Vera Wong may be an old lady, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowed down. She’s up every morning before the sun rises to take her daily walk and send her grown son a good morning text. (Just to make sure that he’s up and ask whether he has a girlfriend yet.) He doesn’t often text her back, but that’s ok, because Vera has things to do. She owns and operates Vera Wang’s World Famous Teahouse in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown, and has to make sure that the shop is open and ready for her loyal customers. Except there aren’t too many loyal customers anymore, and Vera isn’t sure how much longer she can keep the teahouse in business. Then one morning, Vera finds a dead man in her shop and just knows that he’s been murdered. She also knows that murderers always come back to the scene of the crime, and so is sure to pay careful attention to any new customers that might show up. Sure enough, she has four new customers in the days after the murder. (Even if the cops won’t acknowledge that it was murder.) As Vera gets to know her customers and becomes more enmeshed in their lives, she starts to worry what will happen if one does turn out to be the killer. Is she going to have to turn over one of her new friends to the police?
The story is told from multiple POVs: Vera’s, and the four new customers/potential murder suspects. Sana, Riki, Oliver, and Julia are all great characters, but having the story include their inner monologues is kind of hit or miss. It does let us get to know them better, but it’s also a bit silly; no one thinks to themselves in such ominous hints and half clues, but those are necessary in order to keep the mystery going. You can’t really have someone think to themselves “and that was the night I killed him!” and then have the rest of the book be compelling. Despite that complaint, I did enjoy learning more about each character, and how they were negatively impacted by Marshall, the dead man. The more we find out about Marshall the more we realize that his death was no great loss. Even his toddler daughter Emma seems happier with Marshall no longer around. But because Marshall treated everyone around him so badly it means that everyone has a reason to want him dead. We (and Vera) just have to figure out who actually acted on it.
The mystery itself is not difficult. I had an idea who the killer was pretty early on, and felt that my hunch was confirmed by page 190. (It’s a 320 page book, and I was in fact correct.) It didn’t decrease my enjoyment, but just keep that in mind when deciding whether or not to read the book. This is no Evil Under the Sun or The Witch Elm. It’s a straightforward cozy mystery whose allure is in the characters and their relationships with one another, not the twists. But, if you’re in the mood for a cute story with a bullheaded little old lady, found family, and mouth-watering descriptions of Chinese cooking, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers will be a treat.