Black Jade

A Daiyu Wu Mystery (Daiyu Wu Mysteries, Book 1)

By: Gloria Oliver

Narrated by: Tom Briggs

Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A curious lack of corpses. A slew of snobbish suspects. Can this sightless amateur sleuth pinpoint a killer?

Dallas, TX, 1930. Daiyu Wu refuses to be disadvantaged by her blindness. Navigating the world with help from her faithful companions, the young Chinese adventuress celebrates life with a strong thirst for knowledge. So when she scents burned garlic in a customer’s garment, the clever laundress runs an experiment that reveals a dress doused in arsenic.

Determined to provide the unaware authorities with a clue in a murder case, Daiyu vows to chase down the garment’s mysterious origins even though there’s no body to be found. But as the links lead the immigrant girl higher into Texas’s social echelons, she clashes with bigotry, short-sightedness, and a web of lies hamstringing her ability to investigate.

Can she find fresh evidence before she’s hung out to dry?

Black Jade is the playful first book in the Daiyu Wu Mysteries cozy historical series. If you like witty heroines, clever twists, and feisty canines, then you’ll love Gloria Oliver’s period puzzle.

Buy Black Jade to pit instinct against old money today!

©2021 Gloria Oliver (P)2022 Gloria Oliver

Intriguing Historical Cozy Mystery

This was my first experience with Gloria Oliver's work, and it was entertaining. Book 1 of the "Daiya Wu Mystery" series featured a fascinating female protagonist who was blind. I enjoyed the interesting glimpses of life during the year 1930 in Dallas, Texas. I liked the characters. The mystery was an intricate twist of motives and characters. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Tom Briggs' narration was fine, but his delivery took some time for me to appreciate. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

So glad the series will continue!

In "Black Jade", Gloria Oliver introduces people to amateur sleuth, Daiyu Wu. She's driven, determined, and insatiably curious - These would normally be considered good qualities to have, but unfortunately, stereotypes about women, the blind and visually impaired, and people of Chinese heritage ran rampant in 1930s Dallas, just as they did elsewhere, and sadly, still do today with so many ethnic and marginalized groups.

Dai, as she's called by those closest to her, lives with her more than slightly overbearing parents, her brother Jacques, and her faithful canine companion Prince Razor.

While working at the family's laundry service, Dai smells the unmistakable scent of arsenic on a dress brought in by a customer earlier the previous day. She learns that it belongs to a young woman who was found dead a few days before. Convinced that the dress is connected to the murder, with help from an extremely reluctant Jacques, Dai endeavors to track down the culprit and bring them to justice.

Not only did I enjoy the story immensely, but I learned so much about Chinese history and culture and American history and culture in the 1930s - lots of new vocabulary and customs. I'm so glad Gloria Oliver plans to continue the series!

I also really love the fact that there's finally a sleuth with a disability. I don't enjoy the fact that Dai is blind, but it's nice to see the disabled population being represented and portrayed as doing something that able-bodied professional detectives normally do, doing it well, and getting credit for it. I, too, have a physical disability, although in my case, I use a motorized wheelchair for mobility. I feel that Dai is a woman after my own heart - She's kind, compassionate, driven, hard-working, intelligent, and determined. She may be blind, but like me, she tries not to let her disability define her.

Interesting start to a cozy series

The first book in this historical cozy mystery series introduces us to Daiyu Wu, a blind Chinese woman, and her friend Jacques. The story is told from Jacques' POV, like Watson relates Sherlock Holmes' adventures.

I like Jacques. He's fiercely loyal and protective, plus his take on events is hilarious at times. The story is well paced and has a twist I didn't see coming st the end. The setting is 1930s Texas, which is not typical, but the prevailing attitudes and difficulties Daiyu faces for being blind, Chinese, and female are depicted well.

Tom Briggs narrates the story. Overall, he does well, but there are a few glitches — sometimes it sounds a bit echo-y, there are repeated phrases, and at one point I heard a mouse clicking. These things distracted me in the moment.

Its okay

This was an interesting book to read, maybe not so much listening to it. The narrator made it hard to keep focused with the story. Going past that the story line is very detailed and the characters are detailed.

1930s Texas Mystery

A fun interesting take on a historical cozy murder mystery. Most stories I read/listen to tend to be a bit on the monochromatic side, so this one with a blind Asian main character mystery solver was refreshing!
The mystery was a fun one because it starts with Miss Wu detecting arsenic in a dress sent for washing at her family's laundromat. I loved the cast of characters involved. There's the female doctor introduced, members of the peerage in Britain, and wealthy Texans included. The story is told from the chauffeur's perspective due to the main character being blind since birth. I liked they way the author handled racism and general prejudice in the story. I thought it was done well.
It's a good story I would have liked more if I read rather than listened to, mostly due to the narration, but otherwise the story was good. I liked how the mystery played out, with the twists and turns and general whodunit vibe.

I thought the narrator did an ok job. I listened to it at 1.4x speed, since I thought he spoke a bit too slow for my liking. He does a good job with the general narration of describing all the events, though I cannot say he does a good job with the character voices. It stays kind of the same throughout without too much inflection. Once I understood his style, that made the character voice differentiation easier and made listening to the story easier.

