United States
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Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
A lonely shopkeeper takes it upon herself to solve a murder in the most peculiar way in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady-ah, lady of a certain age-who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing-a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.
What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady-ah, lady of a certain age-who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing-a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.
What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
Editorial Reviews
"Vera Wong is my new favorite sleuth! This book is comfort food for the soul. Every chapter is bursting with wisdom and heart."-Elle Cosimano, USA Today bestselling author of Finlay Donovan Is Killing It
"I'll promise you this: you've never met a character quite like Vera Wong, and once she gets under your skin, you'll never forget her, nor will you want to. Vera is a force, and so is author Jesse Q. Sutanto, spinning a compulsively readable story with intrigue, humor, and above all, heart. Get ready for this cast of loveable characters to feel like family, pulling you into their beautifully interwoven lives and the mystery linking them together. Smart, wholly original, and brimming with emotion, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers feels like the warmest hug that you'll never want to end."-Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here
"Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is flawless. With a clever plot filled with marvellous, lovable characters who feel like real people, it's laugh-inducing, heart-warming, and fabulously crafted. Truly a joy to read."-India Holton, bestselling author of The League of Gentlewomen Witches
"Step aside, Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes! Vera Wong is on the case! A murder mystery with a found-family story at its heart, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is delightful, compelling, and laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn't put this book down!"-Jenny L. Howe, author of The Make-Up Test
"Jesse Sutanto has once again weaved her magic and gifted us with another winner. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a signature Sutanto creation, a feel-good genre-defying comedic whodunnit with a superb cast of characters headed by the indomitable, chaotically funny Vera, indubitably one of the best senior protagonists I've seen in a long while. A+, no notes."-Lauren Ho, bestselling author of Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic
"A staggering, masterful suspense confection, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is quite simply one of my favorite novels of all time. The kind of book you want to reread every year in order to revisit its brilliant world. Vera will delight, charm, and steal...
"I'll promise you this: you've never met a character quite like Vera Wong, and once she gets under your skin, you'll never forget her, nor will you want to. Vera is a force, and so is author Jesse Q. Sutanto, spinning a compulsively readable story with intrigue, humor, and above all, heart. Get ready for this cast of loveable characters to feel like family, pulling you into their beautifully interwoven lives and the mystery linking them together. Smart, wholly original, and brimming with emotion, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice For Murderers feels like the warmest hug that you'll never want to end."-Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of The Girls Are All So Nice Here
"Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is flawless. With a clever plot filled with marvellous, lovable characters who feel like real people, it's laugh-inducing, heart-warming, and fabulously crafted. Truly a joy to read."-India Holton, bestselling author of The League of Gentlewomen Witches
"Step aside, Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes! Vera Wong is on the case! A murder mystery with a found-family story at its heart, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is delightful, compelling, and laugh-out-loud funny. I couldn't put this book down!"-Jenny L. Howe, author of The Make-Up Test
"Jesse Sutanto has once again weaved her magic and gifted us with another winner. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a signature Sutanto creation, a feel-good genre-defying comedic whodunnit with a superb cast of characters headed by the indomitable, chaotically funny Vera, indubitably one of the best senior protagonists I've seen in a long while. A+, no notes."-Lauren Ho, bestselling author of Last Tang Standing and Lucie Yi Is Not A Romantic
"A staggering, masterful suspense confection, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is quite simply one of my favorite novels of all time. The kind of book you want to reread every year in order to revisit its brilliant world. Vera will delight, charm, and steal...
Short Excerpt Teaser
One
VERA
Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster. We are, of course, referring to Chinese horoscopes. Vera Wong is a human woman, thank you very much, but roosters have nothing on her. Every morning, at exactly four thirty, Vera's eyelids snap open like roller shades shooting up. Then the upper half of her body levitates from the mattress-no lazy rolling out of bed for Vera, though admittedly sitting up in bed now comes with about half a dozen clicks and clacks of her joints. She swings her fuzzy-socked feet out with gusto and immediately finds the slippers she placed next to her bed with military precision the night before. She takes a quick moment to send a text to her son, reminding him that he's sleeping his life away and should have been up and at it before her. He is, after all, a young man with a whole world to conquer. Late mornings, Vera believes, are only for toddlers and Europeans.
