Sutanto's first cozy mystery really captures the essence of the genre. It's fun and engaging, and all the characters' storylines are woven together nicely. I do think it was too fast-paced, so we didn't get to know most of the characters well, and I do wish the passages with Vera's internal monologue weren't written in the same way she speaks English - while it needed to be in English for the audience, a character whose second language is English wouldn't think in English, they would think in their native tongue, and that internal monologue would be more fluid.

Vera Wong, oh do I love you, you had me laughing out loud within the first few pages. I adored this book. Loved the characters but especially Vera. Would love if this could be a series. I am going to check out more of this author's books. Enjoyed her writing. My only slight critique would be to leave out the curse words, but I'm old and crusty and just don't like reading foul language. This one is a 5 stars for me and highly recommended!

At this point, I just know that any Jesse Sutanto book is going to make me feel many things, and this book... my goodness. I can't begin to describe how much I fell in love with all of its characters. I want Vera to solve more murder mysteries. I love her.

Thank you Berkley for the arc!

Wow.

If Vera Wong isn’t on your 2023 tbr, it needs to be. A who done it with found family? AMAZING!
At no point did I guess where it was going and it was a genuine good time from start to finish. A lovely cast of characters thrown together after an unfortunate event and what a ride it was!

Vera runs a tea house and lives a pretty quiet life… until she discovers a dead body in her business. Vera doesn’t trust the police to solve the murder, especially after they don’t appreciate her tidying up and outlining the body for them. Vera decides to take things into her own hands and investigate the death by involving herself in the lives of the main suspects. What will happen when she begins to like the suspects?

Ok this was CUTE. I enjoyed this so much!

What I loved:
- strong sense of found family
- food descriptions
- Vera!! So sassy and strong willed
- extremely loveable characters
- cozy mystery!

I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a cute, feel-good, cozy mystery with incredibly loveable characters.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for the advanced reading copy.

Saying that I'm obsessed with this book might be an understatement. I simply loved everything about it! Just a couple of pages in and I was howling with laughter and less than 24 hours later, I was so sad to reach the last page. It was such an enjoyable and flawless read that I never wanted it to end.

I adored all the characters, especially Vera! She reminded me so much of my mother, who is similarly very diligent in trying to keep up with the latest lingo and can whip up a mean lion's head 😂 I'm Chinese and nothing thrills me more in novels than accurate cultural representation + characters that I see myself in. As always, the author has nailed all of these perfectly.

Truly, there is nothing I didn't love about this heartwarming, captivating and highly bingeable book even though I guessed whodunit quite early on (but not the why).

I've said this before and I'll say this again: Jesse Q Sutanto never misses, regardless of what genre or age group she writes for. She has completely stolen my heart with Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, now one of my favorite cozy mysteries and found family stories ever! ❤️

This book really grew on me. At first I just thought it was a (very silly) cozy mystery, but in reality the mystery is just an excuse for Vera Wong — a kind of Chinese Mary Poppins — to make everything better for everyone. Definitely upbeat!

Vera Wong runs a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Vera Wang’s World Famous Tea House in fact, though it is named after the famous Vera Wang not the proprietor Vera Wong, and doesn’t appear to be very terribly famous as it rarely has any customers. Everything changes one morning, though, when Vera heads down to the shop and finds a dead body clutching a thumb drive on the floor. Based on her unshakeable premise that a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, Vera soon has four “suspects” who, while still under suspicion (from Vera’s perspective), also become close friends and subjects for Vera’s meddlesome, tyrannical and yet heartfelt ways.

What started as a kind of stereotypical Chinese auntie persona for Vera really blossomed with individual personality as the story went on. One of my favorite scenes: Vera reads Rumplestiltskin to an impressionable young girl and rails against the utter stupidity of the story in favor of an alternative Chinese folk story that addresses the situation … differently. Some actual interesting comments on tea as well. And the resolution of the mystery nicely surprising. Very pleasant read.

