Jesse Q. Sutanto first came on my radar with her smash hit, Dial A For Aunties [Buy Bookshop Amazon], which was one of my earlier reviews on this site. It’s a wild murder mystery, so if you liked that vibe, her newest book will be a winner for you too. I was already planning to pick it up, but then Elle Cosimano recommended it during an interview for my YouTube channel, so I had to grab it.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers [Buy Bookshop Amazon] obviously follows a woman named Vera Wong. Even though she clearly has grey hair on the cover, I did not pick up that our main character was an older woman until I was in the story a bit. Oops. Anyways, Vera has been running “Vera Wang’s World Famous Tea House” for years, (and yes, there’s a reason for the name shift…), despite her son wanting her to give it up. One morning, Vera wakes up (very early) to find a dead man in her shop. The police don’t think it’s suspicious so she takes the investigation into her own hands and tries to draw out the suspect.
This is just about as wild as the Dial A For Aunties books, so you know you’re in for some shenanigans. Vera spends time with the suspects on her list, all the while irritating the police by showing up where they don’t think she should be.
This book has literal laugh out loud moments woven through the mystery, but it’s also a beautiful story about found family. The way the four suspects and Vera bond is just precious and I want to be invited to one of their feasts. Plus, there are some fun twists and an incredibly beautiful and emotional ending. I really wasn’t expecting the emotional part!
I also really love the Asian representation here. We often hear about kids who are trying to escape pressures from their Asian parents and kinda blend in more as Americans. This gives us the perspective of a mother who doesn’t really know what to do with her grown kids after years of them not taking her advice. She touches on the cultural differences of how things were different between generations, and it plays into the big, emotional ending in a heartwrenching fashion.
It’s a delightful cozy mystery that just makes you feel happy. Elle was right.
Literary HypeWoman 