Book Review: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man) by Jesse Q. Sutanto

A hilarious and heartwarming cozy mystery featuring everyone’s favorite tea-making, crime-solving busybody, Vera Wong.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️¼
Tone: Cozy chaos, meddlesome magic, and a whole lot of heart

Vera Wong is back, and thank goodness—because the world needs more of her unsolicited advice and criminally delightful meddling. Jesse Q. Sutanto continues her pitch-perfect cozy mystery book series with Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man), a follow-up that’s as charming, funny, and chaotic as the first book—and somehow, even more heartfelt.

Life is good for Vera these days. Her San Francisco teahouse is thriving, her found family is closer than ever, and her son, Tilly, is finally dating someone suitable. That someone just so happens to be Officer Selena Gray—yes, that Officer Gray, the one Vera once (lovingly?) badgered during her amateur sleuthing phase. But what is Vera if not a woman who sees the potential in people (and also their secrets)?

Still, peaceful days are dull days in Vera’s book. She’d never say it out loud (or maybe she would, Vera has no filter), but she misses the thrill of solving a good murder. And just when the tedium of ordinary life threatens to set in, Vera stumbles into another mystery—a missing person, a cat-sitting gig, and a suspicious file in her maybe-future-daughter-in-law’s police briefcase. One thing leads to another (as it does in Vera’s world), and suddenly she’s deep into a case involving a mysterious influencer with zero verifiable ties to anyone—even his own parents. Who is Xander Lin? Vera intends to find out. For justice. For Selena. And probably, if we’re being honest, for the sheer joy of it.

Should you read the book?

Once again, Sutanto delivers a cozy mystery that balances laugh-out-loud moments with genuine emotional depth. Vera is the nosy auntie of our dreams—hilarious, opinionated, and smarter than she lets on. I found myself muttering, “Oh, Vera, not again,” more times than I can count, but I wouldn’t stop her for the world. Her antics are outrageous, but she’s all heart, which keeps these books from ever feeling like fluff.

You don’t need to have read the first installment to enjoy this one. Sutanto skillfully reintroduces Vera’s world without bogging down the plot, making this sequel a perfect standalone if you’re just jumping in.

I recommend Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping to anyone who wants a clever mystery with real emotional warmth, delivered by one of fiction’s most lovable busybodies. It’s a book that will make you laugh out loud, shake your head, and smile long after you’ve turned the last page. Fingers crossed we haven’t seen the last of Vera Wong—because I, for one, will always show up for a snoop session at her teahouse.

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