Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutano (2023) 338 pages

Vera Wong Zhuzhu lives above her little tea shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, and has very few customers. However, the sixty-something widow DOES have a spunky, pushy attitude. When she finds a dead man in her tea shop one morning, she calls the police, but doesn't trust them to solve the murder. She puts an obituary in the local paper, and posts about it on TikTok and Twitter, believing that the killer will return to the scene of the crime. Before long, she has snared people who have come and paused outside the tea shop. As each comes, she brings them in to give them her excellent tea. She gathers them all together at the home of the dead man's widow, feeding them and learning about them, and especially gravitating towards the dead man's tiny child, bringing the clingy tot out of her shell. One thing that is clear almost immediately is that the dead man was strongly disliked. The people Vera has gathered all have their secrets. She lets them know that she considers them all suspects, but there's something about her that the suspects like, in spite of that.

This story has everything: murder, anger, good people who feel bad, people who feel stuck, people who look guilty but aren't, people who find "family" outside their family, good Chinese cooking, comforting tea, reunions, and a good share of humor. Lovely story!

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne (2022) 439 pages

Reyna is one of Queen Tilane's private guards, always on the alert for assassins who want to kill the horrible queen. A skillful fighter, Reyna was born into the profession, following after her mother. After killing yet another would-be assassin at a large event, she was seriously injured by a comrade of the man, and realized that she was done living like this. In spite of the fact that she couldn't walk away from her security duties without the risk of being imprisoned or killed, she makes her escape by horseback that night. Meanwhile, her sweetheart, Kianthe, the Arcandor, the Mage of Ages, is alerted to Reyna's injury by a moonstone necklace that Kianthe had made for that purpose. Kianthe meets up with Reyna and they decide to make a life together.

The story follows their journey to a land that they hope is far enough away from the Queendom that no one will find Reyna. Their goal is to have a shop that sells tea (something that Reyna especially loves) and books (which Kianthe adores). They meet quite a variety of characters when they arrive in the Village of Tawney. The story has its share of dragons and griffons, too. The women have a loving and ardent relationship and their different strengths make them equally compelling as they put their plans into action.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto  338 pp. 

Kara already blogged about this book and pretty much says it all. I don't have much to add other than I enjoyed the busybody Vera Wong and the way she copes with her failing teahouse, the dead body in the teahouse, the police, and the other characters/suspects, although I don't know why she wasn't arrested. The descriptions of the meals Vera makes had me drooling. Can you bribe police officers with food (aside from donuts)? I agree that there should be at least one sequel starring Vera. This is a fun book.

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne, 443 pages

Reyna is one of the queen's personal guards, and after being stabbed one time too many, she decides to take up her girlfriend's half-serious proposal to move to the middle of nowhere and start a teashop. There are, of course, some complicating factors: Reyna's girlfriend, Kianthe, is the Arcandor, the greatest mage in all the land and leader of the magical guild that handles all things magical, so she can't really leave that responsibility behind. Oh, and the queen doesn't take abandonment very well (hence the "treason" in the title). But hey, a teashop with lots of books is what's needed, and that's what Reyna and Kianthe set out to build.

I truly love the recent spate of uber-cozy fantasy titles (like Legends & Lattes, The House in the Cerulean Sea, and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches) and this is an excellent addition to that subgenre. I can't wait to read the sequel!

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 338 pages

Vera Wong is a lonely widow who runs a dying teahouse in San Francisco's Chinatown. She has one or two regular customers, a son who can't be bothered to text her back, and a rigid early-to-bed, early-to-rise schedule. When she comes downstairs one morning to find a dead body in her teahouse, Vera's quiet world is thrown into chaos, with lazy police (her words) and a slew of murder suspects, who swing by the teahouse in the days following the death. As she gets to know her suspects, however, Vera creates a new family for herself, one with adult "children" who respect their elders (read: they let Vera push them around), and a precocious stand-in granddaughter. One of them must be the murderer, and whichever one it is will break Vera's heart.

As much as this is a murder mystery, this is also cozy book about found family, which is a favorite of mine. Sutanto nailed the goofy overbearing aunties in Dial A for Auntie, and while Vera isn't nearly as wacky as those aunts, Sutanto has created another memorable set of characters here. I loved the relationships between the characters, and even if the ending stretched credibility a bit, I still enjoyed it immensely, and I'd love to read more about Vera and her cobbled-together crew.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 160 pages

Dex is a monk in the main city on the tiny moon on which they live. They appreciate being a monk, but feel a call for something more than the city-based work they do, and so become a tea monk — a nomadic monk that visits the small villages that dot the moon, providing tea, an empathetic ear, and a place to relax for an hour or two. But when Dex strikes out into the wilderness, they discover a robot, the first one any human has seen for millennia, since the robots were given autonomy and released from the service of humankind. While this is understandably surprising, the robot wants to learn more about humans, and as the pair spend some time together, they learn about one another.

That's pretty much the whole of this short novel, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that too. With Chambers' trademark kind writing style and plenty of meaningful conversations between the two characters, this is also a meditation on humanity and our place within the universe, the relationship between the descendants of oppressors and slaves, and the importance of taking time for oneself. I knew I'd love this book (based solely on the author's other work), but this was perfect.

*This book has not yet been published. It will be released July 13, 2021.

The tea girl of Hummingbird lane

The tea girl of Hummingbird lane / Lisa See, read by Ruthie Ann Miles and others, 380 pgs.

Li-Yan lives with her family who are tea farmers in the mountains of  China.  She is being trained as a midwife but doesn't have a lot of interest. She does well in school and may be able to be the one in her village who continues on to higher education (AKA secondary education).  Instead, she falls in love and ends up pregnant, a state that is unacceptable for an unmarried woman.  Her boyfriend has left for Thailand to make money so they CAN get married but the baby is coming too soon.  Despite thinking that her mother will make her "get rid" of the baby (kill it after it is born and bury it in the forest), she instead helps Li-Yan hide her pregnancy and deliver her new born to an orphanage.  The baby is adopted out to an American couple.  Li-Yan's life seems to be going down hill fast but then takes a turn when her teacher helps her get into a training program to become a tea expert.  She moves to the big city and starts a business.  Now she is interested in tracking down the daughter she gave up.  The story goes between Li-Yan's perspective and her daughter in America.  Will they ever be able to find each other?  Listen to this great audio book and find out.

The Book of Tea

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura  pp. 94

This small book is not about tea per se although there is a bit of history about the use of tea. Instead it is a book on the philosophy of "Teaism" and the practices of tea masters with regards to aesthetics and life practices. It includes the connections between Teaism and Zen, Taoism, architecture, garden design, and floral arranging. Interesting, especially for those who study Asian religions. Don't pick this up looking for a reference on varieties and uses of tea.