Book Review - Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee

 

Kill Her Twice by Stacey Lee is about a young woman, Lulu Wong, who was found dead, and her friends who try to solve her murder. In Los Angeles in 1932, Lulu was a star of the silver screen. She was well known for taking on the villain roles. She was the pride of Chinatown, especially to the Chow sisters - May, Gemma, and Peony, who work as flower sellers in Chinatown. May and Lulu were close friends and were in the same class during school. When May and Gemma were preparing their flowers for sale in an abandoned and out-of-the-way stable, they discovered a dead body. They were heartbroken to learn that it was their beloved friend.

The sisters suspect that Lulu’s death was no accident since she was found so far away from her Beverly Hills home. They try to help the police, but it seems that the police are more motivated to pin the crime on anyone and not fully investigate. When a close childhood friend is found guilty of Lulu’s murder, the sisters fear that someone is covering up the crime. Their neighborhood is slated to be demolished to make room for the new railway station, Union Station. They feel that someone powerful is using Lulu’s death as a means to prove that Chinatown is filled with crime and sin.

The Wong sisters determine that they should take matters into their own hands if they want justice for Lulu’s death. They hope that if they can find the true killer, they can save their beloved neighborhood from being destroyed as well. As the girls try to follow leads they discover, they realize someone is willing to stop at nothing to keep Lulu’s death a secret.

The novel was an okay read. I found it to move very slowly at times with nothing happening for pages on end. The book had a lot of details that, at times, were hard to track. The book was told from alternating points of view of Gemma and May. A few times, I even forgot who was narrating as the characters felt very one-dimensional and bland. I didn’t feel connected to the characters. I sometimes forgot they had a third sister, Peony, as she was barely involved in the investigation. I did like the historical details and thought they were interesting to learn. I would be open to reading more books by the author, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to read them.