Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for MurderersVera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers features Vera Wong, a 60-something owner of a rundown tearoom in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Vera leads a regimented and lonely life. Rising each morning at 4:30am. She then texts her son, does and extended walk, dresses and opens her shop. She has only one customer each day and she wonders if it’s time to close.
Then, one morning, she comes down to her shop and there is a dead body in it.
Now, we are off to the races as Vera sets out to solve the mystery of what she deems to be a murder though the police disagree. We soon learn the identity of the “victim” and four potential “suspects” as we pivot to each’s point of view. The story cruises along to inevitable “reveal” resolving all mysteries along the way.
It’s a fun cozy with a new setting to me. The plot moves at a nice pace with plenty of red herrings and subplots to keep you guessing for a bit while the overall flow is comfortably predictable. Warning, the food and tea descriptions will have your cravings going through the roof if you’re anything like me.
I think the only thing that would have increased my enjoyment more would have been a change in narrative. We focus on Vera and the “suspects” but all in the third person. I would have enjoyed the split focus more, I think, if we were in first person. That way we could have a bit less exposition describing Vera and more of our own impressions based upon her actions. It’s a minor quibble though. It doesn’t detract from the actual story.
I hope this is the first in a series of Vera Wong stories, four stars.