Photo Flash: Ed Lin Celebrates '99 Ways To Die' Book Release At MOCA

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

Pasedena, CA

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

Los Angeles, CA

October 20 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Poisoned Pen, 4014 N Goldwater Blvd #101

Scottsdale, AZ

Click here to order the book.

For more info on Ed Lin please go to edlinforpresident.com

Photo Credit: Lia Chang