Dorie - Cats&Books :) 's Reviews > Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

I was a little suspect to begin this novel as it featured yet another older woman as the main protagonist. There have been a plethora of books featuring older adults but this one was a winner!!

Vera Wong is not a complainer – she has a routine that she follows religiously. Up at the crack of dawn, a long walk, a brisk shower and she’s down in her tea shop!! She may send a quick text to her son, Tilly, reminding him that he gets up too late and he needs to find a wife!!

Her routine is interrupted one morning when she comes downstairs to find a dead man!! What does she do?? She calls the police of course but not before drawing an outline with permanent marker around the dead body – she’s seen this on numerous crime shows. She also may have checked his pockets for clues!!

Vera immediately finds the police to be lackluster and useless as they don’t check for DNA, fingerprints or ANYTHING!! They aren’t even considering that this might be a murder. Vera knows that she has to get things done on her own.

The dead man is Marshall and there are a lot of people who aren’t sad that he is gone!

The novel then quickly ramps up with suspects including Marshall's wife Julia and several others who stop by the shop because Vera knows that “MURDERERS ALWAYS RETURN TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME!!”

There is so much heart in this novel. This is more than a cozy murder mystery as Vera slowly wins over the hearts of the suspects and they become friends. Each of them is struggling in some way and Vera has a way of getting people to open up. She even wins the heart of Julia’s demanding 2 y/o daughter Emma, who has never warmed to anyone before! I loved watching Vera interact with all of the characters who were all very well described.

The mystery itself is quite good and I really didn’t know who killed Marshall!

The less said about the plot the better, go into it blind and enjoy – I certainly did!!

I received an ARC of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss. It was my pleasure to read and review this title.