Jesse Q. SutantoReseñas

This is perhaps the most fun mystery I've read in a long time. Vera Wong, proprietor of "Vera Wang's World Famous Teahouse" in Chinatown, only has one regular customer these days. The place is run-down and a bit grimy. She's lonley, and her son doesn't seem to spend much time with her. She's surprised when she goes down one morning and finds a corpse in her tea room. Before the police arrive, she very helpful outlines the corpse's body in Sharpie and takes the only piece of evidence that might make the police think it is murder. She has watched this on TV. How hard can it be? The perpetrator is likely to revisit the scene of the crime. She immediately comes up with suspects--a man saying he is a reporter, a woman saying she has a true crime podcast, the man's brother, and the man's widow who was accompanied by their small daughter. She begins her process of elimination. Readers (and listeners) will be amused by the story as it unfolds. As Vera gets to know her suspects, she doesn't really want it to be any of them. I figured it out early on even though I knew the solution might be a bit of a stretch. Turns out that was exactly what happened. I even figured out she broke into her own teashop when that happened. Even though the mystery itself may fall a little shorter than the rating I'm giving, the enjoyment pushed it up. It's one I'm unlikely to forget in the future.

DNR

fiction - part 3 of trilogy (best to read them in order) featuring an over-the-top Chinese-Indonesian family that experiences frequent, comically disastrous mishaps.

I read the first two via audiobook, which I really appreciated because it recreated the 'Aduh!'s and other words in the proper accent (whereas my unknowing brain would have read them all wrong), but now that I can approximate pronunciations in my head, reading this book in print is great too--and I can also see the humor in all the misspelled names (I think these are also pointed out in the audio versions but usually only the first time each name is encountered, and maybe not for all the names).

a funny book and a great conclusion to this series. Thank you!½

A stranger is found dead in Vera’s World Famous Tea House which is old, shabby and only visited by one old man. Vera is a busy body who decides she will help the police solve the murder. And while doing so she creates relationships and helps a verity of lost young adults. Fun and the Audible reader was terrific.

Well this was fun. Vera Wong is a 60ish woman who owns a teashop in San Francisco's Chinatown. She spends more time trying to micromanage her grown son than she spends dealing with the very occasional patron at her teashop.

When she discovers a dead body in the shop one morning, Vera decides to help the police solve what she's sure is a murder. She helpfully draws an outline of the body on the floor with a sharpie and steals the flash drive the dead man has in his hand.

Soon she's in full detective mode and narrows her suspects list to four people. She brings them together and tries to determine which is the killer. Before long the group has become friends and Vera begins to dread that one of her new friends might be a killer.

This is kind of a female version of [A Man Called Ove] - a competent, lonely old person makes friends and changes lives. It's very pleasant, but those aggressive old Chinese women can be quite offputting on occasion.

This is a contemporary rom-com set in California, written by Indonesian author Jesse Q. Sutanto, with an inadvertent murder thrown in, lots of descriptions of Chinese Indonesian culture, and a heavy-handed dose of farcical humour.

Meddelin Chan reluctantly agrees to a blind date that her mother has arranged by posing as Meddy on a dating website. This ends badly with Meddy accidentally killing her date, then panicking and driving to the family home wondering what to do with the body. Her mother and four aunties instantly rally to her aid and hatch a plan to dispose of the body. Unfortunately wires get crossed and they end up trying to hide a body in the freezer and simultaneously run an expensive wedding on an island resort. Meddy unexpectedly runs into her ex, Nathan, during the wedding, creating dilemma and diversion.

On the positive side I could appreciate the love the family had for each other, but the comedy was far too slapstick and nonsensical for me. I can imagine it might make a funny movie, but despite the author’s forward saying she had attempted to treat the culture authentically rather than purvey stereotypes, she seems to do exactly that with many one-dimensional and superficial characters. I love reading books about other cultures but I really couldn’t face a sequel.

This is a really fun book mainly because of Vera. We want her to cook for us and make us endless cups of tea. It is also an interesting story about life, choices, friendships, and family.

As part of her honeymoon Meddy has turned up in Jakarta to celebrate Chinese New Year with her extended family. When they arrive Second Aunt is greeted by a long lost former boyfriend, the heavily tattooed 'businessman' Abi who proceeds to show great generosity by handing out lucky envelopes. Unfortunately, one of those envelopes contains a gift meant for a formidable business rival Julia and now it is in the hands of Abi's business enemy Kristofer. Now Meddy, her husband Nathan and the Aunties are at the centre of a business dispute which has absolutely nothing to do with the most powerful gangsters in Indonesia!
This is the final part of a trilogy and I hadn't read the first two, however I read another book by Sustanto so I had a good idea of what to expect. I think a reader coming to this book fresh would really struggle, it's a manically-paced, laugh out loud culture shock. That's not to say the story isn't very clever, well-written and hugely entertaining but it is very full on.

