A cute and cozy murder mystery. I loved the cast of characters who were funny, relatable, and eccentric. I liked that Vera became a motherly figure to this group of characters and they formed a sort of family.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto

This book was such a delight! An older adult solving mysteries- what's not to love? Vera lives in China Town in San Francisco and runs a tea shop. One day, Vera finds a dead man in her tea shop clutching a flash drive in his outstretched hand. What does Vera do? What any curious, and maybe a little bored, person would do, call the police and the swipe the flash drive. Vera is catapulted into a mystery where a murderer is always nearby. Vera is hilarious and heartwarming. I loved the intentional diversity of this book- an older adult Asian heroine is not one I've read often and I am now looking for more!

VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS, by Jesse Q. Sutanto, is the first book in what I hope will turn into a long-running series. With an unassuming, lonely elderly Chinese woman as the unlikely protagonist, Ms. Sutanto proves once again that she’s a master storyteller. Stumbling across a dead man in her almost defunct tea shop, Vera starts her journey to solve his murder. Along the way, she comes in contact with several people who all seem to have a good reason to have wanted the man dead. They all have secrets and tell lies, but somehow Vera manages to look beyond that and find the truth. Despite the human flaws of each person, Vera included, they become endearing with the wit and humor the author bestows on each page. This book contains character in spades along with a great mystery to solve. If you enjoy a charming, cozy mystery that’s full of humor and heart, I highly recommend Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.

Many thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Lonely elder & fledging business owner, Vera Wong, is lost in the monotony of life when her routine is spectacularly upended as a dead stranger is found in her teahouse one morning. The police astoundingly underwhelm Vera as they don’t take the case, Vera’s offer of assistance or her tea seriously. Vera then takes it upon herself to Nancy Drew her way to answers as she locates & befriends several people, who she believes are suspects or persons of interest. Through her investigation, she stumbles upon the most eclectic group of friends as she navigates her way through all the lies, secrets & drama surrounding this dead stranger.

It has the unquestionable charm of a cozy mystery along with a fascinating whodunnit to solve involving multiple side characters that intertwine together this fascinating tale.

Jesse Q. Sutanto’s trademark wit & humor are the backbone to the incredible storytelling that takes place in this delightful cozy mystery. Jesse Q. Sutanto elevates the genre of cozy mystery with the equally endearing & formidable main character that is Vera Wong & the exquisite manner to which humor & pure love is braided into the story.

I love books that circumvent the norm by increasing diversity & representation & with this book having an elder Asian woman as the main character, this book delivers on this front. Vera Wong is unforgettable, delightfully stubborn, hilarious & bold in the best way possible. I also adore books like this that have heart, charm & realistic life lessons that can fully captivate readers. The side characters & in turn, their stories are fully developed so that you care for everyone involved.

I finished this story with a smile on my face. I will happily read anything this author writes & I hope everyone else delights in reading this story as much as I did.

If you love cozy mysteries or just want a story with a lot of heart mixed with a heaping of mystery, then I highly recommend Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the arc, which I voluntarily read & reviewed. All thoughts & opinions are my own.

I will post my review on my social media as it gets closer to the review date. I will add links once I do this. I will post on Amazon on release day.

Sutanto's first cozy mystery really captures the essence of the genre. It's fun and engaging, and all the characters' storylines are woven together nicely. I do think it was too fast-paced, so we didn't get to know most of the characters well, and I do wish the passages with Vera's internal monologue weren't written in the same way she speaks English - while it needed to be in English for the audience, a character whose second language is English wouldn't think in English, they would think in their native tongue, and that internal monologue would be more fluid.

Vera Wong, oh do I love you, you had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. I adored this book. Loved the characters but especially Vera. Would love if this could be a series. I am going to check out more of this author's books. Enjoyed her writing. My only slight critique would be to leave out the curse words, but I'm old and crusty and just don't like reading foul language. This one is a 5 stars for me and highly recommended!

At this point, I just know that any Jesse Sutanto book is going to make me feel many things, and this book... my goodness. I can't begin to describe how much I fell in love with all of its characters. I want Vera to solve more murder mysteries. I love her.

Thank you Berkley for the arc!

Wow.

If Vera Wong isn’t on your 2023 tbr, it needs to be. A who done it with found family? AMAZING!
At no point did I guess where it was going and it was a genuine good time from start to finish. A lovely cast of characters thrown together after an unfortunate event and what a ride it was!

