#37 [2024/CBR16] Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Once again, I was blindly looking for another audiobook to listen to in my car. This time I stumbled upon Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023) by Jesse Q. Sutanto. I had not heard of it, but it had some good reviews and I was a little desperate for something that was immediately available from my library. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. Although the mystery portion of the book was a little lacking, the characters and the storyline were engaging and fun.

Vera Wong lives by herself above a decrepit tea shop in Chinatown. Her husband is dead, and her son barely talks to her. Vera is fond of her one customer, who tries to stop by daily, but she is otherwise pretty isolated. Then one morning, (very early because Vera has strong opinions about starting the day at the reasonable hour of five am), she comes downstairs and finds a dead body in the middle of her shop.

Vera calls the police, but she also decides she should look around while she's waiting for them. She makes a Sharpie outline of the body because that's what she's seen on television. And then she searches the man's pockets, finding a flash drive. She doesn't know what to do with it, so she pockets it for her son to look at later. When the police show up, Vera finds them generally dismissive of her and her theories. She also does not think they are taking the crime seriously enough. So, she decides to do a little investigating on her own.

She somehow lures her main suspects to her shop. (I honestly forget how she did this. With an ad in the paper? A sign on her shop?) Soon there are four primary suspects: the deceased's brother, the deceased's wife, and another woman and man who are not being honest about who they are. Vera keeps dragging her suspects back into her net with a combination of bossy motherliness and delicious Chinese food. Along the way, we find out a lot about each character, the ties they had to the deceased, and why they might have a motive for murder.

The deceased's wife obviously married the wrong man. She's been emotionally abused by her husband, and although she doesn't miss her husband much, she is struggling to raise her young daughter, Emma. The deceased's brother  has always been the "other" while his brother was the star. The other two have also been wronged by the deceased.

I've read a number of uplifting books where random people come together and create community and family amongst themselves. They all have their issues--even, or especially, Vera--and together, they support each other and are much happier. It's fun to read such a sweet book, and it was satisfying in this instance as well.