Literally Dead Book Club discussion

You've completed the book!! Share all your spoiler-y thoughts below!!

Did you enjoy how this mystery was built?

How might it have improved?

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you?

Have you read anything like this before?

Would you read from this author again?

I really enjoyed this book! I loved how Vera made such a positive impact on all those involved. I was glad to see she helped Julia and Emma move forward as well and the changes with both of them. I figured out the killer before the reveal just by connecting some dots that made sense to me through the story. I liked the pace and delivery of the story and felt it was well done. I would probably read more books like this!

I really enjoyed it. It made me laugh and hungry lol. A solid 4 stars for me.

Vera's relationship with Julia and Emma is everything to me.
I suspected the dad had done it but I can't believe I didn't make the connection that he was Vera's neighbour aaahh

A 3.5 star read for me :)

I am on chapter 25. I am not reading anyones comments. I have a theory I know who it is, only because their is one person who showed up to the teahouse the isn't on Vera suspect list and therefore it must be them.

Guess we will see.

I must admit I’m conflicted on this one. I can appreciate the good writing. Very colorful characters and breakneck pacing certainly helped.

All of that being said I am no fan of cozy mysteries. By the end I really was not invested in the mystery. I was not charmed by Vera Wong. It just was not my cup of tea. I can certainly see the draw And why a lot of readers love this one though!

I have not read anything else by this author.

I adored this book. it made me hungry for food and tea though. I loved Vera's character because I felt it highlighted how lonely elderly people get. Not just Vera, but Alex as well. I did predict Alex's involvement. but I liked how the other characters were involved with Marshall. I haven't read anything comforting in more than 10 years, recently, it has been thrillers/horrors and I'm so happy I read this as it perked my mood up.

I did figure it out. Go me. 3.5. Extra .5 because I haven't finished a mystery in years, if ever.

Did you enjoy how this mystery was built?
- Yeah. It was fine. I think I like something with higher stakes but I think the mystery was pretty good.

How might it have improved?
- Genuinely, I don't know. I think that if told the story that it intended to. Which is a cozy story about an elderly Chinese lady revitalizing her life and creating a found family. With a murder.

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you?
- I caught on to who the killer was, I didn't know how Alex and Marshal were connected or that his wife was actually dead. So that twist I didn't see coming.

Have you read anything like this before?
- I am mostly hear for the horror months and I don't ever pick up mysteries (I did DNF Finley Donovan) so no, I can't say I have.

Would you read from this author again?
- Sure, I have been tossing Dial A for Aunties for a while but wasn't sure it was for me but I might give it a go now.

I enjoyed this one! I felt it was obvious that Alex killed Marshall and that the dad was involved, but I appreciated the “twist” and was surprised that they were the same person! I have never read anything by this author, but I was pleased with the way this story built upon itself. I don’t really read cozies, so this was a different read for me. This ended up being a really cute story!

I had a strong feeling that none of the suspects on Vera's list were going to be the murderer and that turned out to be correct. I suspected the dad but was surprised to find out that Dad and Alex were the same person. I read cozy mysteries quite a bit and have been working my way through Agatha Christie's catalog. I would love to see Vera become a "Miss Marple" type character and spread her crime solving skills all over the place.

I enjoyed it! 4 stars for me. I appreciated the twist at the end as I really did think it was Oliver!! I am also SO glad that Julia and Oliver didn’t end up together and that they went back to being BFFs. Them ending up together would have soured things for me a bit.

I’ve seen some comments saying that they didn’t like Vera that much, and I get it. She’s nosey, she barges into your life and takes charge without asking, but I think she absolutely means well and I really enjoyed her character! She definitely ended up being a positive influence in all their lives and it was so cute how she found a newfound love for her tea house again at the end.

In regards to this being a cozy mystery.. it was fun! I don’t see myself reaching for cozy mysteries all the time as I do typically enjoy higher stakes, heart pounding mysteries/thrillers. But now I know I enjoy a good mystery amd will try to pick them up more often!

