Dave Lowry

Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves was a fun read. The book started off a bit slow but quickly picked up the pace. It's light entertainment that's a blend of mystery, young romance, and Chinese cooking.

The author is a restaurant critic for St. Louis Magazine and also writes nonfiction about martial arts. So, of course our young hero Tucker is a skilled chef who practices martial arts. He drops out of college, then meets and becomes infatuated with the mysterious Corrine Chang. Soon after he show more winds up in St. Louis working as a chef in a Chinese restaurant and Corrine follows him to become a waitress in the same restaurant. Tucker gets pulled into some shadowy goings-on revolving around Corrine's past. His martial arts skills come in handy when a set of Chinese gangsters threateningly appear. Along the way there's one body discovered, and a couple of FBI agents get involved. I won't give away the rest, but you get the picture.

Yes, Tucker is sometimes annoyingly snarky, and the plot seems like it was picked up from a 1980s detective show, with short chapters that play like scenes in said show. But the writing is really good, especially for what is essentially a beach read. My one nit to pick with the writing is that Tucker is clearly benefiting from the age, experience and expertise of the author, so much so that he's not really believable as a 21 year old.

I picked this book up based on a review by another book blogger, and I'm glad I did. I give it 3 Stars ⭐⭐⭐ - I liked it. If you are making your summer reading plans now, consider adding this one up to the list. show less

Our hero, Tucker, is a lao wei in St. Louis, Missouri, trying to become a Chinese chef. Tucker is the best kind of unreliable narrator, beginning his list of dozens of rules with keep it simple, and trying to be completely honest from his very subjective perspective.

Fortunately, Tucker’s Mandarin is better than mine, so he’s able to eavesdrop on full speed Chinese, instead of just perking up at colors, numbers or yingwen laoshi out of a conversation. (Look, I’m able to do basic tasks show more in Chinese, but I talk like a baby.) So, when he overhears a girl at a rest stop telling her friend in Mandarin that she’s stranded, he gallantly offers her a ride. Also, she’s incredibly hot, because in fiction, stranded girls are always hot. The early-twenties romantic plotline wasn’t bad, ticking all the required boxes for witty banter, quirky semi-dates, and sexual tension that must be fulfilled when a Very Smart Guy falls in love with a Mysterious Girl, but fortunately, it's not the focus of the novel.

Spoiler, or I guess, an un-spoiler: The diamonds are not hidden in the New Hampshire rest stop, so the novel doesn’t end with Corinne and Tucker retrieving the diamonds from the spot where they met. (I was expecting that for about two-thirds of the novel, and was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t happen.)

The diamond thievery is interesting, and in general, the secondary characters are quite believable. Bao Yu, especially, is a lifelike mix of mockery and shyness. In China, when someone calls you by a polite, formal name and asks if you had a nice weekend, they probably hate you. A real friend will call you Chubby or Sleepyhead or Slowpoke or something else mildly insulting. (I happen to know the Mandarin for zits — dou dou — because it was the affectionate nickname of one of the secretaries in my Yantai school. Ouch.) As Tucker gains friends in the restaurant kitchen, he naturally trades casual insults far worse than grass mud horse. It was a little bit odd how many of the English-speaking characters all spoke in the same snarky banter, but I chalked it up to Tucker’s narration, the way a friend will recount events in their own words, putting their own speech patterns on repeated dialogue.

Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves is an engaging, readable novel about new-adult identity, Chinese cooking and customs, and avoiding murderous Hong Kong gangsters in the midwest. show less

I'm not sure exactly why I decided to take a chance on this novel but I am so glad I did. Funny, clever and fresh, Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves by Dave Lowry is a fabulously entertaining blend of mystery, action, a touch of awkward romance, and Chinese cooking.

Having been kicked out of college just before graduation, Tucker is heading home to Missouri in his aging Toyota when he crosses paths with the attractive and enigmatic Corrine Chang, making her way from Canada to Buffalo, NY, show more at a deserted rest stop. In the absence of any real goal, Tucker offers Corrine a ride, surprising her with his ability to speak Mandarin, and being surprised in turn when he intercepts a threatening phone call. Corrine, it seems, is on the run from a Chinese gang convinced she has $15 million dollars worth of diamonds missing from her employer's store. Despite her protestations of innocence, the gang follows them all the way to St Louis, as intent on capturing Corinne, as Tucker, with a little help from the FBI, is at stopping them.

Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves is fast paced with plenty of action and intrigue, and just enough exaggeration to entertain. Snappy dialogue, liberally laced with sarcasm, is delivered with expert timing.

Lowry's protagonist is an unusual guy. The son of white upper middle class parents (his father a retired agent of some description), Tucker practices xing-i, speaks Mandarin (and a little Cantonese) and cooks Chinese food, real Chinese food, with the skill of a native. He is simultaneously a tough guy capable of crippling an enemy with an economy of movement, and achingly vulnerable and self deprecating. The contradiction works perfectly to create a charming, quirky hero, who is supported by an equally appealing cast.

For foodies, there are plenty of tips for cooking authentic Chinese food, and a glimpse into the inner workings of a Chinese restaurant kitchen.

Chinese Cooking for Diamond Thieves is probably best described as a crime caper given the elements of humour, adventure and the offbeat characters. I thought it was witty, clever and interesting and recommend it without hesitation. show less

In the 1950s, Dave Lowry studied an elusive Japanese martial art (Lowry is the only American ever to have learned it) with a Japanese master. When his sensei went back to Japan, Dave chose to remain in the States. 12 years would pass until Dave makes the decision to go to Japan to see his sensei again. A travelogue, a memoir, a history of the samurai, Persimmon Wind lets the reader witness a physical journey as much as partake on an incorporeal journey of the mind. From our post millennium, show more COVID-19 perspective, Japan of 1968 and in a wider sense, the world seems an unreal, quite magical place. If you have ever been in a in a place that was culturally quite different from your own, Dave Lowry’s account will especially appeal to your senses, the many anecdotes will make you smile and nod knowingly. And perhaps you will feel the Persimmon Wind picking, tugging, plucking at you to send you off to reconnect you with seemingly long lost souls from your past. What a thing of beauty! show less