After a quick wash, Vera dons her morning gear-a polo shirt with a Ralph Lauren logo so big that it covers her entire left breast (well, okay, thanks to the ravages of time and gravity, it covers the top half of her breast) and sweatpants. Arm sleeves are yanked on and adjusted so that there isn't an exposed sliver of skin between her shirt sleeves and the removable ones. Many years ago, when Vera was a brazen young woman, she never checked her arm sleeves and often walked around with a tanned strip of skin around her upper arms. Those were obviously the wild days, when she lived life on the edge and took unnecessary risks.
Sleeves on, Vera nods at her reflection and marches to the kitchen, where she gulps down a pint of room-temperature water-cold water, Vera believes, would freeze the fats in your arteries and give you heart disease. At the door, Vera dons her orthopedic sneakers and her tortoiseshell sunglasses, and finally, the last and perhaps most vital article of clothing-a visor so enormous that there is no way that a single ray of freckle-causing, wrinkle-making sunlight could snake its way onto her face. Then, without a backward glance, Vera strides out into the world.
And all of this happens without the aid of alarm clocks. Vera should really have been a rooster, but she isn't, she is a pig, and perhaps that is where all the trouble began.
According to the Chinese horoscope, pigs are diligent and compassionate and are the ones to call upon when sincere advice is needed. Unfortunately, very few people call Vera for sincere advice, or even insincere advice. The one person who should be calling her at all times for advice-her son, Tilbert-never does. Vera doesn't quite understand why. When her parents were alive, she often went to them for advice, even when she didn't need to, because unlike her son, Vera was a filial child and knew that asking her parents for advice made them feel needed. Well, no matter. Vera is a diligent mother and goes out of her way to give Tilly all the advice he could ever need anyway. Her previous texts are as follows:
Sent today at 4:31 a.m.:
Tilly, are you awake? It is 4:31 AM, very late. When I was your age, I wake up at 4AM every morning to cook breakfast for Ah Gong and Ah Ma. Qi lai! Seize the day! Carpe diem! Kind regards, Mama.
Sent yesterday at 7:45 p.m.:
Tilly, I notice that this girl @NotChloeBennet has liked TWO of your videos on the TikTok! I think this means
she likes you. I look at her profile and she pout a lot,
but I think she will make good wife. She went with her mother for manicure last week, this means she is a filial daughter. Perhaps you should slip and slide into her DM. Kind regards, Mama.
Vera had been particularly pleased about using the phrase "slip and slide into her DM." Vera insists on keeping up to date with every trend. She doesn't believe in getting left behind by the younger generations. Every time she comes across a nonsensical-sounding phrase, she looks it up on the Google and jots down its meaning in her little notebook.
Sent yesterday at 5:01 p.m.:
Tilly, it is 5PM, I hope you have eaten your dinner. Your Uncle Lin eat dinner at 7PM every night and he didn't even live past thirty. You better eat dinner now. Kind regards, Mama.
This one actually garnered a reply.
Tilly: Uncle Lin died because he was hit by a bus. And I've told you to stop calling me Tilly. I go by Bert.
Vera: Don't talk back to your elders. I raise you better than that. And what is wrong with Tilly? It's a good name, your Baba and I think long and hard about
your name, you should treasure it.
This was followed by more silence from Tilly. But no matter. There is no time for her wayward son right now, because Vera is about to start her morning walk, ...
