Balmy Darlings and Deaths: A Chinese Cozy Mystery (A Raina Sun Mystery Book 4) by Anne R. Tan

or care.
    “I’m not his type,” Raina said. “I’m not manly enough.”
    He narrowed his eyes at her, almost daring her to out him. The brittle smile on his face looked as if he was ready to crack. “What do you mean?”
    The hair on the back of Raina’s neck stiffened, and she almost shivered at the animosity rolling off of her coworker. It would take a much stronger woman than her to tell Mrs. Tally that her grandson was gay.
    “I wouldn’t want to be called a cougar,” Raina said, and curled a hand next to her face to mimic claws and growled.
    “Can’t expect much from Bonnie’s loins,” Mrs. Tally muttered again. Obviously, she thought other people’s hearing must be on par with those of her peers.
    Po Po was right—her arch nemesis didn’t have a sense of humor. Raina almost laughed at being labeled the village idiot in Mrs. Tally’s mind.
    Walt chuckled, but his flinty eyes watched her as if she were an uncaged wild animal.
    Mrs. Tally grinned at Raina, exposing her stained dentures. “Do you have any plans this evening, my dear? Can you join us for dinner?”
    Raina glanced around looking for an escape from the determined matchmaker. She saw her grandma stalking toward them. Oh, no… Her grandma didn’t need to earn any more black marks by antagonizing the head of the social committee. Politics among the geriatric crowd could be even more cutthroat than any corporate hostile takeover.
    Po Po pushed in front of Raina. “Why are you harassing my granddaughter? No sane woman would want your grandson.”
    Mrs. Tally’s hands whitened around the handles of the walker. “The only one doing any harassing around here is you. The next time you set off the fire alarms again, the social committee will ban you from all activities for the rest of the year.” She swept past them like a queen dismissing the serfs in her kingdom. Walt trailed after her.
    Po Po rolled her eyes. “Party pooper. She made it sound as if I set the fire alarms off on purpose. I can’t help if there wasn’t enough ventilation in the communal kitchen.”
    “What were you doing in there? You don’t cook,” Raina said.
    Her grandma blushed. “Just an experiment with Sunni’s grandson.”
    “The high school student who wants to be a chemist?” Raina shook her head. “I don’t want to know.”
    Po Po glanced around and then whispered, “I’m working on a mild recipe for teargas.”
    Raina’s eyes widened. “Is this legal?”
    “It’s only illegal for warfare. The police use it all the time when they have riots. I’m trying to find something that could cause someone to cry on demand. I want it in a liquid form so I can put it into a plastic bottle.”
    “Isn’t it easier to bottle onion juice?”
    Po Po’s eyes lit up. “That’s just brilliant.”
    Raina shuddered at the thought of her grandmother doing science experiments with a high school student at the senior center’s kitchen. “What does Sunni have to say about your experiments?”
    “Are you cold, honey?” Po Po asked, mistaking Raina’s reaction. “Do you want me to go upstairs to grab you a sweater?”
    Raina declined the offer.
    “Sunni thinks it’s great,” Po Po said. “Gives him real life experience. Besides, it’s all small scale. No worse than the stuff the kids do in school or on YouTube.”
    Actually some of the stuff on YouTube could be pretty scary, but Raina didn’t want to derail the conversation. As long as all responsible adults—which may or may not include her grandma—were happy with the science experiments, who was she to argue the point?
    “I have an assignment for you, but don’t have a hernia,” Raina said, holding her palms up. “I need you to play nice to Mrs. Tally.”
    Po Po shook her head slowly. “No way. She’s the reason I got banned from cook-off contests at the senior center. If I weren’t a mature and sophisticated lady, I would have put a handful of worms in that little pocket on her walker.”
    “Po