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

This author has done a fantastic job creating the ultimate class of suspects. Vera is lonely in her old age, but is not weak nor is she slowing down in life. Her tea house barely has any visitors and her son does not call or respond to her texts as often as Vera thinks he should. One day Vera comes downstairs and discovers a man has broken into her tea shop and died. Vera, in what the reader will discover, in true Vera fashion takes a piece of evidence and decides that the police are not good at their job because, Marshall (the man who was killed) was clearly murdered according to Vera. Vera sets about to determine who the killer really is and into her life comes the perfect cast of suspects a not so upset wife, Julia; not so upset brother, Oliver; guilty feeling young lady who claims to be a podcaster, Sana; and guilty feeling young man who claims to be a reporter, Riki.  Vera becomes friends with all her suspects and encourages them to experience life more and follow their passions. The murderer was a surprise I did not see coming, but makes perfect sense with who it was and why. Highly recommend this author and her fantastic mysteries.

Character List/Book Summary:

Vera Vong Zhuzhu – 60 years old, her husband died, lives above her tea shop, her son is a lawyer. Does not have a good relationship with her son since her husband died. Finds a dead man in her tea shop one morning when she goes out for her morning walk, took a thumb drive out of his hands before the policy arrived. Suspects Julia, Oliver, Riki, and Sana of killing Marshall and after she gets out of the hospital she figures out who the real killer is. Comes to think of Julia, Oliver, Riki, and Sana like her family as she forced her way into their lives and learns their secrets.

Tilbert – Vera’s son, goes by Bert. A lawyer who ends up helping his mother’s friends who are accused of being involved with Marshall’s murder.

Alex – the only remaining steady customer at Vera’s teahouse, has 2 sons and tells Vera his wife, Lily, is sick and cannot leave the house. Vera brings him tea and food after Marshall dies in her teashop.

Julia – her husband of 10 years, Marshall, walked out on her the day he was killed. She is not upset about his death and is aware that it looks suspicious to the police, especially after a life insurance policy is discovered that Julia forgot about. Has a passion for photography but Marshall had convinced her it was a waste of time, like so many of her other passions in life. Finds out that Marshall had been renting an apartment for months before he moved out and asks Oliver to clean it out if he can. Confused and isolated after learning of Marshall’s death. Allows Vera to move in after there is a break in to her teashop shortly after Marshall’s death. Vera encourages Julia to start a photography business and when to charge more, Vera also helps with child care. Yells at Tilly when he arrives at the hospital about not being there and checking in on his mother like he should.

Marshall Chen – died in Vera’s teahouse. Claimed he finally made it rich and was leaving Julia and Emma, their daughter. Police tell Vera it looks like a heart attack killed Marshall, eventually it turns out he died of his bird dander allergy.

Emma – Julia’s daughter, very shy (but not around Vera). Confused about why Oliver, Marshall’s twin, looks like her father. When Vera stays with her and Julia Emma makes strides in her confidence and not breastfeeding as much. Emma likes painting in the sand with Sana.

Officer Gray – tells Julia about Marshall’s death and sees his stuff in garbage bags when she notifies her. Suspects Oliver is the killer based on a manuscript he wrote when he was a teenager.

Winifred – owns the cake shop next to Vera’s teahouse. Sana, Riki, and Oliver find her to be nosy and understand why Vera does not like her. She tells Riki when Vera has not opened the teashop for several days.

Riki – glad that Marshal died in a dusty teashop. He wants to help his younger brother Adi get into a special school for gifted children.  Wanted to see where Marshall died and tells Vera he is a reporter for Buzzfeed, which is a lie. Vera figures out that Riki is lying and Riki confesses that he helped Marshall by creating a code to mess with NFT prices, because Marshall had promised him a large amount of money that would help Adi get in the school for gifted kids. Punched Marshall the night he died. Vera wants to set him up with Sana after she realizes he did not kill Marshall, he does not have the upper body strength. Decided to fix up the chairs in Vera’s shop and when returning them he finds Vera in bed sick and takes her to the hospital, calling Oliver, Sana, and Julia about what is happening. Does end up asking Sana out and takes her out hiking for their first date.

Sana Singh – an artists/painter. Concerned that she is caused Marshall’s death because she scratched him the day he died, for stealing her art. Has not been able to paint since Marshall stole Sana’s art and made it an NFT. Mother is an author and is pushing Sana to just paint and get over it. After confessing to Vera, Vera makes her a picnic on the beach and tells her to go paint in the sand because the water will get rid of it so it does not matter if there are mistakes. Starts meeting Vera and Emma at the beach every morning to paint in the sand and enjoys painting in the sand with Emma. Gets upset that Riki created a code that Marshall used to hurt her, but once in the hospital they forgive each other. Paints a mural on the wall of Vera’s teashop that Julia photographs and gets offers to paint murals in other stores.

Oliver – Marshall’s twin brother, has been in his brother’s shadow his entire life. Was best friends with Julia before she started dating Marshall. Stayed away after Julia and Marshall were married, and now feels bad his niece is confused about why Uncle Oliver looks like her dad. Finds boxes of art in Marshall’s apartment and brings it to Julia because neither of them knew what he was doing. Vera finds his manuscript and takes it to read, Julia finds it and starts to read it when the police question her about Marshall’s $700,000 life insurance policy and the suspicion turns to Oliver based on what he wrote.