Great start to the series!

There is something to be said about the heightening of the senses and Gloria Oliver uses this idea masterfully with the first book in her Daiyu Wu mystery series. Told from her chauffer, Jacques point of view, we get first hand accounts of Daiyu's investigative skills into a murder she knows was committed. By the smell of the dress, Daiyu knows something has happened, But who did it and to whom? This story set in the 1930's in Texas is well thought out, and has many twists and turns. I enjoyed the many secondary characters as well, and would love to have some blueberry scones! This is one you will enjoy if you love mysteries with a twist. I know I did.

Tom Briggs is the narrator, and while he has great voices for the many characters, his narration sounded a little muffled. I enjoyed his pacing and thought his choices of voice for each character was spot on.

Great new series!

cultural-heritage, cultural-differences, protective-dogs, family, friendship, wealthy, Texas, Chinese-culture, Chinese-customs, diverse-cultures, 1930, family-business, immigrants, shunned, multicultural, murder, murder-investigation, bodyguard, class-consciousness, investigation, historical-novel, historical-places-events, historical-research, history-and-culture, law-enforcement, medical-doctor*****

Daiyu Wu who is so much more than simply the only one of her parents' children to be born alive and survive. But she has been blind from birth, and Jacques is more than a childhood companion become chauffer and defender (as is her faithful dog, Prince) and his is the perspective of the novel.
Daiya has a very observant mind undistracted by visual input, has deductive reasoning down to a science, and an impeccable memory. The plot basics are well done in the publisher's blurb, so there is no need to repeat or do the spoiler thing. I loved this story!
Narrator Tom Briggs seems an odd choice with his slight hoarseness being magnified by the sound effect as if speaking in a large empty room as well as my personal need to play at 1.25 speed. Delineation of characters and emotions was good.

1930s Mystery with a Hint of Prejudices

Black Jade by Gloria Oliver is the first in the Daiyu Wu Mystery Series. Set in Dallas in 1930, Texas, this book revolves around the life of Daiyu Wu, a blind Chinese immigrant who works for her family's laundry service and her foster brother Jacques Haskins. As a result of her blindness, Daiyu's other senses are elevated and when a gown is left for cleaning that has a distinctive odor of burnt garlic, she quickly realizes that it has possibly been utilized to commit murder but she and Jacques need to figure out not only who committed the crime but also who the victim was.

The author does an excellent job of detailing the inherent prejudices against persons of Oriental descent in the United States during the 1930s as well as providing information related to application of arsenic poisoning. However, I found that in places this book dragged on with repetitive information related to various character situations during the course of the story; however, the overall character development was exceptional as the reader is able to know their inner feelings and circumstances.

The narrator was good as far as creation of different voices for the characters but at times appeared to stumble and pause longer than necessary for chapter changes. I look forward to seeing how this series develops and the relationships grow in the future.

I received a copy of this audiobook from the Author and StoryOrigin in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Very disappointing

I lost interest in the book right from the start because of the narrator's voice. I just couldn't get past the raspiness of his voice. This was disappointing the summary of the book sounded good,I was looking forward to reviewing this book.

Blind and so perceptive.

I am sure this is a good mystery with a unique woman and friend to solve it. But I listened to the Audible version and the narrator was so hard for me to understand, I missed too many things. As I listened, I got better at understanding so can comfortably give a 4 star rating!
I recommend this entertaining book, just not the audible version.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from Story Origin.

Good Murder Mystery

A ballgown infused with poison is left at Daiyu's laundry and she suspects it has been used for murder.

Despite being blind and Chinese in 1930's Texas, Dai teams up with her companion Jacques and her terrier to solve the case

An well crafted murder mystery with a couple of interesting sleuths which highlights the situation faced by a member of the 'Yellow Terror' in an era loaded with racism and distrust.

My only snag with this one was the narrator. Sounding like a mix of Rocky era Sylvester Stallone and a 1920's Chicago mob boss, I had a few difficulties with the accent and the tone

okay

The story was told from a secondary character and not the main female character, Dai, who was blind. I couldn't connect to Dai. I believe the author should have done a dual pov.

I did like the era the author chose to bring alive her story, and I liked that she picked a different ethnic group for her main character. it made the story more interesting.
would I read/listen to the next book? I don't know.

mystery

loved the narration of Tom Briggs

Daiyu Wu is Chinese, observant and very intelligent and blind, things that makes her an outsider in 1930s.
A murderer would have gotten away with it, if the enhanced senses of Daiyu Wu and not smelt burnt garlic, an odour associated with arsenic, in one of the garments left at her family's laundry. An in a quest to bring the murderer to justice, Dai has some interesting friends.
This book is well paced and full of action,

Black Jade

What a fantastic story! I loved the era the story was written in the very detailed descriptions the cast of characters and just how wonderful this young lady was! The trials her family suffered would have truly been great. The location chosen for the backdrop was also quite wonderful and unique most would have written this somewhere in California.

My only criticism is in the narration the the narrator did not have a sound room and their is not a crisp narration. And in the beginning I didn’t like him for the part. I come to realize he was telling the story from the prospective of the young man and it made it easier to deal with. Perhaps that was what the wanted it to be so it fit the period?