Jesse Q. Sutanto is the award-winning, bestselling author of adult, young adult, and children's middle-grade book. She has a master's degree in creative writing from Oxford University, though she hasn't found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. The film rights to her women's fiction title Dial A for Aunties was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial For Aunties, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Her young adult books include Well, That Was Unexpected, The Obsession, and The New Girl. Her middle-grade books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit. You can find her online on Instagram @JesseQSutanto. You can find more of my reviews of her work here.
Vera Wong is a lonely little 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 oolong 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 is 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 will do a better job than the police possibly can—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. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
Sutanto writes just hilarious books! Vera's narration, the bafflement of the "youngster" characters, the situations they find themselves in all contribute to the overall hilarity of Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Sutanto also blends her humor well with the coziness of the book itself. The novel is infused with cozy mystery vibes, making for a book where one page you'll be giggling, and the next you'll be wishing you had your own cup of Vera-made tea to sip. I greatly enjoyed how easy it was to dive into the story and get invested in each characters' story.
To further gush about the writing, I was incredibly pleased by the pacing. Our introduction to Vera's life as usual to the murder is perfect, and I loved how each new character was slowly introduced so that we could get an understanding of where everyone fit into the story before diving into who had what motivations. I was so suspicious of Riki for the longest time because of how his connection to Marshall wasn't revealed until later in the story! I think gently turning readers' heads by pacing the novel the way she does is how Sutanto is able to keep us on the edge of our seats for so long about the murder. I did have an inkling of who was involved after a certain point, but in a cozy mystery book like this, it didn't much matter to me if I guessed the ending. It was more important to me to see how each of the characters would develop across the course of the story and how their relationships would grow, and Sutanto nails that, all aided by the pacing of the novel itself.
Found family is one of my favorite tropes, and I read a lot of it in fantasy, so I was excited to see it in a more contemporary setting. Vera's lonely life at the beginning is completely changed with the entrance of Julia and Emma, Oliver, Sana, and Riki. I found each of these characters' entrance into Vera's life, and the further continuation of their relationship, believable based on how they interacted with Vera and their personal stakes in the mystery. Further than all of that, though, I love how it shows that you can still find your family when you're older, and that you can still make those meaningful connections outside of the family you have with a significant other and children. The definition of family is really expanding in the modern world, and I so enjoyed Sutanto including that in Vera's story!
I've loved both of Jesse Q. Sutanto's books that I've read so far, and it has definitely convinced me to be on the lookout for others. I'm also hopeful that some will receive movie/tv adaptations, because I can see them doing such a good job transferring to the screen. You can find more from Sutanto online on Instagram @JesseQSutanto. You can find more of my reviews of her work here.
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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