Jesse Q. Sutanto

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers contains all the right ingredients for the perfect cozy mystery, and we were lucky enough to listen to the audiobook narrated by the very talented actress Eunice Wong.

The first cozy mystery must-have is an engaging and memorable lead, and Jesse Sutanto has absolutely delivered on that score with Vera Wong. Yes, she’s the quintessential Chinese tiger mother with unrelenting standards, but I think no matter our cultural background, many of us will have lived experience of a matriarch that rules with a sharp tongue and iron-will. Objectively, they can be rude and exasperating at times. But in spite of this, you have to admire their resilience and dogged determination.

Especially when you realise, as readers do in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, that deep down that iron-will is fuelled by love and a need to derive purpose. And Vera shows her love through tea and food. There is not a situation that she does not have a tea or food remedy for. Beware, the frequent and fulsome descriptions of food within this story are mouth-watering!

Secondly, you need a cast of ensemble characters that add layering and depth, and all importantly, spark humour with their interactions with your lead character. Sutanto delivers on that score also. Continue reading: https://www.bookloverbookreviews.com/2024/05/vera-wongs-unsolicited-advice-for-m...… (more)

This is perhaps the most fun mystery I've read in a long time. Vera Wong, proprietor of "Vera Wang's World Famous Teahouse" in Chinatown, only has one regular customer these days. The place is run-down and a bit grimy. She's lonley, and her son doesn't seem to spend much time with her. She's surprised when she goes down one morning and finds a corpse in her tea room. Before the police arrive, she very helpful outlines the corpse's body in Sharpie and takes the only piece of evidence that might make the police think it is murder. She has watched this on TV. How hard can it be? The perpetrator is likely to revisit the scene of the crime. She immediately comes up with suspects--a man saying he is a reporter, a woman saying she has a true crime podcast, the man's brother, and the man's widow who was accompanied by their small daughter. She begins her process of elimination. Readers (and listeners) will be amused by the story as it unfolds. As Vera gets to know her suspects, she doesn't really want it to be any of them. I figured it out early on even though I knew the solution might be a bit of a stretch. Turns out that was exactly what happened. I even figured out she broke into her own teashop when that happened. Even though the mystery itself may fall a little shorter than the rating I'm giving, the enjoyment pushed it up. It's one I'm unlikely to forget in the future.… (more)