B.C. Spines's Reviews > Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

It saddens me to give this two stars, but I was really let down by the writing. I loved Dial A for Aunties and Four Aunties and a Wedding was fun, but as much as I wanted to love Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, it just felt like it needed more editing.

After finishing the book, I read the acknowledgements section, and suddenly all my issues with the book made sense. Sutanto was rushed to write this, and it shows. I really like the premise, but the writing could have used more time in the oven to cook (so to speak).

This book has multiple POVs told from a third person omniscient narrator, which I did not like. Vera is supposed to be our main character, and I think we would have been better off sticking with Vera throughout the whole book and getting a first person account from her, as she is the one who is supposed to be investigating the murder. By the end, she felt like just another side character, as the author clearly related more to the younger characters who crowd Vera's spotlight.

While I do like how all the characters came together, I also felt as if the five side characters' personalities were all interchangeable. Each character has their one or two "things," like painting, and they all have somewhat of a backstory, but aside from that, they all act in exactly the same manner as one another. At the beginning, Julia and Sana are both passive pushovers who are victimized by everyone in their life. Tilly, Oliver, and Riki are just Gen Z/Millenial nice guys. The way they speak, the way they act, are pretty much all the same.

Which brings me to the "bad" characters in this book. The actions of the "bad" characters are just very evil. While I know that there are some extreme assholes out there and abusive relationships are unfortunately common, it seemed nuts to me that some of these characters would be so cruel and one-note, just exaggerated villains.

And Emma. Emma is two years old, but she comes off like she is three to five years old. I know the author has children, so it's not like she's altogether unfamiliar with this age group, but Emma was very eloquent and aware, and did not ask nearly enough questions. Granted, I do not have children of my own, but I work with them and Emma would be the most mature two-year-old I'd ever encounter.

The mystery was fine, but the killer was glaringly obvious to me about halfway through. However, the reasoning was far more insidious than I would have expected. Like??? (view spoiler)[ Sir??? You BLATANTLY abuse your one child in favor of another for their entire lifetime, and then as soon as you find out the golden child is very mean, your first instinct is to KILL HIM? MURDER is your FIRST THOUGHT? I figured it'd be an accident, like, "Whoops! I accidentally killed my son without realizing it," but no-- he full on CHOSE that outcome. That's wild to me. (hide spoiler)]

Going back to the editing thing... The writing really started to bug me after I noticed two consecutive chapters that began, "__ can't remember the last time s/he __." (For example, "Vera can't remember the last time she felt so alive.") After I started noticing it, I found this phrase peppered throughout the whole second half of the book. None of these characters can remember anything about their own lives apparently!

It also bugged me how all their problems were blamed on one person, and then suddenly all their problems were solved with a different person.

I know cozy mysteries are by nature formulaic, and I'm new to reading this genre as an adult, but as much as I was entertained by the first half, I couldn't help but notice its shortcomings as the book went on.

But, I won't give up on you, Jesse. I'm still going to read Dial A for Aunties 3.