Vera Wong is a 60-year-old widow who still opens her teahouse every day. Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse is a staple of San Francisco’s Chinatown (she named it after the designer, to try to draw more customers in). Only, the world-famous teahouse is almost always empty. Vera has one loyal customer, Alex, whose wife has Alzheimer’s. She feels good about giving him a warming cup of tea every day, but she is sad by all the young people who are going to the new place, The Café, and buying coffee. They would all be better off coming to her and letting her make them a cup of tea. She will know just what they need.
And then came the morning she came downstairs and found the dead body in her shop. She knew immediately that he had been murdered, and she was ready for the police when they came to investigate. She had drawn the outline around him already so they don’t have to, and she made tea for the whole investigative team, to help them think clearly to find the killer. Because she knows that the man was murdered.
When the police show up, they are ungrateful for the work that Vera had done and refused to drink her tea. They didn’t dust for fingerprints or take any DNA. Clearly, she will have to investigate herself.
Vera watches the shop, thinking that the killer will come back to the scene of the crime. That’s how she meets Riki, who says he’s a reporter for Buzzfeed. She meets Sana, who says she has a true crime podcast. She meets a man who looks exactly like the dead man, who turns out to be his twin brother Oliver. And the woman with the toddler who looks into the teahouse and runs away is clearly the dead man’s wife and daughter.
Vera takes it upon herself to get to know these people, bringing them together in ways that none of them expect. She makes them teas that warm and comfort them. She makes them food that evokes memories of childhood. And when their defenses are down, Vera asks them if they killed the dead man. And while they all insist that they didn’t kill the man, they all also agree that Vera is a force of nature. She has brought them all together, creating a community of people who need each other, and as it turns out, who all need Vera too.
But when it turns out that Vera has been keeping secrets from them—and from the police—along with all of her suspects, will she destroy the trust that her new friends have in her? Or will she really be able to find the killer, putting herself in danger that not even her lawyer son can protect her from?
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is the latest novel from Jesse Q. Sutanto, who burst onto the publishing scene several years ago, writing young adult thrillers and comedic mysteries at a rate that would make Vera proud. This novel is part murder mystery, part family drama, and part study of how to be a traditional Chinese mother.
Like Vera herself, this book is a force to be reckoned with. There is a clear story line to the murder, but this novel is so much more than just a mystery. It’s filled with personality and soul and comfort, like the complex teas that Vera can pull together in mere minutes, and it has the ability to heal your soul. Watching this woman work her way into the lives and hearts of her “suspects” is sweet and hilarious in equal portions, and seeing them all come back to life under her care is inspiring. I adored this novel, and I think Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers will be a balm for anyone needing the warmth of an excellent cup of tea, a grandmother’s hug, and the encouragement to go after your dreams.
Egalleys for Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.
