Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is the latest novel to be checked off my to be read list. This list grows faster than I can keep up with, it seems. Anyone else have this problem? 

I actually found this book on a friend’s kitchen table recently, and the title is what caught my attention. He said that a client had been reading it and gave it to him with high praise. My husband goes to our friend’s said business and always notes when clients are reading, especially if it is a book he recognizes as one I also own. 

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“If people can kill each other over road rage, why not tea rage?” 

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

I’m always curious about what other people are reading when I see them out and about, and will talk to them if I recognize the book. Do you ever talk to people about their reading choices? I find it interesting. This is what prompted me to take a closer look at this book and see what it was about. I had never heard of Jesse Q. Sutanto prior to this, but I wanted to give her books a try. 

Have you read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers? Come on in and let me tell you about it! 

About Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers 

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?

Thoughts on Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers 

“Move past it. Put it behind you. Marshall is dead. You and Sana are healing after what he does to you. Maybe you do something slightly bad, so what? Now you learn from it. You have a better judgment now. Better morals, because you learn from your personal mistake. This is what life is about, Riki. No one is perfect, making right decisions all the time.” 

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

Let me start off my saying this book is completely character driven, and not plot driven. Which  makes for an easy lighter read, but also lacks depth. I struggled with wanting to continue reading at times. It felt rushed to me, like it was thrown together, and lacked a lot of refinement. But it is one that you can read a chapter each night before going to sleep and actually stop at the end of the chapter without being upset and playing the “just one more chapter” game until two in the morning. 

Vera is an interesting character. She is both annoying and endearing. She is the standard stereotypical nosey old woman. The funny thing is, she complains about the nosey old woman in the shop next to hers. Yet they are basically the same. She is also endearing in that she cares about the other characters. I love when she gives advice about growth, and really helps Julia become the woman she is meant to be. 

I was also hungry every time I read a chapter. Because Vera was always cooking and talking about the food she made. I found myself wanting all of the recipes so I could make them myself. I also found myself laughing at Vera at times. See quotes from the book in this review for reference. There were a few laugh out loud moments, and I did appreciate those. Vera is a very know-it-all woman, and dead set in her ways and opinions. 

About a quarter of the way through, the “murder” is deemed accidental and not a murder at all by the police. So, case closed, right? I wondered how Sutanto would somehow keep stretching this into a full novel. But she does. 

The end of the book is what infuriated me. The actual murderer made perfect sense to me. But I found myself infuriated that the police were called and the killer taken to jail. I wanted a much happier ending, and this just didn’t fit the theme of the rest of the book for me. It seemed like allowing the killer to be arrested devastated more lives than simply letting them go on without saying a word. 

Final Thoughts on Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers 

“This one is black pepper beef, you eat more of this, Julia, you look very pale, very anemic, you must have more beef. And you, Riki, you look very constipated, so I cook this one for you, steamed cod with black fungus… I can always tell just from looking, you very constipated…. And you, you seem very chilly, too much yin. You should have more heaty foods, that will increase your yang. Here, spicy garlic tofu, will warm you up… And for you, Oliver, I make rice wine chicken with glutinous rice. Very comforting. I think you are needing some comforting, yes?” 

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

I am calling Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers a three star read. Because it severely lacked a real plot, and felt so rushed. I think with refinement, this could have been an amazing story. 

What irritates me the most is, this is one I will likely forget as I move on to other books. I remember reading it at the friend’s house I mentioned earlier and I’m like, the murder wasn’t really a murder? This friend said he’d already forgotten the entire plot, and I’m feeling the same now that I’ve finished reading it. 

There was a sequel recently published, and I will certainly give it a read. But for now, I’m going to stew about my annoyances with this one and then move on to something totally different for the time being. It is labeled in the mystery and thriller genres, and it is neither. Which also made it hard to rate it higher, as it didn’t live up to those expectations of what mystery and thrillers really are. 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers was good, but I wanted great, and it simply didn’t take me to great. 

Discussion 

Have you read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, or any other writing from author Jesse Q. Sutanto? Are you a fan? Let me know your thoughts in the comments! 

About the Author 

Jesse Q. Sutanto is the author of adult, YA, and children’s middle grade books. She has an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford University and a BA in English Lit from Berkeley, though she hasn’t found a way of saying that without sounding obnoxious. 

The film rights to her women’s fiction, Dial A for Aunties, was bought by Netflix in a competitive bidding war. Her adult books include Dial A for Aunties, its sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, and Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. 

Her YA books include The Obsession, The New Girl, and Well, That Was Unexpected. Her MG books include Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit and its sequel, Theo Tan and the Iron Fan.

She grew up shuttling back and forth between Jakarta and Singapore and sees both cities as her homes. She is currently living back in Jakarta on the same street as her parents and about seven hundred meddlesome aunties. When she’s not tearing out her hair over her latest WIP, she spends her time baking and playing FPS games. Oh, and also being a mom to her two kids.

Purchasing Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

• If you are interested in buying the paperback version of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, click here.
• Click here for the Kindle version.
• Click here for my favorite Kindle I currently own.

More from Jesse Q. Sutanto 

Did you enjoy my review of Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers? Need another great Jesse Q. Sutanto novel to read? Here are my favorites! 

• Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
• Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping

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