【 VERA WONG’S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS 】

Genre: Cosy Crime
Audience: Adult
Author: Jesse Sutanto
Published: March 2023
Publisher: Harlequin
Pages: 341 (paperback)

This was everything I’ve come to expect from Jesse Sutanto: funny, pacy and a damn good story.

From page one to the last, there was nothing else I’d rather be doing other than reading this book. Vera’s character was simply wonderful – and wow, I’ve never had a book leave me craving food so badly! Vera is the quintessential meddlesome mother – particularly, of the Chinese variety, which Sutanto captures so brilliantly.

She’s up before dawn each day, doesn’t understand why young people don’t get up early and are sleeping their lives away, and believes herself far more capable than the police when it comes to solving murders. All the good qualities we love in a book character.

I loved the setting of a teashop (a slightly run down one at that) and the way that Vera aggressively gathers her suspects together to form a sort of family. It’s very sweet and hilariously confusing, seeing as they all now believe one of them is the murderer but also find themselves getting along famously. This found-family trope is certainly strong in the book – it added a very wholesome and healing element to the story, where it’s lovely to see everyone opening up to each other (usually over the copious, uber-delicious-sounding food that Vera whips up) and coming out of their shell.

This is light-hearted even when dealing with heavier themes – as each of Vera’s suspects has a pretty big, and sometimes dark, secret that they’re holding onto. It balances severity perfectly with humour, and I think that’s what I like so much about it. A little bit of silliness makes the plot so satisfying.

I’m looking forward to reading more by Sutanto, because I’ve certainly not been let down yet!

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Title: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Author: Jesse Sutanto
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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.