Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
⭐ 5/5 STARS: Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers — The Most Delightful Cozy Mystery You’ll Ever Read 🍵💀😂
📖 Buy Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers on Amazon (affiliate link)
⚠️ Trigger Warnings
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Death/murder (non-graphic)
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Mild emotional abuse references
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Themes of grief and loneliness
💬 My Reading Experience
If you love cozy mysteries, you can stop searching — this is the one. Seriously. Case closed. 🕵️♀️
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is, hands down, one of the funniest, most heartwarming mysteries I’ve ever read. The story is part whodunit, part found family, and part comedy gold — and I honestly don’t think a cozy mystery can get better than this.
Vera Wong herself is a total icon. She’s nosy, hilarious, bossy in the most loving way, and somehow manages to mother everyone around her even while solving a murder. Imagine your favorite aunt, your grandma, and a private detective all rolled into one sassy powerhouse with a teapot in hand. ☕
This book isn’t dark, gruesome, or heavy. It’s funny, charming, and full of heart — and yet it still keeps you guessing till the end. The writing sparkles, the humor lands every time, and I didn’t want to put it down for even a minute.
🧠 Overview
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023) by Jesse Sutanto follows 60-year-old Vera, a widowed tea shop owner who lives a quiet, lonely life in San Francisco’s Chinatown — until one morning, she discovers a dead man on her shop floor. 😱
The police don’t seem too concerned (a “natural death,” they say), but Vera knows better. So she does what any respectable Chinese mother would do — she takes charge of the investigation herself.
Armed with tea, intuition, and an unshakable belief that she’s always right (because, honestly, she usually is), Vera begins sleuthing — and ends up building an unlikely family along the way.
🚨 Spoiler Warning: Full Plot Summary Below! 🚨
🍵 Full Plot Summary (With Ending)
Sixty-year-old Vera Wong runs a little tea shop in San Francisco. Her husband has passed, her son Tilly lives far away, and business is slow — until one morning she walks in and finds a corpse lying in the middle of her shop.
The man is later identified as Marshall Chen, and while the police shrug it off as an accident, Vera is convinced it’s murder. So, naturally, she takes a flash drive from the man’s hand (for “safekeeping,” of course) and begins her own investigation.
Vera posts an obituary for Marshall and waits for the murderer to show up. Instead, she meets four very suspicious — and very lovable — young people:
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Riki and Sana, a couple who were scammed by Marshall.
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Oliver, Marshall’s twin brother who was always in his shadow.
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Julia, Marshall’s estranged wife and mother of their daughter, Emma.
Each one has a motive. Each one is hiding something. And Vera? She’s determined to solve the case — but she’s also feeding them, meddling in their love lives, and giving unsolicited advice faster than they can say “thank you, Auntie.” 😂
As Vera grows close to them all (especially little Emma, who starts calling her “Grandma Vera”), she discovers that everyone in this group is broken in some way — and that she might be exactly what they need.
💻 The Flash Drive and the Break-In
When Vera’s shop is suddenly vandalized, she’s sure someone’s looking for the missing flash drive. Meanwhile, the police conclude that Marshall died of an allergic reaction to bird dander. Case closed — but Vera isn’t satisfied.
After moving in with Julia and Emma while the shop gets repaired, Vera continues her “investigation,” juggling tea ceremonies, matchmaking attempts, and the occasional emotional breakthrough. She narrows her suspects down to Julia (who received a life insurance payout) and Oliver (whose novel draft sounds a little too much like real-life revenge).
Things get heated when Julia finds Oliver’s draft and believes he’s obsessed with her. Officer Gray seizes the draft as evidence, which only makes things messier.
☕ The Big Reveal
Eventually, Vera gathers everyone for a big, classic “Auntie knows all” reveal. But just when it seems like Julia or Oliver might be the killer… Vera realizes the truth.
It wasn’t either of them.
The real culprit is none other than Alex Chen — Vera’s only regular customer and Marshall and Oliver’s father.
Alex confesses that after years of idolizing Marshall and despising Oliver, he finally learned what a cruel man Marshall really was. Horrified, he served his son a cup of tea made with bird’s nest, knowing about Marshall’s deadly allergy. Marshall stumbled into Vera’s shop as he was dying — holding the flash drive to ensure his death wouldn’t go unnoticed.
Vera solves the case (of course!) and finds herself surrounded by her new “family.” Her shop reopens, business booms, and she happily resumes giving everyone around her — including her son — her very best unsolicited advice. 💕
💬 My Thoughts
This book is absolute perfection. ✨
It’s cozy without being slow, funny without being forced, and heartfelt without ever slipping into sappy territory. I laughed, I teared up, and I smiled like a fool through half the chapters.
Vera Wong is one of the most lovable, unforgettable characters I’ve ever read. She’s bossy, nosy, and meddling — but always with love. The found-family dynamic is chef’s kiss, the humor is spot-on, and the ending ties everything up beautifully.
If you want a cozy mystery that actually makes you feel good, this is it.
🧩 Verdict
⭐ 5 out of 5 stars.
The perfect cozy mystery — funny, heartfelt, and completely irresistible.
🔎 If You Liked This, Try:
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Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto
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Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
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The Maid by Nita Prose
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The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
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Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
💭 Final Thoughts
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is proof that a good cup of tea and a sharp mind can solve just about anything.
It’s warm, witty, and wonderfully weird — a book that’ll leave you smiling long after the last page. 🍵💛
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