On Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders by Jesse Q Sutanto
by Julie Sellers
Hello, Radio Readers. I’m Julie A. Sellers for the HPPR Radio Readers Book Club. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders by Jesse Q. Sutanto is a cozy mystery that combines a suspenseful who-done-it with themes of family, aging, usefulness, and dreams.
Sixty-year-old widow Vera Wong is owner of Vera Wang’s World-Famous Tea House—and yes, that’s an intentional reference to the designer in an attempt to draw people into her shop. Our Vera adheres to a strict schedule and firmly rooted beliefs about success and filial loyalty. Although her San Francisco tea house is anything but “world-famous,” she rises early every morning, takes her walk, and returns to open her shop—usually texting some unwanted advice to her only son somewhere in the mix.
But one morning, Vera discovers a cadaver on the floor of her tea shop. She calls the police, but not before outlining the body in Sharpie and discovering a flash drive clasped in the victim’s hand. Vera is convinced the police are useless and will never solve the murder, so she takes the flash drive into her own safekeeping. Vera knows from television police procedurals that the killer always returns to the scene of the crime, so she waits. Then, the parade of suspects in the murder of Marshall Chen begins to arrive.
There’s Riki, who claims he’s a reporter for Buzzfeed, and Sana, who says she has a true crime podcast. There’s also Julia, the victim’s wife, and his twin brother, Oliver. All of them show up at Vera’s tea shop, and all discover that Vera is a force to be reckoned with. Although they bristle at her bossiness at first, they acquiesce to all of her orders and ideas, knowing full well she has each of them on her list of suspects as she investigates Marshall’s murder.
The four suspects’ lives intersect with Vera’s, and more so when someone breaks into her shop, and Julia invites her to live with her and her toddler, Emma. Vera inspires Julia to return to her dream of being a photographer, the one she abandoned because of Marshall’s emotional manipulation, and helps bring an anxious Emma out of her shell. She works similar wonders in the lives of Ricki, Sana, and Oliver. They all wonder how they ever got along without Vera…until they learn about the flash drive.
Just when Vera thinks she’s both a failure at sleuthing and at being a mother figure to this ragtag group, something happens that brings them all back together. Vera is willing to give up her idea of solving the murder and embrace this family of new friends that have come to populate her existence and make her feel useful. Of course, that is when Vera has her breakthrough in the case. Will she be able to get a confession out of the murderer after all?
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders is a page-turner, and the perfect summer read.
I’m Julie A. Sellers for HPPR Radio Reader’s Book Club.
