A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady - ah, lady of a certain age - who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing - a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of… swipes the …
A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady - ah, lady of a certain age - who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing - a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of… swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.
What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
This was a cute read. I need a visit from the Auntie distribution center, though. Vera was a great character, confident and pushy and unashamed of who she is. I really need to take a look into Chinese tea now. It was an easy read and didn't have a whole lot of complexity to it. This was more cozy, I didn't get tension through the book at all. I knew who the murderer was about a quarter of the way through the book and I don't know if that detracted from some of the tension or not. Still cute, and really probably a great read for someone who's trying to venture into the realm of mystery books.
Sooooo. I found this pretty enjoyable, except that there was more discussion of (emotional) abuse and shitty asshole stuff than I'd thought. It's in a good way, though. So. I think this is a pretty nice story. Just. The epilogue has something that irritates me so much!!
Review of "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
So if you read mysteries a lot, many of the plot twists will be easily guessed and there is nothing special here. I am also not sure how the stereotype of a tiger grandmama will land, and I was meh about the battered wife stereotype too. However, this book was like chewing a piece of bubble gum while walking down the sidewalk on a partly cloudy day-harmless, pointless and cheerful. It put me in a good mood, did not stress me out whatsoever, and was real palate cleanser after the grim and drab scenery I had just trudged through in Diane Cook's The New Wilderness. I am glad that this book was written, and grateful for the escape it provided me, and I hope that Vera solves more murders.
