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A review by madeline
Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was <i>so</i> fun! Vera Wong is a widowed tea shop owner in San Francisco, largely ignored by her lawyer son and whose only customer is her friend Alex, who stops in briefly each day before returning to his sick wife. Vera has nowhere to funnel her energy: no children who will take advice, no friends to dispense wisdom to, no customers to enjoy her world-famous tea - until one day, she wakes up to a dead body in her shop front. The cops seem uninterested in the crime, but Vera's identified four suspects, and it's time for her to take matters of both criminal investigation and improving the lives of her suspects-turned-friends into her own hands.
I simply adored this book. Vera is a little overbearing but so filled with love and care, and she's able to find some people who really benefit from her kindness (and her cooking). I did figure out the mystery at about 70%, which is unusual for me, but I was so interested in understanding the motivation that it had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The only way this could have been better is if it had been a full-cast narration: we get the POV from Vera and all four of her suspects and I'm a big stop-and-starter, so it would have been a bit easier for me to pick back up each time if I immediately knew whose brain we were in. But the single narrator does an absolutely incredible job, and I absolutely recommend this on audio!
Thank you LibroFM and Berkley for the ARC!
CW:murder, obviously, of an emotional abuser and gaslighter whose abuse is remembered on page in detail; death of a parent; death of a spouse; death of a sibling; a break-in; also the murder victim is pretty shitty about his toddler who it seems like may have autism, but everyone else is very protective of her and keeps his shittiness away from her.
I simply adored this book. Vera is a little overbearing but so filled with love and care, and she's able to find some people who really benefit from her kindness (and her cooking). I did figure out the mystery at about 70%, which is unusual for me, but I was so interested in understanding the motivation that it had me on the edge of my seat until the very end. The only way this could have been better is if it had been a full-cast narration: we get the POV from Vera and all four of her suspects and I'm a big stop-and-starter, so it would have been a bit easier for me to pick back up each time if I immediately knew whose brain we were in. But the single narrator does an absolutely incredible job, and I absolutely recommend this on audio!
Thank you LibroFM and Berkley for the ARC!
CW: