magic element, but the mystery truly isn’t secondary in terms of time devoted to it. I think there was balance and since the mystery revolves around fortune cookies, the Gold Bakery, and how Felicity predicted the murder, most of what happens in the book directly relates to the central mystery.

The victim, Charlie, is not a sympathetic figure. He’s rude when he comes in to get a cookie, and it all makes sense when Felicity learns that he is known as the Fortune Cookie King because he has cornered the market on fortune cookies locally. However, it seems something has taken a turn with his product and the clients are unhappy with the cookies. This naturally transitions to them wanting to increase stock in Felicity’s cookies. The challenge is that Felicity’s cookies are all handmade and she still works at her family’s business.

“There’s no magic without love, care, and joy in the baking process […] and that can’t be done when you try to mass-produce something.”

As Felicity’s mother cautions, mass-producing cookies may technically taste good, but they won’t have the magic that the Jins pour into each cookie. I loved the relationship between Felicity and her mother. They seem to both draw happiness from working together, which is part of what makes their family so magical.

There is quite a roller coaster when it comes to Felicity’s ability to seemingly predict the near-future with her fortunes. When the talent initially emerges, Felicity is caught off guard. None of her family has shown this specific talent before. While she goes to test it, it seems that she needs to figure out the trick that triggers the fortunes—she can’t force it. Over the book it was fun hearing more about how she is able to strengthen and use her ability.

The list of suspects is relatively small, but there were still clues that pointed in different directions and kept me guessing. In addition to Felicity’s relationship with her mother, I enjoyed her friendship with Kelvin (who I predict may be a love interest in future books, but it hasn’t gone there yet). Kelvin works in a floral shop in the same cul-de-sac and he’s one of the only people who know about the Jin magic outside of the family. He’s a supportive friend and tags along for a lot of the sleuthing—ever detective needs a sidekick after all! Of course, a rabbit Felicity finds outside their bakery named Whiskers is making a strong play for sidekick after displaying the ability to help Felicity focus in on her visions…

A charming debut cozy mystery that will have you believing in magic (and craving one of those pineapple buns)!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for my copy. Opinions are my own.

About the Author | Jennifer J Chow

Jennifer J. Chow writes cozies filled with hope and heritage. She’s been a finalist for the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Lilian Jackson Braun Memorial Award. Her newest series is the Magical Fortune Cookie mysteries; the first book is Ill-Fated Fortune, which Booklist says “will appeal to fans of Jenn McKinlay, Eve Calder, or Joanne Fluke.” Her other series include the L.A. Night Market Mysteries and the Sassy Cat Mysteries. Jennifer currently serves as Immediate Past President on the board of Sisters in Crime and blogs at chicksonthecase.com. She is an active member of Crime Writers of Color and Mystery Writers of America. Connect with her online and sign up for her newsletter at JenniferJChow.com.

She is represented by Jessica Faust at BookEnds Literary Agency