Laurence Yep. The Case of the Lion Dance. New York: Harper, 1998. Print.

Laurence Yep may be the most popular Young Adult (YA) writer who features stories with Chinese-American culture and settings. The Case of the Lion Dance illustrates conflict between the traditional Chinese culture and the American culture, between Chinese purists and those who have adapted to America, and between good old-fashioned honest people and greedy bad guys. After all, greed does not discriminate among race, gender, or national origin.

The narrator of this mystery novel is a girl named Lily. The person who does most of the sleuthing is her great aunt, Auntie Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily is a delightful character—an actress pushing eighty but still looking for ingénue parts. She can still use her charm to get her way. Lily becomes impressed with how many older people recognize her aunt from old Taiwanese and Hong Kong films. Auntie knows a lot of tricks and a few stunts from all the films she has been in.

A festival lion competition between rival martial arts studios in San Francisco’s Chinatown turns ugly when the “lettuce,” an ornamental ball of hundred dollar bills, gets blown up by stray firecrackers. The two Lilies suspect a switcheroo because the fragments from the explosion are all pieces of one dollar bills.

Their friend Annie is in big trouble as she has pledged the money to a charity and can hardly afford to be out double what she pledged. Tiger Lily and Lily’s detective work takes them all over the sidewalks and slums of Chinatown to find the real thief. Yes, there a some red herrings as they encounter a variety of criminal types. Lily is despised by some as an American show can barely speak Chinese. Kung is despised by others as a dropout who could not adapt to America. Tiger Lily sees them both through.

Authentic fun from a popular YA writer.