Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Picking Books may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you buy through our links to Bookshop.org. Every book you purchase on bookshop.org supports independent bookstores.

Summary of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

In Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders by Jessie Q. Sutano, Vera Wong finds a dead body clutching a flash drive in her teahouse in San Francisco’s chinatown. Convinced that the cops will be incompetent, Vera takes the flash drive so she can investigate the murder herself. It’s no surprise that with the flash drive missing, the cops are unconvinced that the victim was murdered. After the cops do their investigation of the crime scene, Vera waits to see who shows up at her teahouse, because, of course, the culprit always returns to the scene of the crime. They’ll be looking for the flash drive after all.

Vera is ecstatic when four people show up the next day, a handsome guy named Riki, a woman named Sana, the victim’s brother, and eventually, the victim’s wife. Vera’s only job now is to figure out who did it. Given that her teahouse is failing and her son never visits or calls because, as Vera sees it, he has no respect for his elders, Vera has plenty of time for sleuthing.

Genre

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a classic cozy mystery. It has a dead body, an amateur sleuth, a red herring, and a lovable cast of characters. It’s perfect.

Our Review of on Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

I absolutely loved everything about Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. The cover is hilarious, apropos, and adorable. The book is funny and expertly paced. Vera is one of my favorite mystery characters ever. She really is full of unsolicited advice for her suspects, and her ability to command a room is impressive. I love the dynamic between her and the suspects, who she begins to like almost immediately. The ending is both sad and sweet, and if I hadn’t spent the past six months studying The Story Grid, I wouldn’t have seen it coming. (To be fair, I’ve also always been the type of person who tries to solve mysteries before the sleuth does.) And I’m just going to stop here otherwise you’ll get bored of my gushing. Seriously though, this book is that good.

Read if

You should read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers if need to escape, you love cozy mysteries, or you simply want to be entertained by a fun story.

If You Liked Vera Wong’s Unsolicted Advice for Murderers, You’ll also like

The Glock Grannies Series by Shannon VanBergen

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

Check out our bookshop.org list for more recommendations!