Book Review: Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

My Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

(3.75⭐️ rounded up) 

“People always say that your wedding day is the happiest day of your life, but honestly, people should try solving murders more often.”

Sixty-year-old Vera Wong Zhuzhu owns and runs Vera Wang’s World- Famous Teahouse in San Francisco. Widowed, she lives alone on the floor above her tea shop and constantly keeps tabs on her adult son Tilly, checking in with him often through phone messages. Vera leads a disciplined life, wakes up early every morning and goes about her business. Unfortunately, her tea shop isn’t doing too well, but that does not deter her diligence or devotion to her business. One morning, she wakes up to discover a dead body in her shop. Vera does notify law enforcement but not before she, given the “helpful and resourceful” person that she is, prepares the crime scene which involves outlining the body just like she has seen on television, much to the annoyance of the police officers who are assigned to the case. The deceased is identified as Marshall Chen. Vera isn’t too happy with how Officer Gray and her team go about handling the crime scene and their somewhat indifferent attitude does not instill much confidence in Vera who considers herself a sleuth in addition to being a “tea doctor".

In the days following Marshall’s death, Vera meets several people who visit her shop and try to extract information about the case - Riki who claims to be a journalist, Sana who introduces herself as a podcast host, Marshall’s twin brother Oliver and Julia, Marshall's wife. Vera decides that one of them must be the killer because, according to her, the murderer is bound to return to the scene of the crime. Vera is confident of her sleuthing skills primarily because “nobody sniffs out wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands” and she has honed her knowledge by closely following crime procedurals on television. As the narrative progresses, we follow Vera as she goes about unraveling the mystery behind Marshall Chen’s death.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto is an entertaining, cozy mystery. I loved how the author depicts the friendship that develops between Vera and her “suspects”. Though the mystery angle isn’t quite as gripping as I had hoped and the pace does drag a bit in parts, I did enjoy following Vera as she unabashedly pokes her nose into everyone’s business in her attempts to identify the murderer, all the while cooking up a storm (the list of delicacies Vera prepares will have your mouth watering!), matchmaking , sharing her wisdom and offering advice to all her "suspects" on their personal problems. Vera Wong is a force to be reckoned with. Sharp and quirky with a heart of gold, Vera is an endearing character. Overall, I found this to be a heartwarming, feel-good read that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy cozy mysteries and/or are looking for something light-hearted in between heavier reads.

I paired my reading with the wonderful audio narration by Eunice Wong that definitely enhanced my experience. I can’t remember when I last laughed so much while reading/listening to a book.