Review of "Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man" by Jesse Q. Sutanto

 

Vera Wong, who owns 'Vera Wang's World-Famous Teahouse' in San Francisco, describes herself as a typical Chinese mother. This means Vera is respectable, would do anything for her children, knows all there is to know, is good at sniffing out wrongdoing, and - in general - is a formidable force.





Vera recently solved a murder case, and having caught the 'detective bug', Vera is looking for another homicide to clear up. Vera's investigative method is to ply everyone with delightful teas and scrumptious food, which induces people to confide in her.



Happily for Vera, she stumbles on another mystery when she goes to the San Francisco Police Department to report a phone scam. A Chinese girl named Millie is hovering in front of the police station, looking uncertain. Vera whisks Millie off to her teahouse and plies her with tea made with dried candied winter melon peel with goji berries and rose petals.



Millie then confides that her Chinese-Indonesian friend Thomas is missing, and she's afraid something bad happened to him. Millie shows Vera a photo of Thomas, who looks like a K-pop star, and Vera wants to find him, but doesn't know how.



Then Vera lucks out. While cat-sitting for her son Tilly - a lawyer, and his girlfriend Selena - a police detective, Vera spies Selena's briefcase and snoops inside.





Among other things Vera finds a file about an Asian-American man fished out of Mile Rock Beach, a suspected suicide. The unidentified man is a John Doe, and when Vera looks at his picture, she discovers he's Millie's missing friend Thomas. On Instagram, Thomas is an influencer who calls himself Xander, and his photos feature fancy parties and private jets. When Vera shares this information with Millie, the girl is shocked because Thomas could never afford this lifestyle.



Vera is certain Xander was murdered, and - against the advice of her family and friends - sets out to discover who killed him. Vera manages to track down Xander's talent manager TJ Vasquez;



Xander's influencer girlfriend Aimes;



and Xander's honorary grandfather Qiang Wen.



However, despite Vera's wonderful food, they all seem to be keeping secrets. Vera then becomes a culinary star on Tiktok, and uses her platform to seek information about Xander.



Someone doesn't want Vera investigating Xander's death, and she's vandalized and threatened - but this doesn't deter a Chinese mother.

The story is filled with interesting people, including Vera's neighbors in Chinatown and her 'extended family' - really a group of people Vera met during her first murder investigation.



Vera is both annoying and endearing, as seen in her interactions with others. For example:

Vera calls her son Tilly's girlfriend Selena her 'future daughter-in-law', and encourages the couple to have 'sexy time' so she can have grandbabies.

Sixty-year-old Vera calls herself a little old lady when it suits her, but she actually thinks of herself as a spry forty-year-old.

Vera carries Tiffin containers filled with food almost everywhere she goes, and feeds everyone in sight.



Vera constantly spars with her Chinese neighbor Winifred, who has a Korean/French patisserie, and - to Vera's envy - has two adorable grandbabies.





The story has a dark undercurrent of criminal activity that's central to the plot. In the end, Vera is a fun heroine who solves a crime and adds to her family of 'adopted kinfolk.'

Many yummy foods are featured in the book, such as Chinese barbecue pork; salt and pepper squid; cold peanut noodles; three-cup chicken; vegetarian dumplings; and more.


Chinese Barbecue Pork


Salt and Pepper Squid


Cold Peanut Noodles


Three Cup Chicken


Vegetarian Dumplings

I enjoyed the novel and look forward to more of Vera Wong's adventures.

Thanks to Netgalley, Jesse Q. Sutanto, and Berkley Publishing Group for a copy of the book.

 Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Muzzled: An Andy Carpenter Mystery" by David Rosenfelt

In this 21st book in the Andy Carpenter series, the Paterson, New Jersey attorney defends a man charged with murdering two business colleagues.

*****

Ever since he inherited a large fortune, defense lawyer Andy Carpenter takes very few cases.



Instead, Andy prefers to hang out with his wife Laurie, son Ricky, and dogs Tara - a golden retriever, and Sebastian - a basset hound.



Andy also likes to watch sports; help run a canine rescue operation called 'The Tara Foundation'; schmooze with his friends at Charlie's Sports Bar; and so on.



Andy's carefree days end, however, when he gets a call from his friend Beth, who finds homes for rescued dogs.



Beth says she got a call from a man calling himself Daniel Simmons, who wants to claim his lost yellow lab Aggie. The thing is, Beth is sure 'Daniel Simmons' is really Alex Vogel - who supposedly died when his yacht exploded a few weeks ago.



As newspaper stories reported it, Alex Vogel, Stephen Mellman, and Robert Giarrusso - all of whom worked for the pharmaceutical company Pharmacon - were aboard Vogel's yacht the 'Doral' when it exploded.



No bodies were found, and all three men were presumed dead. Now that Vogel has resurfaced, the police become suspicious, and Vogel is arrested for murdering Mellman and Giarusso. Andy has a soft spot for a man who'd come out of hiding to retrieve his beloved pooch, and he agrees to defend Vogel.



As Vogel tells it, he and his colleagues were aboard the Doral to discuss breaking away from Pharmacon to form their own company. Vogel was below deck getting snacks when his colleagues were shot, and Vogel escaped on a dinghy. A few minutes later, the Doral exploded, and Vogel - fearing for his life - went into hiding.

All of Rosenfelt's 'Andy Carpenter' books involve a diabolical conspiracy and this novel is no exception. It turns out that Vogel, Mellman, and Giarrusso were developing a new medicine, and it looks like mobsters wanted the trio dead so they could move into the pharmaceutical arena and make lots of money.



Andy and his team are investigating the New Jersey Mafia for Andy's usual SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It) defense - which leads to more murder and mayhem.



Andy knows the district attorney has a very strong case, and his team members have a lot of work ahead of them. Andy's squad includes:

law partner Hike - a pessimist and the most boring man on earth, but a whiz at writing legal briefs and motions;



accountant Sam Willis - a computer hacker extraordinaire;



office manager Edna - who goofs off more than she works;



and Willie Miller - Andy's partner in the 'Tara Foundation', who was once on Death Row for a crime he didn't commit. Willie helped a mobster in prison, which gives him a useful 'in' with crime lords.



Andy also employs the K-Team, a private detective firm consisting of:

Andy's wife Laurie, an ex-cop;



Corey Douglas, also an ex-cop, and Corey's police dog, Simon Garfunkel;



and Marcus Clark - the toughest man on the planet, whose job includes getting information out of suspects and protecting Andy.



Among the highlights of the Andy Carpenter series are Andy's quips, jokes, and sarcastic comments, such as:

"I had a roommate in my freshman year of college whose goal was to climb the highest mountain on every continent. My goal at the time was to change roommates."



"A friend doesn't pry for personal information, he doesn't care what you wear, it doesn't bother him if you don't include him in everything you do, and he never, ever, ever, calls you on the phone just to chat. Every phone call must have a purpose, and it must be revealed right at the top. The only word allowed to precede the reason for calling is hello."



"She's not my client, she's my friend. Retired lawyers don't have clients; otherwise they'd be called nonretired lawyers."



All long book series have ups and downs, and to be honest, this isn't the best of the Andy Carpenter mysteries. It's still entertaining though, and worth reading.

 Rating: 3 stars