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Guide for Murderers by Jesse Q Sutanto is a slow paced thriller with an amateur woman sleuth, Vera Wong. The book is horribly slow with bad characters. At some places the plot doesn't even makes sense. The first few pages were good but Vera Wong's character made it unbearable. The suspects even look like one, and our woman sleuth was too much nosy. The plot had too many loopholes to digest the facts. I have read this book as a part of #52booksin52weeks challenge. It was really a challenge reaching the end. I had high hopes for the book but everything turned out to be so disappointing. The book deserves 2 stars.

Just ... meh, overall, despite its promise. Mystery is underwhelming as a plot and a puzzle. Vera is the strongest character, but she is sixty and acts seventy-five, along with the two-year-old who acts like she is six. I like the emphasis on Asian American characters and the idea of strangers being pulled together, but the other characters are fairly flat and predictable. Also, at times Vera is too good to be true and other times veers too close to also being flat and predictable (stereotypical). I read she wrote this fast, so maybe her first mystery (Dial A for Aunties) is better. The prose is also flat.½

mature teen audio fiction rom-com (9 hr 40 min) 17 y.o. mixed race (Chinese-Indonesian/white) Sharlot is dragged from Los Angeles to Jakarta, Indonesia, after her single mom walks in on Sharlot and her boyfriend; George (Indonesian teen heir to billions) is obliged to find a girlfriend to protect the family's reputation.

cute teen romance with a lot of awkward moments and a lot of sweet ones, I love that Sharlot's mom gets a romance of her own. I got a little impatient with how long it took for the two leads to clear the air about their online meeting (similar to the one at the start of Dial A for Aunties but without the eggplant emojis), but overall enjoyed this and the two narrators were great as well. More please!

I enjoyed this more than i thought i would. A bit of a cozy, but Vera is a sweet but not sappy character and she and the troubled young people she helps out make for pleasant reading

Vera Wang finds a dead man in her tea shop and decides that the police aren't taking it seriously enough. So, she decides to investigate herself. This was the perfect book to listen to between the murders I have been reading about in the Helen Grace books. Definitely, a cosy mystery which I enjoyed.

What I initially thought might be a series ended up as a trilogy---and thank goodness for that. This is the last book---unless she feels the compulsion to do a baby and the Aunties book, that IS the natural next step, is it not?

This is a quick read made even quicker since I skimmed a bit of it.

It all boils down to this: newlyweds Meddy and Nathan are visiting her relative for a late Chinese New Year. A mistake with the red envelopes happens, and hilarity does NOT ensue. Everyone (adults especially) acts like spoiled 14-year-olds. But what do I know, maybe it's a cultural thing or a huge amount of money thing!

At any rate, it did have a bit of a twist at the end, so that was worth the second star I gave this.

*ARC supplied by the publisher, Penguin/ Random House. the author, and NetGalley My Thanks.

Vera Wong finds a dead body in her tea shop. Since the police don't seem to be taking it seriously, she decides to investigate, starting with some unexpected visitors to the tea shop as her suspects.

It was funny, but mostly variations on a single joke - Vera's ability to cow or coax people round her into doing what she wanted. Not as good as the Aunties books.

Delightful book where I laughed out loud A LOT!

Sharlot Citra decides to "become a woman" with her boyfriend--only to change her mind, be caught by her mother, and be whisked away to her mom's home country of Indonesia for the summer. Her super sweet boyfriend only cares about her feelings and completely supports her two decisions. Sharlot's mother, on the other hand, feels appalled by her daughter's decision and feels Sharlot needs to connect with their heritage. Sharlot has no knowledge of her American father and little knowledge of her mother's heritage because her mother never tells Sharlot about her life. Needless to say, Sharlot's anger, directed at her mother, rules her for the beginning of the novel.

Meanwhile, George Clooney Tanuwijaya (you'll learn about Indo-Chinese names when you read the book) finds himself "satisfying his needs" when his father and 13-year old sister walk in on him. Be prepared to laugh--the scene is hilarious. George cares deeply for his family and offers kindness and respect to each of them. His interests are currently occupied by the company's new app (released to promote good will) called One Liner. It's to combat toxic masculinity and encourage people to see women are more than objects. George truly supports a more modern look at the world despite living in a very conservative and traditional society. He doesn't date because his family is filthy rich; the last girl he dated wanted to be seen, photographed, and to bask in the family name. George sees the money as belonging to the family; he didn't earn it and knows he is privileged.

With Sharlot and George "in trouble" with their families, the families decide to fix the problems. Sharlot's mom and George's dad and sister put their kids on the Share app to find a date. The text messages are so funny--two older, traditional Indo-Chinese people talking is nothing like teenagers would actually talk. Both George and Sharlot are appalled by the exchanges and have no desire to meet this person their families have selected. The meetup is disastrous. It's only because a tv crew shows up that George and Sharlot are considered a couple and must pretend to date.