Vera runs a tea house and lives a pretty quiet life… until she discovers a dead body in her business. Vera doesn’t trust the police to solve the murder, especially after they don’t appreciate her tidying up and outlining the body for them. Vera decides to take things into her own hands and investigate the death by involving herself in the lives of the main suspects. What will happen when she begins to like the suspects?

Ok this was CUTE. I enjoyed this so much!

What I loved:
- strong sense of found family
- food descriptions
- Vera!! So sassy and strong willed
- extremely loveable characters
- cozy mystery!

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a cute, feel-good, cozy mystery with incredibly loveable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reading copy.

Saying that I'm obsessed with this book might be an understatement. I simply loved everything about it! Just a couple of pages in and I was howling with laughter and less than 24 hours later, I was so sad to reach the last page. It was such an enjoyable and flawless read that I never wanted it to end.

I adored all the characters, especially Vera! She reminded me so much of my mother, who is similarly very diligent in trying to keep up with the latest lingo and can whip up a mean lion's head 😂 I'm Chinese and nothing thrills me more in novels than accurate cultural representation + characters that I see myself in. As always, the author has nailed all of these perfectly.

Truly, there is nothing I didn't love about this heartwarming, captivating and highly bingeable book even though I guessed whodunit quite early on (but not the why).

I've said this before and I'll say this again: Jesse Q Sutanto never misses, regardless of what genre or age group she writes for. She has completely stolen my heart with Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, now one of my favorite cozy mysteries and found family stories ever! ❤️

This book really grew on me. At first I just thought it was a (very silly) cozy mystery, but in reality the mystery is just an excuse for Vera Wong — a kind of Chinese Mary Poppins — to make everything better for everyone. Definitely upbeat!

Vera Wong runs a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Vera Wang’s World Famous Tea House in fact, though it is named after the famous Vera Wang not the proprietor Vera Wong, and doesn’t appear to be very terribly famous as it rarely has any customers. Everything changes one morning, though, when Vera heads down to the shop and finds a dead body clutching a thumb drive on the floor. Based on her unshakeable premise that a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, Vera soon has four “suspects” who, while still under suspicion (from Vera’s perspective), also become close friends and subjects for Vera’s meddlesome, tyrannical and yet heartfelt ways.

What started as a kind of stereotypical Chinese auntie persona for Vera really blossomed with individual personality as the story went on. One of my favorite scenes: Vera reads Rumplestiltskin to an impressionable young girl and rails against the utter stupidity of the story in favor of an alternative Chinese folk story that addresses the situation … differently. Some actual interesting comments on tea as well. And the resolution of the mystery nicely surprising. Very pleasant read.

Some good quotes:
“In Chinese culture, respect only flows in one direction, from the younger to the older, like a river. The older generation doesn’t owe the younger ones respect; if any is given it is done so out of kindness and generosity, not necessity.”
“Lipton, like many other Western brands of black tea, uses inferior tea leaves that are then roasted at a higher temperature, killing all traces of subtle flavoring. The result is a strong black tea that can stand up to aggressive boiling and generous amounts of sugar and milk.”
As an opening line, this one quite tickled me: “Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster.”

Thank you to Berkley Books and NetGalley for my gifted digital advance review copy.

Vera Wong runs a shabby tea house in the center of Chinatown in San Francisco. She lives alone and rarely hears from her adult son. Despite her solitary life, she tries to keep herself as active and social as she can. The monotony is shattered one morning when Vera discovers the body of a man in her shop. Certain that the police will mishandle the investigation, Vera takes things into her own hands and begins to compile a suspect list, search for clues, and follow leads.

After my last read, which was dark and heavy, this was a fun and cozy mystery to crack open. I loved Vera's character and her voice really made me chuckle. Though my family is Filipino, Vera really reminds me of some of my older female relatives (in a great way).

I figured out the 'who' in the whodunnit pretty early on, though I missed one twist, but still enjoyed the ride. Part of the book was a little more focused on the romance between two of the characters, perhaps moreso than I would have preferred.

Overall, I enjoyed this quirky cozy, and I loved Vera so much!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads

I had not read this author before, and at first I thought it was rather silly. However, I found it poignant that lonely Vera found people she came to care about and, more importantly, that others cared about her. Heartwarming.

