Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man–humorous stereotype of Chinese grandmother
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
narrated by Eunice Wong
When I began reading Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man, I realized I was missing something. That something was supplied by an audio book: English spoken with a Chinese accent. Immediately the humor began to rise to the top and the feisty Chinese grandmother (wanna be) emerged. Formerly quite lonely, in Sutanto’s first book, the owner of “Vera Wong’s World-Famous Teahouse,” in the process of solving her first mystery, gathers an unlikely group of people under her wing and they become her family. In addition to her biological son Tilly, she discovers more people in need of “community.” Everyone, it seems, has a hard time saying “no” to Vera.
With Vera, one thing leads to another, and she befriends a distraught girl, Millie, outside the police station. In the process of trying to find Millie’s missing friend Thomas, Vera becomes an overnight sensation on “the Instagram” and “the TikTok.” She really is quite funny as a character, and is charming in her attempts to help others and to make sense out of social media. She unwittingly puts herself in danger much to the dismay of Tilly who is a lawyer and his girlfriend Selena, a detective. Tilly does his best to support his mother, and Selena tries to convince her to stay away from investigating, especially after her teashop is vandalized.
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man is a humorous mystery, but delves into dark crimes. I enjoyed it, but won’t be going back to read the first in the series or future books. For me, it is simply a matter of preference. I try not to choose books with inappropriate language. Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man includes a lot of crude language and swearing that I consider unnecessary to tell a good story. I did not let my aversion to the author’s use of profanity affect my rating of this book, however, as I realize the wording may not offend some readers.
Eunice Wong, the narrator, made the Chinese characters come alive and was able to revert well to standard English as appropriate. I did a read/listen for most of the book, but I found that when I just read passages I could “hear” them with the narrator’s voice. That’s how good she is.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery, Women’s Fiction
Notes: 1. #2 in the Vera Wong series, but I had not read the first book in the series, and I found that this book held up well as a standalone.
2. Is much more enjoyable as an audiobook.
3. Contains a lot of unnecessary swearing and crude language.
Publication: book: April 1, 2025—Berkley
audiobook: April 1, 2025—Penguin Audio
Memorable Lines:
She serves Winifred her tea, then leans back and takes a bite of the Korean-French abomination. Of course, as luck would have it, the croissant actually tastes amazing. Quite possibly the best pastry Vera has ever had. The richness of the cheese is perfectly cut through by the sour, spicy kimchi, and all of it wrapped up in buttery, flaky layers.
Last night, Vera has learned that young people are very, very good at faking it. Maybe it has something to do with social media.
“It’s not,” Vera says. I know my rights.” She doesn’t. But she’s hoping she looks like she does. Sometimes, looking like you know things is more important than actually knowing things.
Booked for Revenge–murder in the kitchen
Booked for Revenge
by Karen Rose Smith
Belltower Landing is the setting for this cozy mystery which gives the characters an opportunity for outdoor activities like hiking, paddle boarding, and boating. It is also perfect for having a tourist season. Jazzi and her friend Dawn have combined resources to create a combination tea shop and bookstore. The young ladies also conserve financial resources by living together in an apartment above the shop. In a thread of personal conflict, Dawn’s parents live in the same town and are not happy with this business venture or with the girls’ common interest in finding their birth parents.
The main focus of this book, however, is “The Gentlemen’s Bake-Off.” Tomes and Tea is involved because, as one of many creative promotional ideas, the duo will advertise and sell books written by the judges. They also host a book signing. When there is a murder, Jazzi slowly starts investigating. She has kept her relationship to her mother Daisy quiet to avoid getting drawn into just this type of situation. In her hometown, Daisy has a reputation for solving crimes.
There are many suspects—judges, other competitors, or even someone completely unrelated to the baking competition. I didn’t guess the murderer until the end of the book when the identity becomes quite evident. There are other threads that muddle the investigation, including a hidden camera, loud disputes, and missing evidence.
A little romance comes into play as Jazzi’s friend Parker, an IT specialist, shows signs of interest in Jazzi as more than a friend. Oliver, with an Australian accent, owns The Wild Kangaroo pub, and often shows up when Jazzi needs support. Dawn is drawn to Abe, an EMT/firefighter who is frequently on the scene with medical help.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery for the whodunit puzzle, the interesting characters, and the budding romances. There are a pair of kittens that are fun too. The bookstore setting is a magnet for me, and I am glad to see the young ladies making a success of their enterprise.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #2 in the Tomes & Tea Mysteries series, but could be read as a standalone.
2. This series is a spinoff from the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries series. There are references to characters in that series, but the author always provides background information to the relationship so there is no confusion. Jazzi, the protagonist in this series is the now-grownup daughter of the protagonist in Daisy’s Tea Garden books.
3. Clean
Publication: April 29, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
Tomes and Tea’s book club was a little different than most. They didn’t discuss one novel at a session. Readers brought in whatever their latest read was to talk about. This way tourists could drop in and join in too.
“Through the years, I’ve found it’s just as easy to be friendly as impatient. And the interchange can brighten a fan’s day as well as mine.”
The Fisherman’s Lady–Scottish classic
The Fisherman’s Lady
by George MacDonald
edited by Michael Phillips
First published in 1875, entitled Malcolm, with a sequel arriving in 1877, The Fisherman’s Lady is a challenging read and a classical romance by a prolific writer of many genres. C.S. Lewis claimed MacDonald as his favorite writer saying, “I never wrote a book in which I did not quote George MacDonald.” The language is, of course, of an older age and reflects MacDonald’s background: Scottish minister, and author of fiction and nonfiction, including poetry. Contemporaries include Lewis Carroll, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Dickens, and Mark Twain.
