Review of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice

Jesse Q. Sutanto is a writing machine! She’s written three YA books, has a comic/romantic mystery series, and also an adult suspense novel coming in August 2023. On top of that, she is now moving into the cozy mystery lane with this new title about a retired widow who isn’t all that unhappy to find herself at the center of a mystery. What did I think of Vera and the book, which I put on my AAPI mystery list? Check out my review of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice!

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Published on March 14, 2023 by Berkley

Library read!

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet).

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a body in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things.

Knowing she’ll 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 decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

Nobody spills the tea like this amateur sleuth.

What Else Has Jesse Q. Sutanto written?

She has a LOT going on. She’s probably best known for the very funny Dial A for Aunties (2021) and followed that with Four Aunties and a Funeral (2022).

She’s also written YA: The Obsession (2021), New Girl (2022), and Well, That Was Unexpected (2022).

She has a middle grade book called Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit (2022).

In addition to that, she has an adult suspense book coming out this summer: I’m Not Done With You Yet.

Maybe she writes in her sleep? It’s pretty impressive.

Review of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice

There was a lot to enjoy about Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (whew, long title.)

I think one of Jesse Sutanto’s strengths as a writer is her obvious affection for Baby Boomer-aged characters. She finds humor in their attempts to master social media and current slang. She good-naturedly mocks their meddling in their millennial kids’ lives.

As a tea drinker, I also LOVED the tea element of the book, which reminded me a bit of the movie Waitress. Just as that character made pies inspired by her life and the people around her, Vera is not just a tea salesperson but a bit of a tea psychologist and amateur clinician.

She chooses tea for her clients based on the principles of Chinese medicine but also her own instincts.

There were also some things I liked less about this book.

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice had many elements of a cozy mystery: an amateur detective, a setting in a defined neighborhood (San Francisco’s Chinatown), and a not-too-graphic crime. All that was good.

I enjoyed Vera as a character much more than the other characters, who were sort of hapless millennials that Vera bossed and pushed around. I think Vera needed more characters her own age to interact with.

I also think that even a cozy mystery should have some investigation on the part of the amateur detective. Vera was much more interested in meddling in the lives of her suspects than actually figuring out who committed the crime. At one point she finds a major clue and just sits on it. The ending, while clever and on-theme, sort of just got plopped in at the end.

I’d read more installments in the Vera series (and hear about more tea) but I’d hope that the formula gets tinkered with to make it a true cozy mystery, not just an amusing book with some side detective work.

Have you read this or other Jesse Sutanto books? Tell me your thoughts in the comments!