Vera Wong is sixty years old, widowed, and lives alone above her tea shop in San Francisco. She has a strict morning routine; she gets up early and goes for a brisk walk before she opens her tea shop. To be honest, for the last few years she has had very few customers. Only one customer, Alex, comes by every day. One morning when she goes downstairs to start on her walk, there is a dead body of a man on the floor of her tea shop, a man she does not recognize. The victim is Marshall Chen.
Vera is an amateur sleuth, but she is also an accidental sleuth. If she had not run into a dead body in her own shop, she would never have had leanings in that direction. But she is lonely, her grown son avoids her, and she suddenly decides that she can solve this case, since the police believe that the man died of natural causes.
Several people visit Vera's tea shop in the days following the death. Vera concludes that they must be suspects, even though in some cases it is not immediately clear what connection they have to the dead man. The secondary characters are Riki Herwanto (a programmer and technical designer), Sana Singh (an artist), Oliver Chen (the dead man's brother), and Julia Chen (the dead man's wife). Emma Chen, the very young daughter of Julia and Marshal, also is an important character.
Except for Julia Chen and Oliver Chen, none of these people knew each other before Marshall's death. Through Vera and her unsanctioned investigation, they get to know each other and become friends of a sort. The development of the relationships and bonding in this story was well done. I did not feel like any of it was forced or contrived. These people all needed friends and opened up to that.
The story revolves around Vera and she is a remarkable character, a force of nature, always sure of herself and very bossy. That has the potential to be irritating, but it worked for me.
There were so many things I liked about this book: the diversity of the characters; the writing style, with each chapter told from a different character's viewpoint; the description of food and the wonderful teas that Vera Wong made. I wanted to visit her tea shop and I would have loved to have her cook for me. It is a light mystery, but has its more serious moments. The mystery was secondary to the characters for me; I did not guess who the culprit was, although many readers said they did.
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Publisher: Berkley, 2023.
Length: 333 pages
Format: Trade Paperback
Setting: San Francisco, CA, US
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: I purchased this book.
17 comments:
I have this on my Kindle and am now really looking forward to reading it.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did, Cath. I cannot remember what inspired me to get a copy, or why I thought I would like it, but it more than lived up to my expectations.
This sounds good, Tracy. For me it's never really all that much about the solution to the mystery, it's much more about the characters and the side plots. For some reason, I often enjoy the secondary side plots more than I enjoy the main premise of the book. I'm reading Hanging the Devil right now, and it's also set in that same part of San Francisco and involves lots of Chinese and Chinese American characters. I'm having fun with that one.
Sam, I had to look up that title, it sounded interesting. Always fun to read about San Francisco. I have what I think is the 1st book in that series by Tim Maleeny, Stealing The Dragon. I have had it for years.
This description is so appealing and my library only has one patron before me.
Hi Tracy, very nice review and you have me interested in Vera Wong. She sounds like a character I would go for. I like her morning walks and the fact that she brews dIfferent teas and I feel for her too. She is lonely and this amateur sleuthing is giving her a new interest in life.
This one appeals to me, Tracy! I like that the main character is an older sleuth, and the tea shop setting sounds really effective for the story. I've read stories like that, where the mystery itself is there, but not as much of a 'draw' as the characters and setting. Sometimes authors do that very well.
Patti, I found Vera Wong to be a very interesting character, and all the pieces fit together well. And not my usual reading. I was never bored. Hope you like it if you read it.
Kathy, that is exactly it. She had been lonely and not happy with her life and this was motivation to do something new. I usually have a problem with amateur sleuths but this one worked well for me.
Margot, I like to read about older people in just about any genre. I especially like it when it is a group that also includes younger people. All of these people needed help in one way or another, including Vera. A very nice read.
I love a good character-driven mystery...and Vera sounds like quite the character. I've got this one on my TBR list, but I don't think I'll get to it until next year.
I would like to visit her tea shop with you! I know so little about tea, and must confess not being terribly fond of the Japanese Matcha when I was there. I love it when characters are the best part of a book, as well as the fact that you did not guess the culprit. You have intrigued me!
I sympathize, Lark. I have so many books I want to read before the end of the year, I cannot add anymore. I hope you like it whenever you read it.
Belleza, I drink a lot of black tea, but I am not an expert on any teas. At one point in my life I concentrated on herbal teas and had some Chinese teas made up for me. In the book they sound so calming and perfect. I loved Vera's attitude about life although so different from mine. I am quiet and introverted. It was a good book for me, especially at this time.
I loved this too! And agree with you, the mystery is less important than the character building and their struggles. And, who won't love an old lady like Vera?
I'm so glad to hear the news that Vera Wong #2 is in the making right now. Can't wait to visit her teashop and taste her foods again! Here's my review
Fanda, I think this book is in contention for one of my favorite books of the year. An uplifting book, a fun mystery, characters you care for. And set in San Francisco.
And I will definitely be interested in reading a sequel to the this book.
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