Just a fun book to read. The basic plot is Vera wangs world famous tea room is the place a murder takes place. The owner, an old Chinese woman decides to solve the case. As she rounds up suspects she also creates a community of young people who she cares for and they care for her..
A great feel good read

After finding a dead body in her Chinatown tea shop, Vera Wong takes it upon herself to investigate when the police don’t seem up to the task. I enjoyed how Vera befriended all her suspects and brought them together - it was a fun and unique way to involve them in the story. Vera is an appealing character with just the right blend of bossiness and vulnerability. Recommended for fans of humorous cozies featuring senior sleuths.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Well it took me a while to get going on this, it turned into an unputdownable cozy found family mystery.

Do you like irascible Chinese grandmas? Do you like descriptions of lots of delicious Asian food? Do you like when everything works out in kind of improbable but wholly satisfying ways? This book is perfect. I found myself laughing out loud so many times.

The reading experience reminded me Legends and Lattes, but so much funnier.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers, by Jesse Q Sutanto, is full of all the delicious food, meddling aunties, and murder that we expect in a Sutanto book. When Vera finds a dead body in her struggling tea shop, she snaps into Chinese-mother action by bossing the cops around, making loads of food for everyone, starting her own investigation when she thinks the cops aren’t working enough like a cop show… and maybe grabbing a little evidence off the body…

Dial A for Aunties, by the same author, was just a stunning read for me, I kept turning pages like No! That did NOT just happen! I can’t believe she went there! The blend of murder and meddling! The mashup of romance novel and dark comedy! It was just amazing. Then I liked Four Aunties and A Wedding (that’s Dial A for Aunties 2), Well, That Was Unexpected, and now Vera Wong just fine. These ones are more madcap adventures, after the mashup perfection for Dial A For Aunties, and you kind of have to roll with the low stakes and goofy fun. In Vera Wong, readers won’t worry for a moment about catching the murderer, the success of Vera’s teashop, the romances, or anything bad happening to our characters. Which is a perfectly good story — what if a nosy old lady bumped into a bunch of struggling young people and bossed them into success? Also, there’s dead body. There’s no real tension in this story, which doesn’t mean there are no surprises.

Just roll with it for a gore-free, zany murder investigation. I loved Vera’ s plans to host a Poirot-style drawing room reveal, with all the characters eating a massive meal, of course. I absolutely loved one of the minor characters, Officer Gray, who just wanted to have a normal workday without a random auntie forcefeeding her tea and complaining that she’s not enough like an episode of CSI. I have to say wasn’t a fan of all the subplots. (I always gag at writer’s block as a trope in fiction, and I double gag at characters suddenly unblocking into a lucrative creative career.) The twist ending is clear almost from the start, mostly from clever foreshadowing (and a little because, like in The It Girl by Ruth Ware, there are only so many characters, so there are only so many possibilities). That was a bit disappointing for me because I spent literally every page of Dial A for Aunties and The Obsession with no clue what could possibly happen next.

It’s strange to say this is a solid addition to the nosy-aunty cozy mystery genre, because is that even a genre? Is it a real thing, or have my reading tastes gotten too specific?

Anyway, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers was such a fun read, but it can’t possibly compare to the amazing can’t-stop-reading of Dial A for Aunties and The Obsession.

senior-sleuths, Asian Americans, Asian-cultures, meddling, amateur-sleuth, Chinese-customs, Chinatown, widow, teahouse, verbal-humor, situational-humor, laugh-riot, laugh-out-loud, murder, investigation, law-enforcement*****

This is what happens when you don't listen to Chinese elders!
Vera is just too much fun! The cops and so many others learn the hard way that she is so right. The author is new to me, but the publisher's blurb had me on the hook. Then the story reeled me in! Loved it and laughed my sox off!
I requested and received an EARC from Berkley Publishing Group/Berkley via NetGalley. Thank you!

Sutanto has always written wonderful characters and mystery that sucks you in from the first page. She succeeds once again in this work, Vera Wong is lovable and interesting and fascinating to hear about!

Vera proves that meddling mothers are a force to be reckoned with. When a man is found dead in her dilapidated Chinatown tea shop, she took it upon herself to solve the murder because no one is doing anything right by her standards. The story brings together a quirky cast of characters that you can't help but root for, even when they take misguided steps. It is a heartwarming story with the most unlikely found family. I can't wait to read what Jesse writes next!