VERA
Vera Wong Zhuzhu, age sixty, is a pig, but she really should have been born a rooster. We are, of course, referring to Chinese horoscopes. Vera Wong is a human woman, thank you very much, but roosters have nothing on her. Every morning, at exactly four thirty, Vera's eyelids snap open like roller shades shooting up. Then the upper half of her body levitates from the mattress-no lazy rolling out of bed for Vera, though admittedly sitting up in bed now comes with about half a dozen clicks and clacks of her joints. She swings her fuzzy-socked feet out with gusto and immediately finds the slippers she placed next to her bed with military precision the night before. She takes a quick moment to send a text to her son, reminding him that he's sleeping his life away and should have been up and at it before her. He is, after all, a young man with a whole world to conquer. Late mornings, Vera believes, are only for toddlers and Europeans.
After a quick wash, Vera dons her morning gear-a polo shirt with a Ralph Lauren logo so big that it covers her entire left breast (well, okay, thanks to the ravages of time and gravity, it covers the top half of her breast) and sweatpants. Arm sleeves are yanked on and adjusted so that there isn't an exposed sliver of skin between her shirt sleeves and the removable ones. Many years ago, when Vera was a brazen young woman, she never checked her arm sleeves and often walked around with a tanned strip of skin around her upper arms. Those were obviously the wild days, when she lived life on the edge and took unnecessary risks.
Sleeves on, Vera nods at her reflection and marches to the kitchen, where she gulps down a pint of room-temperature water-cold water, Vera believes, would freeze the fats in your arteries and give you heart disease. At the door, Vera dons her orthopedic sneakers and her tortoiseshell sunglasses, and finally, the last and perhaps most vital article of clothing-a visor so enormous that there is no way that a single ray of freckle-causing, wrinkle-making sunlight could snake its way onto her face. Then, without a backward glance, Vera strides out into the world.
And all of this happens without the aid of alarm clocks. Vera should really have been a rooster, but she isn't, she is a pig, and perhaps that is where all the trouble began.
According to the Chinese horoscope, pigs are diligent and compassionate and are the ones to call upon when sincere advice is needed. Unfortunately, very few people call Vera for sincere advice, or even insincere advice. The one person who should be calling her at all times for advice-her son, Tilbert-never does. Vera doesn't quite understand why. When her parents were alive, she often went to them for advice, even when she didn't need to, because unlike her son, Vera was a filial child and knew that asking her parents for advice made them feel needed. Well, no matter. Vera is a diligent mother and goes out of her way to give Tilly all the advice he could ever need anyway. Her previous texts are as follows:
Sent today at 4:31 a.m.:
Tilly, are you awake? It is 4:31 AM, very late. When I was your age, I wake up at 4AM every morning to cook breakfast for Ah Gong and Ah Ma. Qi lai! Seize the day! Carpe diem! Kind regards, Mama.
Sent yesterday at 7:45 p.m.:
Tilly, I notice that this girl @NotChloeBennet has liked TWO of your videos on the TikTok! I think this means
she likes you. I look at her profile and she pout a lot,
but I think she will make good wife. She went with her mother for manicure last week, this means she is a filial daughter. Perhaps you should slip and slide into her DM. Kind regards, Mama.
Vera had been particularly pleased about using the phrase "slip and slide into her DM." Vera insists on keeping up to date with every trend. She doesn't believe in getting left behind by the younger generations. Every time she comes across a nonsensical-sounding phrase, she looks it up on the Google and jots down its meaning in her little notebook.
Sent yesterday at 5:01 p.m.:
Tilly, it is 5PM, I hope you have eaten your dinner. Your Uncle Lin eat dinner at 7PM every night and he didn't even live past thirty. You better eat dinner now. Kind regards, Mama.
This one actually garnered a reply.
Tilly: Uncle Lin died because he was hit by a bus. And I've told you to stop calling me Tilly. I go by Bert.
Vera: Don't talk back to your elders. I raise you better than that. And what is wrong with Tilly? It's a good name, your Baba and I think long and hard about
your name, you should treasure it.
This was followed by more silence from Tilly. But no matter. There is no time for her wayward son right now, because Vera is about to start her morning walk, ...