I've read my fair share of cosy mysteries. I found this enjoyable but wasn't groundbreaking. I predicted the killer early on just because I'd read similar things before and guessed how the plot would develop.

I did find Vera annoying, more because of the way she was written rather than her as a character. Everyone else developed over time, Vera was just 'old Chinese woman, does what she wants and feeds people'.

I don't think I would go out of my way to read from this author again, but if I was given another of her books as a gift, I would probably give it a go.

5 Stars for me! I had a great time with this!


Did you enjoy how this mystery was built? I did. I liked that she was figuring it out and she had her cute little notebook and used her intuition.

How might it have improved? I am not sure! I had a great time!

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you? I did NOT predict who done it. I was surprised to find that her tea friend down the street was the twins' dad!

Have you read anything like this before? I have. I read 4 Aunties and also Magic, Lies and Deadly Pies

Would you read from this author again? I will! I have enjoyed all 3 books I've read from her so far! These little cozies are her best though!

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I really enjoyed this book, I thought it picked up pace from half way through, then I didn't want to put it down. I would read from this author again.

I usually don't like cozy mysteries but I had a good time with this one! I loved Vera. I know she's annoying but I don't care. she had me laughing out loud. this is a book I will read whenever I need a pick me up. the only thing I didn't like that I can think of right now is how the child is written. that child was doing and saying things that no two year old would do. Just had to age the kid up a few years and it would have made more sense.

Did you enjoy how this mystery was built?

Yes. I knew immediately that the killer wouldn't be any of Vera's 'suspects' because they were pretty obvious red herrings, and I pretty quickly came to the conclusion that it could only be Alex, if you were to assume that the killer was someone the reader had already met, that is (which I did). I also guessed that Alex's wife was dead because of how much Alex mentioned her, but she's never introduced to us. I DID NOT put together Alex/Vera's customer with Alex/Oliver's father, so while I knew it was Alex I had no idea of his motivation.

How might it have improved?

I can't really think of anything that could have been better for me. I loved everything about it - all the food talk, Vera's relationship with each of her suspects, and the way the suspects interacted with each other (especially their little asides about Vera's straight-from-the-heart craziness).

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you?

Yes, as mentioned above I predicted Alex as the murder and the fact that his wife was dead all along, but I was surprised by his relationship to Marshall/Oliver and motivation.

Have you read anything like this before?

No, I've read a few books that I thought could be classified as cosy mysteries (Kinsey Millhone and Stephanie Plum series), but they weren't anywhere near as cosy as this was.

Would you read from this author again?

Absolutely! I've added all of the other books by Sutanto on my library's TBR and I sincerely hope this book is the start of a series.

I absolutely adore that this book was so much about found family. It was unexpected and left me with all the warm happy feelings.

I enjoyed the mystery, but not nearly as much as everything else around it. It looks like the next Jesse Q. Sutanto I need to read looks a like a more serious thriller (I'm Not Done With You Yet)

Overall this is my favorite book from this author I've read so far and this has me excited to read cozier books in the future.

This mystery was very cute. In order to build all the character arcs and relationships, we did lose a little bit of the mystery focus; it went off topic from the murder a bit more than I was anticipating. I didn't mind this though because I did like the characters and hearing their backstories.

If the mystery was a bit more convoluted, I could have forgiven the lack of focus on it a bit more. The answer seemed a bit too simple and the buildup was slightly anticlimactic. Again, I mostly forgive this because I appreciated the off-topic parts that had to do with the "suspects", I just think this could have been really excellent if it had achieved both good character building AND a fantastic murder mystery simultaneously.

