Caffeinated Reviewer

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto is the second audiobook in the Vera Wong series. She introduces new characters and brings back familiar ones as Vera helps a young woman find her missing friend. Suspense, humor, and found family delivered as narrator Eunice Wong brought the characters to life.

Vera Wong is back and as meddling as ever in this follow-up to the hit Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.…

Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good. For Vera that is. She’s surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son, Tilly, has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray that she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful, even if one is slightly...bored.

Then Vera comes across a distressed young woman who is obviously in need of her kindly guidance. The young woman is looking for a missing friend. Fortunately, while cat-sitting at Tilly and Selena's, Vera finds a treasure Selena's briefcase. Inside is a file about the death of an enigmatic influencer—who also happens to be the friend that the young woman was looking for.

Online, Xander had it a parade of private jets, fabulous parties with socialites, and a burgeoning career as a social media influencer. The only problem is, after his body is fished out of Mission Bay, the police can't seem to actually identify him. Who is Xander Lin? Nobody knows. Every contact is a dead end. Everybody claims not to know him, not even his parents.

Vera is determined to solve Xander's murder. After all, doing so would surely be a big favor to Selena, and there is nothing she wouldn't do for her future daughter-in-law.

I absolutely love the character of Vera Wong, that Sutanto has created. Vera is a widowed sixty-one-year-old Asian woman who longs to be a grandmother. She owns and lives above Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse. Vera knows her tea, and last year after a dead man appeared in her shop, she solved her first case and made new friends out of the suspects. In this second audiobook, Vera is busy cooking for her newfound family, while encouraging her son to marry his police detective girlfriend and give her many, many grandbabies.

But Vera longs for the excitement of another case. By fate, she comes across a young woman who is looking for a missing friend. And with a little snooping, she comes across her first clue in a file at Tilly’s apartment. It belong’s to Tilly’s girlfriend, Selena; the police detective. The file contains information about the death of a John Doe who looks exactly like the young man that is missing… and just like that, Vera is on the case.

Sutanto combines humor, sleuthing, and found family to deliver a tale that kept me listening into the wee hours. Something is dark is going on with the young woman, and the young man Xander Lin. The author takes us into the world of TikTok influencers, while sharing delicious food, matchmaking and solving the case.

Eunice Wong has become the voice of Vera, found family, neighbors and friends. The story works well in this format and only heightened my enjoyment of the story. I cannot wait for more adventures with Vera. At the end of the story, we get a hint of things to come.

Amazon | Audible | Libro.fm

About Jesse Q. Sutanto

Jesse Q. Sutanto is a Chinese-Indonesian author. As of 2022, she has published six novels for adults, young adults, and middle grade readers. She is most famous for her novel Dial A for Aunties, which won the 2021 Comedy Women in Print Prize and has been optioned for a film by Netflix

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About Eunice Wong

Eunice Wong is the winner of the 2024 Audie Award for Mystery, as well as a 2024 triple-Audie Finalist (Best Fiction Narrator, Nonfiction, Mystery, all solos).

She is a Juilliard Drama alum & winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Lead Actress, with 9 AudioFile Earphones Awards, 6 for solo performances. Eunice was honored to be selected as one of 12 winners, out of 251, for the American Library Association’s 2024 RUSA Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration. She has recorded 100+ titles for Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, Blackstone, Harper, Dreamscape, & more, and performed professionally across the US & on national tv.

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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2025 Audiobook Challenge

About Kimberly

Kimberly is a coffee loving book addict who reads and listens to fictional stories in all genres. Whovian, Ravenclaw, Howler and proud Nonna. She owns and manages Caffeinated PR. The coffee is always on and she is ready to chat. BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram

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