Some good quotes:
“In Chinese culture, respect only flows in one direction, from the younger to the older, like a river. The older generation doesn’t owe the younger ones respect; if any is given it is done so out of kindness and generosity, not necessity.”
“Lipton, like many other Western brands of black tea, uses inferior tea leaves that are then roasted at a higher temperature, killing all traces of subtle flavoring. The result is a strong black tea that can stand up to aggressive boiling and generous amounts of sugar and milk.”
As an opening line, this one quite tickled me: “Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster.”

Thank you to Berkley Books and NetGalley for my gifted digital advance review copy.

Vera Wong runs a shabby tea house in the center of Chinatown in San Francisco. She lives alone and rarely hears from her adult son. Despite her solitary life, she tries to keep herself as active and social as she can. The monotony is shattered one morning when Vera discovers the body of a man in her shop. Certain that the police will mishandle the investigation, Vera takes things into her own hands and begins to compile a suspect list, search for clues, and follow leads.

After my last read, which was dark and heavy, this was a fun and cozy mystery to crack open. I loved Vera's character and her voice really made me chuckle. Though my family is Filipino, Vera really reminds me of some of my older female relatives (in a great way).

I figured out the 'who' in the whodunnit pretty early on, though I missed one twist, but still enjoyed the ride. Part of the book was a little more focused on the romance between two of the characters, perhaps moreso than I would have preferred.

Overall, I enjoyed this quirky cozy, and I loved Vera so much!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for Goodreads

I had not read this author before, and at first I thought it was rather silly. However, I found it poignant that lonely Vera found people she came to care about and, more importantly, that others cared about her. Heartwarming.

Just a fun book to read. The basic plot is Vera wangs world famous tea room is the place a murder takes place. The owner, an old Chinese woman decides to solve the case. As she rounds up suspects she also creates a community of young people who she cares for and they care for her..
A great feel good read

After finding a dead body in her Chinatown tea shop, Vera Wong takes it upon herself to investigate when the police don’t seem up to the task. I enjoyed how Vera befriended all her suspects and brought them together - it was a fun and unique way to involve them in the story. Vera is an appealing character with just the right blend of bossiness and vulnerability. Recommended for fans of humorous cozies featuring senior sleuths.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

Well it took me a while to get going on this, it turned into an unputdownable cozy found family mystery.

Do you like irascible Chinese grandmas? Do you like descriptions of lots of delicious Asian food? Do you like when everything works out in kind of improbable but wholly satisfying ways? This book is perfect. I found myself laughing out loud so many times.

The reading experience reminded me Legends and Lattes, but so much funnier.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers, by Jesse Q Sutanto, is full of all the delicious food, meddling aunties, and murder that we expect in a Sutanto book. When Vera finds a dead body in her struggling tea shop, she snaps into Chinese-mother action by bossing the cops around, making loads of food for everyone, starting her own investigation when she thinks the cops aren’t working enough like a cop show… and maybe grabbing a little evidence off the body…

Dial A for Aunties, by the same author, was just a stunning read for me, I kept turning pages like No! That did NOT just happen! I can’t believe she went there! The blend of murder and meddling! The mashup of romance novel and dark comedy! It was just amazing. Then I liked Four Aunties and A Wedding (that’s Dial A for Aunties 2), Well, That Was Unexpected, and now Vera Wong just fine. These ones are more madcap adventures, after the mashup perfection for Dial A For Aunties, and you kind of have to roll with the low stakes and goofy fun. In Vera Wong, readers won’t worry for a moment about catching the murderer, the success of Vera’s teashop, the romances, or anything bad happening to our characters. Which is a perfectly good story — what if a nosy old lady bumped into a bunch of struggling young people and bossed them into success? Also, there’s dead body. There’s no real tension in this story, which doesn’t mean there are no surprises.