In my previous (ch. 1-20) review, I said something about predicting the characters were guilty of confronting/hurting Marshall but that none of them did it and it was probably an OD. I realized when I picked up the book again that by that point we had already found out about the bird dander being the cause of death, so obviously that was a silly prediction which I would like to retract. It did cross my mind to be suspicious of Alex because, as others have mentioned, Vera spoke so highly of him which is suspicious in its own right. However, I didn't put it together that he was Marshall and Oliver's father. In hindsight it seems so obvious (I even went back and listened to chapter 2 where Alex is telling Vera about his sons and laughed at my past self for not putting it together), but I do think that connection was very clever. (Disclaimer: I am not a person that looks for twists in thrillers; I like to be surprised so I don't over-scrutinize as I'm reading. Someone who pays more attention might have guessed the twist, but as a casual reader I did not.)

I did accurately predict that the team would come together and get Vera Wang's World Famous Tea up and running, although admittedly it went a slightly different direction than I anticipated. I didn't count on everyone fixing up the shop (the furniture, mural, etc.) and then Julia bringing her new social media following into it but it worked because it lent credibility to the trope. I will say I was surprised Vera didn't have more of a reconciliation with her son (as it was in my prediction that they would have a big makeup at the end), but maybe it was more plausible that they didn't considering just how strained their relationship was.

The closest thing I can compare this book to that I've read is Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, but the type of story is slightly different. In contrast to Finlay Donovan, Vera Wong's enthusiasm for this murder was unique and funny to read; somehow her commitment to believing it was a homicide came off as cute instead of pathological.

I would read this author again; reading this got me interested to read Dial A for Aunties just because I already knew people talked about it a lot and I kind of want to see what the big deal is, and if people think this one or that one is the better of the author's books. I also just want to get more into the cozy mystery genre; maybe if I do I can better judge this book in comparison to others.

Final verdict: It's cute and heartwarming, and only lacking a bit in the mystery aspect.

Spoilers in my Review so only read if you finished the book.

Plot:
Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady, a lady of a certain age who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then, one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing, a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could because nobody sniffs out a wrong doing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

My Thoughts:
I am extremely surprised by how much I loved this novel. The mystery was fun, but the characters, especially Vera Wong, are written so well and with so much love. I have never liked a character more than I liked Vera. I wanted her to be my Grandma, I also enjoyed the other characters and their growth as the longer Marshall was dead, the better off the people he hurt got. It just shows how one bad person in your life can really hold you back from achieving greatness. And how the right person in your life can help you achieve what you almost lost.

The ending to this novel also surprised me, < I did figure out the killer around 150 pages in, but what shook me was the killers name. I had him down as Marhall's father in my suspect list when they revealed the name as Alex it sent me back to the first 50 pages when Alex talked about how great one of his son's were and the other was a slacker. But he used their Mandarin names that it didn't click that the two were indeed the same man. Great twist. > I am now interested in what else she has to offer.

My ranking so far of my Jesse Q. Sutanto Books

1. (2023) Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murders

This was such an enjoyable read! I think the only thing that could have been added was some closure on the Julia/Oliver situation. Nothing was really a surprise but it wasn't overly predictable either. I definitely want to read Dial A for Aunties next because I'm sure it'll be just as fun as this book

Clovermine wrote: "I did figure it out. Go me. 3.5. Extra .5 because I haven't finished a mystery in years, if ever.

Did you enjoy how this mystery was built?
- Yeah. It was fine. I think I like something with high..."

This really was a fun book & I could not stop. The stories are better than Finlay (I am also enjoying Finlay xDD) I really think you should read "DIal A for Aunties" but the 2nd book is not really strong.

I absolutely loved Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Much like many others, I figured out who the culprit was but, for me, that did not detract.

I loved learning about each and every character. I wanted the best for all of them and my heart just squee-ed so much. The final couple of chapters had me sniffling with the feels and I will be re-reading because the warmth of this book was everything.

5 stars for me, I might even prefer it to The Thursday Murder Club which is wild.