It took longer to discover the truth than I expected in the novel, but I laughed aloud so many times, that I ultimately didn't care. It's a fun high school book about growing up, being respectful, recognizing that sexuality isn't a sin but that it does require respect and thought. The novel shows that there are different attitudes and expectations for males and females, making it harder to navigate freedom and growth. You'll also enjoy the secondary characters of Sharlo's cousin and George's sister. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel.

Vera Wong is this perfect picture of a Chinese auntie and yet when faced with a dead body in her tea shop, Vera finds her life upended in all the best ways. The mystery was fun and there was lots of comedy in the tale, but my favorite part of the novel was the way strangers became friends and each of the characters discovered things they were missing in their relationships.

Never finished it. See note under comments.

Ehhhh....another hype book that was a mild letdown given the wait time on the library request. Cutesy and entertaining in a harmless way, but ultimately lacks any real depth or substance.

Think Chinese tiger mom meets Jane Marple (which gives the cozy grandma trope a unique twist of sorts) and you're sort of in the ballpark. Vera Wong is supposed to be quirky yet lovable, but she was over the top to the point that her character's foibles were more distracting than endearing. The underlying 'mystery' of how there came to be a dead body in Vera Wong's dusty tea room and how she collects suspects is also a little forced.

This strikes me as a book that to love it requires falling in love with the characters. I didn't dislike them, but I didn't love them either. For me, the reading experience was like eating a sweet mindlessly and then mildly wishing I'd made a better choice without getting anywhere close to true regret.½

Creepy!
Jane is an author who has had mediocre success. When she notices that her Oxford classmate, Thalia, has a new bestseller, she is reminded of the time they spent together. Jane was obsessed with Thalia. She loved her, but Thalia didn't reciprocate, opting to include Ani in their group. Now 10 years later, Thalia needs Jane. Everything starts to coalesce, and Jane begins to see what she missed.
This is a story of manipulation and disturbing behavior.

This was a thoroughly entertaining light-hearted mystery.

(2023) Picked up this book upon Washington Post article about mysteries about authors. Wasn't quite sure about it from the start as the setup is based on current day and flashbacks. 3 characters emerge as the protagonists and each flashback is narrated from the viewpoint of one of those characters. Who do I root for, couldn't tell until close to the end when it took a turn I wasn't expecting. Even the ending left me conflicted. Did enjoy the book however. KIRKUS:
Former classmates at Oxford?s MFA writing program become locked in a vicious death match at a Manhattan writers conference.

Sutanto?s campy thriller follows two successful YA novels and a cozy mystery (among other books) and shows the marks of both genres, with confessional, in-your-face, first-person narration and minimal gore, well off-screen. It begins when Jane Morgan, an unhappy midlist writer of what she calls ?lit fic,? learns that her former classmate (crush, obsession, idol, muse?all of the above) Thalia Ashcroft has hit the bestseller list with a thriller that seems to be partly based on their friendship. Despite their initial intense closeness, Thalia and Jane became estranged after a mysterious incident their first year, and while Jane came back to finish, Thalia never did. Now Jane, mired in a dull marriage to a dull man, with an equally uninspiring career, is determined to reconnect with Thalia and jump-start her life. When she learns that her old friend will be appearing at SusPens Con in New York City, she pawns some apparently stolen jewelry to pay for a plane ticket and hotel room and plows ahead despite the fact that husband Ted insists on tagging along and her literary agency won?t help her get into the show. Jane reveals early on her self-diagnosis: ?Pretty sure I?m a sociopath. I?m not ashamed of it; in fact it?s something I quite like, and I carry the thought in the recesses of my mind like a lucky charm, returning to it the way one might stroke a rabbit-foot once in a while.? In fact, the reason the American Jane chose England for her graduate studies is that it?s considered the third rudest, most unfriendly place in the world (after Russia and France), and life in sunny California is driving her to constant thoughts of mayhem and murder. The plot in both present and past is quite silly, but crazy stalker Jane is kind of fun. Her self-knowledge seems limited, however?despite swoony sexual fantasies about Thalia, she continues to believe she?s not attracted to women. When the point of view switches in the second half, with supporting characters streaming in and twists piling on twists piling on twists, some eye-rolling may ensue. On the other hand, Sutanto?s renderings of Jane?s Chinese Indonesian heritage and her experience at Oxford, both autobiographically based, are strong.

At the heart of this multicorpse thriller is a love that dare not say its name. Come on out, Jane.
Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023

ISBN: 9780593546918

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Berkley

Loved it! Funny how Asian moms and Hispanic moms are very similar. Fun of twist and turns. Keeps you guessing with every turn of a page

Nosy grandma-aged Vera involves herself in the mystery of a dead man in her tea shop. While she's getting in the way of the police investigation and generally not learning much about the actual murder, she's fixing the lives of five people involved with the victim.

Vera's character benefits from her sections immensely (the point of view switches from person to person, although Vera ties most of the narrative together). She really is overbearing and stubborn, but her heart is in the right place and the author writes her so lovingly. And the feuds she starts with every other woman her age in her general vicinity are hilarious.