If you love the idea of a cozy mystery, you have to read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. It has the signature charm and characters I was expecting from Sutanto, based on the Dial A for Aunties series, with some exceptional mystery. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Put the kettle on, there’s a mystery brewing…
Tea-shop owner. Matchmaker. Detective?
Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).
But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll 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 decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.
Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers begins immediately with a strong narrative voice. If you love sassy, meddlesome, but deeply caring main characters, Vera is for you. She has a depth of feeling in all accounts. And while her tea house was broken into, it gives her this new spark of life. She meets new people and embarks on a new adventure. With glimpses into other characters, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is like cozy mystery meets “Love Actually”.
There’s a strong sense of comedy populated with quirky and memorable characters. It’s all grounded in a sense of mystery which fades in and out of the spotlight as these characters make a place in our heart. Vera is the best and she can’t help herself – she has to help! But throughout Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, these characters bloom and grow. They take their tragedies and mistakes and turn them into new relationships and found family.
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Secrets come tumbling down and mistakes are thrown into the spotlight in Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. This has to be my favorite mystery release from Sutanto and certainly my favorite cozy mystery in general! Find Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & The Book Depository.