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.
Review of "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Halfway through reading the book, I was thinking "Vera Wong is making me read this book". Vera tells everyone else what to do throughout the book like a classic, stereotypical Chinese grandmother, so it didn't seem odd to think that she had such a presence that she commanded me to keep turning the page. The fact is that I couldn't put the book down. The title caught my attention, and a cosy mystery was perfect for my current mood. I was slightly worried about the stereotyping, but as the book unfolds and I checked out more on the author, I realised that Vera is real. I mean, the way that she is behaving is truly how she would be if she was a real person. I think she is bored and lonely, but would never admit that in a million years. And then she discovers a dead body in her …
Halfway through reading the book, I was thinking "Vera Wong is making me read this book". Vera tells everyone else what to do throughout the book like a classic, stereotypical Chinese grandmother, so it didn't seem odd to think that she had such a presence that she commanded me to keep turning the page. The fact is that I couldn't put the book down. The title caught my attention, and a cosy mystery was perfect for my current mood. I was slightly worried about the stereotyping, but as the book unfolds and I checked out more on the author, I realised that Vera is real. I mean, the way that she is behaving is truly how she would be if she was a real person. I think she is bored and lonely, but would never admit that in a million years. And then she discovers a dead body in her tea shop...
I got completely caught up in all the people connected to the dead man who then become a part of Vera's life. I wanted to know more about them, and I wanted them to stay together as a chosen family and not have one of them go to jail for murder!
Whether it was Vera who made me read this, or the fun title, or Jesse Sutanto's entertaining writing, I thoroughly enjoyed this book that I devoured in just two days of a three-day weekend. (I did take a slight detour to read a book in the manga series I am currently following, but otherwise, I was in San Francisco, wondering how things would turn out for Julia, Oliver, Riki, and Sana. And Vera.)
Shout out to Eunice Wong for the great narration on the Audible audiobook that I listened to.
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!!
