Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto (Audiobook)

 

Vera Wong runs a tea house in San Francisco. When a dead body is found on the property Vera decides to investigate the obvious case of murder since she has no faith in the police doing a proper job. During the “investigation” Vera meets a variety of people connected to the murder victim, little do they realise the impact she is about to have on their lives.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto sits nicely in the genre of cozy crime. Gentle and unassuming it draws you in, before you know it hours have disappeared and you simply must find out what is going to happen next.

Vera is a strange character. Her “world famous” tea house is anything but; she has one customer a day. Alongside this her adult son has no time for her. However, Vera refuses to give up and puts on a brave front every day. This perfectly describes Vera’s nature, she’s set in her ways, traditional and forthright. Although Vera is traditional, she likes to think she’s up to date with modern technology, Googling anything she doesn’t understand. At times this is amusing but at others it shows you can never underestimate Vera.

The supporting characters all defer to Vera instead of ignoring or dismissing her, this is obviously a reflection of a culture where young people respect their elders. Combined with the cultural respect, Vera manages to use a little bit of deception and some fantastic cooking to get everyone to do exactly what she wants. Vera also seems to know what is best for everyone and manipulates them so that their lives are actually better for it.

As Vera gets to know each character, or suspect, in greater depth, she gradually whittles down her list of possible murderers. This is quite daunting as over time our affection for each character grows and you really don’t want one of them to be the villain. Befitting a cozy crime, everything is drawn together nicely at the end. I do hope that Vera Wong gets to investigate another crime.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers by Jesse Sutanto is available in paperback, ebook and audio format. My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for a review copy.