It was a cute read. I found the second half slow and it focused more on the characters than the mystery itself. Also the end was very simplistic and predictable, but in general I had a good time. Besides I don't read cozy mysteries for the suspense but for the coziness.
I liked all the characters and their development throughout the book. I have Dial A for Aunties on my radar for a long time and I'm definitely planning on reading it. 3⭐

I don't know if I was just not in the mood for a cozy mystery or what because I HATED this lol. Vera was insufferable and acted way older than 60 ( this bothered me all throughout, they kept calling her old and ugh) lets not even mention the 2 year old knowing what inflation was.
The writing just felt amateurish to me, mentioning squinting her eyes like Shaina from Love Is Blind? What a ridiculous description. By the end I didn't really care who killed Marshall. He was a typical bad guy that deserved it so why should I care?
Meh I think I'm going to take a break from cozies for a while.

I enjoyed this book. A crime to solve and a new found family. For me it was a 4,24 star read.

I'm giving it maybe a 4? but I might change my mind after the live show haha
Did you enjoy how this mystery was built? - Well, I enjoyed the book overall, but it honestly barely felt like a mystery at all. I was actually surprised by the end that it even turned out to be a murder for realsies. It was paced much more like a light-hearted contemporary with a focus on building the character's relationships and watching their character arcs.

How might it have improved? - I don't have any real notes other than than Vera should have been older or they should have left her age ambiguous because by the end I was like 'this woman is mid-70's at the youngest' not 60's! The only other thing is that there are some mental leaps you have to make in order for the story to work and I would have appreciated the leaps of logic to be clearer. Like WHY does Vera decide to investigate and why is she so involved. I can make assumptions, but I would have liked it more spelled out (which I normally would never say!). Also at the end with Oliver it went from like "you're the murderer omg!" to him just hanging out with them again without any real explanation of the steps to get there.

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you? - I was surprised that there even turned out to be a culprit at all. It seemed like after the fake out reveal that actually it really was going to be an allergy. That said I am still satisfied (if saddened) by the final reveal. I predicted nothing except that Sana and Riki definitely weren't the culprit lol.

Have you read anything like this before? - This was my first cosy mystery that I actually finished and enjoyed. I don't think this is the type of thing I am going to regularly seek out, but I was in a massive slump and somehow finished this in one day.

Would you read from this author again? - probably not, unless the premise really interested me; I liked it but didn't love it. If this is a series I would probably continue with it though.

This was a solid 3 stars for me. There were moments when I was genuinely very invested in the story and characters and enjoying myself, but just as many moments where I was bored or even annoyed. I did end up feeling satisfied by the ending and would consider reading another entry if this became a series and the plot sounded interesting to me.

Possible spoilers...

Although this book didn't grab my attention too much at the start, I did enjoy how the story progressed. What happened to Vera towards the end felt a little rushed for me and there could have been more development with how she was feeling.

The murderer surprised me. As the story was wrapping up I thought it was an accident. I didn't predict how Marshall was murdered. The relationship of the murderer to Marshall was very surprising - the person hadn't been mentioned much at all so I kind of forgot about them!

I've read from different POV's before, but this seemed different to those books.

I would read from the author again, but maybe not a cozy mystery (although I'm a little intrigued by Dial A for Aunties!). I did like Jesse Sutanto's writing style.

I thought the build up was rather slow. Most of the information about the night Marshall died happened in the last half of the book. I needed more mystery build up and clues. I appreciated the found family aspect of the story more than the mystery. I haven't read something like this before. It was a struggle to read. I don't think I would pick up another book from this author. The book was a 3.5 rounded to a 4 on Goodreads solely for the found family aspect.

Did you enjoy how this mystery was built? Overall, yeah! While it was a little slow, it really let the relationships shine. I didn't feel like the mystery was the main plot.

How might it have improved? Honestly just less annoying characters.

Were you able to predict anything? Did anything surprise you? Just that none of the "suspects" were the true murderer. I did think that it was going to be a true accident.

Have you read anything like this before? Not really, I have a hard time getting into cozy mysteries.

Would you read from this author again? Probably not, unless it was a book club. I DNF'd Aunties, and would have probably DNF'd this too if it wasn't for the book club!