Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man)

Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutano (2025) 324 pages

Vera Wong was too good to have just one story, so she's back again. In the first Vera story, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, the lonely 60 year old Chinese woman investigates the death of a man she finds in her tea shop, and also brings together a group of people into a "found family." In this continuation of her story, while she is still so happy with her new family members, she misses the thrill she had while investigating the murder. When Vera finds a nervous young woman with a story about a guy who has disappeared, Vera hops right to it, trying to figure out what happened to him. Part of the difficulty is that he went by a number of different names.

Vera is an excellent cook who makes the best Chinese foods, often transporting them to people who have no idea what a delicious feast is in store for them. (Hmmm, is she buttering up possible witnesses in order to get more information? Quite possible!) She also has the ability to brew up just the right tea for any given situation. And did I forget to mention that she is rather strong-willed and pushy? Yes, she's all of that. And once she learns how to use social media to send out videos, she goes viral, gaining information, but putting herself and her family at risk. The charm of Vera and her ever-growing family makes this story a quick and surprising read as we learn what secrets the witnesses have been hiding.

You Will Never Be Me

You Will Never Be Me by Jesse Q. Sutanto, 336 pages

Seven years ago, Meredith was a social media influencer on the rise when she met Aspen, a woman who was struggling to find her own footing in the cutthroat social media world. Meredith took Aspen under her wing, and showed how to grow her following. But as Aspen became more successful and eventually bypassed Meredith's follower count, the dynamic of their relationship changed — what looked peachy on the outside was rotten on the inside, much like the social media personas they created. With heightened competition and cutthroat tactics, who knows what they'll do to get ahead of each other.

Prior to this novel, Sutanto's novels have been funny and filled with quirky characters that you'd love to spend time with (even if it's just a short period of time because they're a LOT) — see Dial A for Auntie and Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murder. This book, however, is a straight-up thriller with absolutely despicable characters (with the exception of six-year-old Elea, who I think I would get along with quite well) doing horrible things in the name of self-promotion and garnering a few more likes on Instagram. And you know what? Sutanto nails it. This book is full of slowly ratcheting tension, crazy twists, and everything you want out of a psychological thriller. Plus it drives a stake through the heart of influencer culture. Absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait to recommend it to everyone.

*This book will be published August 20, 2024.

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!

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.

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.