Much of the dialogue in The Fisherman’s Lady is written with a Scottish brogue adding to the difficulty for the modern reader. Initially, I purchased a Kindle version that included both Malcolm and The Marquis of Lossie. Next, I located a printed version of The Fisherman’s Lady edited by Michael Phillips. He simplified the original by omitting some of the passages, but he also left some of the Scottish dialect for an authentic flavor.
Some readers categorize this novel as having a “gothic style.” It does contain some gothic elements from that Victorian period—a castle; dark, locked rooms; potential hauntings; crumbling stairways; the past affecting the present; twisted family ties; missing people; unusual sounds; and dreams.
The plot starts with sudden impact as it focuses on a corpse. Then, it proceeds slowly as characters are introduced. There are a lot of important figures in the book, and the editor lists them and a note about most of them, along with an area map. The story gains momentum and interest for the reader with lots of hooks leading into the following chapters. The protagonist is Malcolm, a fisherman who lives with his adopted father Duncan, an elderly, blind piper. Malcolm is a happy young man, honest, and a hard worker. He is devoted to the man who raised him whose only fault appears to be a quick temper over an old feud with another family. On the other side of the social strata is the Marquis of Lossie and his daughter, the beautiful Lady Florimel (Flory). Questions hang throughout the book concerning Malcolm’s parentage and that of the “Mad Lair,” a hunchbacked dwarf who has been badly mistreated by his mother.
Malcolm and Flory become friends, but they do not develop a romantic relationship because they both realize that social boundaries make any such bond between them unrealistic. Malcolm, however, would do anything for Flory, desiring to serve her long-term.
There are a few really evil women in this book. The way the upper class treats servants, laborers, the poor, and the disabled is upsetting, but a reflection of the times.
I enjoyed most of the book as far as it went, but I was disappointed in the sudden cut-off of the tale with no satisfactory conclusion for the characters. Most modern tales with sequels tie up the main threads in the first book but provide a motivation to encourage the reader to continue on to find out what happens to the characters in the next stage of their lives. This book contains a major event and then just ends with little attention to the aftershocks. The editor does include a brief paragraph to assure the reader on certain key points, but that statement was not part of the original text.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Historical Romance, Classic
Notes: 1. The first part of a two part set of books about Malcolm.
2. Includes Christian themes and shows characters trying to come to grips with their faith.
3. Clean
4. Includes preface by the editor and three appendices providing historical notes.
5. I have not yet decided if I will read the sequel, The Marquis of Lossie, or not.
Publication: Original in 1875—Henry S. King Publishers in Great Britain, and George Routledge & Sons in New York, and J.B. Lippincott in Philadelphia
This version edited by Michael Phillips in 1982—Bethany House Publishers
Memorable Lines:
Whatever may have been the projected attitude of the marquis, the moment he stood on the piper’s floor, the gentleman in him got the upper hand and his behavior to the old man was not only polite but respectful. At no period in the last twenty years had he been so nigh the kingdom of heaven as he was now when making his peace with the blind piper.
But Lady Florine had never studied anything yet, had never even perceived that anything wanted studying—that is, demanded to be understood. What appeared to her most odd, most inconsistent, was his delight in what she regarded only as the menial and dirty occupation of cleaning lamps and candlesticks; the poetic side of it, rendered tenfold poetic by his blindness, she never saw.
“No, no; never run from a lie. And never say, neither that you didn’t do the things except it be laid straight to your face. Let a lie lay in the dirt. If you pick it up, the dirt’ll stick to you, even if you fling the lie over the dike at the end of the world. No, no! Let a lie lay as you would the devil’s tail!”
Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins–complex plot and lots of action
Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
By Sarah Graves
Jake and Ellie own the bakery and coffee shop the Chocolate Moose. They are great friends and would do anything for each other; and in Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, they get into some extreme situations that require them to take their faithfulness to the limit.
The pair is known in the Maine port town as amateur sleuths, and their husbands tolerate their sometimes dangerous investigations. Jake is the main character, so we see this story from her point of view. We also learn a lot about her multigenerational family of nine all living under the same roof.
The mystery part of this book ignites when the duo is hired to provide treats for an event at the old Stone House. The owners are a handsome reality star and his disgruntled wife. Be prepared for multiple murders, fires, and kidnappings. There is a lot of dangerous action in this cozy mystery, but it is fascinating to follow Jake and Ellie as they track down criminals. There are a number of suspects; the “wicked web” expands as the plot proceeds adding on miscreants and motives that are quite unexpected. There are a number of dogs, of various breeds, who play a role in the story. Jake owns two and gathers a third one, a small, white, fluffy dog, into her fold. This little dog’s involvement proves crucial.
I enjoyed Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. Very little of the story occurs in the bakery as tourist season is over, but Jake and Ellie do have to do some baking that ties directly into the mystery. The port setting in this series is always a good backdrop for a mystery, and with each book in the series, I learn a little more about Maine and living near the ocean.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #8 in the Death by Chocolate Mystery Series, but could be read as a standalone. As with most lengthy series, if you don’t start at the beginning you will miss some character background and development.
2. Some swearing.
Publication: April 28, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“I love it,” he said, and I could see in his face that he really did. Downeast Maine takes some people that way, the whole land-sky-and-sea thing waking the sense of wonder that—much to their surprise, sometimes—has always been in their hearts.
A sparkling kitchen is at the heart of every good day, Bella always said. Of course she also thought it was at the heart of eternal salvation, world peace, reversing climate change, and the solution to the famed three-body problem in mathematics.
Good old Eastport, where keeping an eye out has developed into an art form of which gossip is the performance aspect.
education pathways 