500 Words From...is a series of guest
posts from authors, in which they talk about their books and characters. Here, Ovidia Yu, one of Singapore’s most acclaimed authors, talks
about Aunty Lee, feisty widow, amateur sleuth,
and proprietor of The Lion City’s best-loved home-cooking restaurant. Aunty Lee has now brought her charm and wit -
not to mention her intelligence, nosiness, and crime-solving skills - to two delectable mysteries, Aunty
Lee’s Delights, and Aunty Lee’s
Deadly Specials. Both books are published
internationally by William Morrow Paperbacks, enabling
readers far beyond Singapore to be beguiled by Aunty Lee.
So, over to Ovidia…
“Inspiration for Aunty
Lee? Parts of Aunty Lee came from various so-called aunties I know - not
necessarily older, good at cooking or even female! She loves cooking and
feeding people and as far as she is concerned, eating together is the best way of
becoming friends. She also loves sorting out other people’s problems for them,
including murders they may be suspected of committing.
At first I thought the
aunty quality of being nurturing, comforting and making your business their own
was a uniquely Singaporean thing, given that all of the aunties in my life are
from Singapore. But since publication of the first two Aunty Lee books I’ve
received feedback that Aunty Lee has embodied characteristics of readers’
Jewish / Non-Resident Indian / Catholic-Raised / American Born Chinese
relatives so perhaps aunty qualities cover a much wider range!
And of course, in
addition to cooking and minding other people’s business, Aunty Lee solves
murders. The inspiration for that came from the books I grew up loving and
still read. Agatha Christie, of course. Also Rex Stout and Sherlock Holmes in
the hands of Arthur Conan Doyle and Laurie R King. Some of my currently best
loved writers are Louise Penny, Donna Leon and SJ Rozan. Their books make it
abundantly clear how well they know and how much they love rural Quebec, the
waterways and old buildings of Venice, and the brownstones and Chinatown of New
York. The example set by these authors made
me want to see whether I could do the same in my own backyard. And trying to
capture Singapore through Aunty Lee’s eyes has made me re-examine my views
towards this City-State which I’ve taken for granted till now, much the way I
took my parents, neighbourhood and school for granted.
I’ve disagreed with the
way some things are done here - probably in much the same way as adolescents
disagree with elders they consider old fashioned and over strict - but, like a
responsible parent, Singapore has provided a safe space from which to explore
the world. Aunty Lee takes full advantage of that, exploring people and places
via their favourite foods. The human need for food is as universal as the human
horror of murder, which is why I find the juxtaposition interesting.
The best part about
writing these books is working through issues that come up. For example the
first book, Aunty
Lee’s Delights, was triggered by news of
a woman’s body found on Sentosa, an island just off Singapore, and the second
book, Aunty Lee’s Deadly Specials,
was seeded when I read about illegal organ transplants. The third book, with
the working title Aunty Lee’s Chilled Vengeance, which I’m in the middle of editing now, touches on the rage unleashed
last year in Singapore when an expat put down a perfectly healthy
puppy she’d adopted from a rescue centre. I’m hoping to see this third outing
for Aunty Lee published in 2015. But it’s difficult to focus on just one
project. I’ve also got several drafts of a history-mystery set in 1920s Singapore
that’s not quite ready to show yet and I’m using National Novel Writing Month, currently underway, to outline another idea.”