Just roll with it for a gore-free, zany murder investigation. I loved Vera’ s plans to host a Poirot-style drawing room reveal, with all the characters eating a massive meal, of course. I absolutely loved one of the minor characters, Officer Gray, who just wanted to have a normal workday without a random auntie forcefeeding her tea and complaining that she’s not enough like an episode of CSI. I have to say wasn’t a fan of all the subplots. (I always gag at writer’s block as a trope in fiction, and I double gag at characters suddenly unblocking into a lucrative creative career.) The twist ending is clear almost from the start, mostly from clever foreshadowing (and a little because, like in The It Girl by Ruth Ware, there are only so many characters, so there are only so many possibilities). That was a bit disappointing for me because I spent literally every page of Dial A for Aunties and The Obsession with no clue what could possibly happen next.

It’s strange to say this is a solid addition to the nosy-aunty cozy mystery genre, because is that even a genre? Is it a real thing, or have my reading tastes gotten too specific?

Anyway, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers was such a fun read, but it can’t possibly compare to the amazing can’t-stop-reading of Dial A for Aunties and The Obsession.

senior-sleuths, Asian Americans, Asian-cultures, meddling, amateur-sleuth, Chinese-customs, Chinatown, widow, teahouse, verbal-humor, situational-humor, laugh-riot, laugh-out-loud, murder, investigation, law-enforcement*****

This is what happens when you don't listen to Chinese elders!
Vera is just too much fun! The cops and so many others learn the hard way that she is so right. The author is new to me, but the publisher's blurb had me on the hook. Then the story reeled me in! Loved it and laughed my sox off!
I requested and received an EARC from Berkley Publishing Group/Berkley via NetGalley. Thank you!

Sutanto has always written wonderful characters and mystery that sucks you in from the first page. She succeeds once again in this work, Vera Wong is lovable and interesting and fascinating to hear about!

Vera proves that meddling mothers are a force to be reckoned with. When a man is found dead in her dilapidated Chinatown tea shop, she took it upon herself to solve the murder because no one is doing anything right by her standards. The story brings together a quirky cast of characters that you can't help but root for, even when they take misguided steps. It is a heartwarming story with the most unlikely found family. I can't wait to read what Jesse writes next!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Books for giving me an ARC of this unputdownable book. The minute I met Vera, the feisty teashop owner, I fell in love with her. When Vera comes down one morning to begin her usual routine she discovers a dead body on the teashop floor. The police think it’s an accidental death, but Vera is convinced it is murder and decides to take matters into her own hands. Knowing from watching CSI that the guilty will return to the scene of the crime she soon identifies four possible suspects and begins her interrogation. Vera’s character is a feisty take charge Chinese grandmother type who is also so endearing that all four suspects eventually fall in love with her, as she does with them. And in the end Vera does solve the mystery. This laugh out loud murder mystery was so fun to read. Highly recommended.

If you need a feel good who-done-it, this one is for you. Vera runs a derelict tea shop in Chinatown. As she begins her super-structured day. she discovers a body. This begins a delightful tale of Vera solving the murder--whether anyone else thinks she should, or not. The cast of characters that surround her each has thier own story and secret to keep. Who is the killer? And will Vera catch them before the police?

I was lucky enough to win an early copy of VERA WONG'S UNSOLICITED ADVICE FOR MURDERERS by Jesse Q. Sutanto through a Shelf Awareness giveaway. Thanks for the early look, and have a safe and happy holiday season!

Vera Wong is lonely. She has only one customer to her tea shop. Her son doesn’t have time for her. She wakes up one morning and finds a dead body in her shop and, based on all the TV shows she has watched, she knows the man has been murdered. When the police don’t agree, she takes matters into her own hands and soon finds a lot of murder suspects who show up at her shop.

There is the man’s wife, his brother, and two people who claim to be journalists. All four had reasons to want the man dead. She becomes friends with each of them and ingratiates herself into their lives intent on finding out what they know. But what they don’t realize is how she is going to change their lives!

I don’t want to give too much away, but this book is so good. I absolutely loved it! I loved getting to know each person and how their lives were affected by knowing her. Vera Wong is someone I would want to know and I feel a lot of other people will feel the same. It is a feel good book and we always need those. This is one book I would highly recommend and I hope there are more coming.

Thank you to NetGalley who sent me the Advanced Reading Copy.