Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man by Jesse Q. Sutanto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on a Dead Man is the 2nd-book in the Vera Wong series. I absolutely adored the 1st-book when I read it in 2023.
At that time, I was expecting it to be a standalone novel, so was giddy when I discovered we would be getting more with the indomitable-Vera Wong and friends.
This novel involves a new mystery for Vera to investigate, as well as a whole new set of side characters. We still get appearances from all her old friends, but she does make some great new ones here.
The mystery involves the death of an up-and-coming influencer. Online, Xander, was the type social influencer people love to follow. His feed generally featured things like enviable travels on private jets, stays at luxury resorts, and all the newest fashion trends, but who was he really?
Xander’s story is at the heart of this investigation, and what Vera uncovers is sure to tug at your heartstrings. I know it did mine. My emotions were an absolute roller coaster over the course of this novel.
The moment I was reunited with Vera, I had a smile on my face. She is a sharp-witted 61-year old, who loves to act like she’s ancient. It’s hilarious. She is so far from that.
Vera Wong has been one of my absolute favorite characters written within the last few years, and she’s def one of my favorite amateur sleuths ever.
While I wouldn’t say I connected with the cast of side characters in this one as much as I did in the 1st-book, I still loved all of their interactions with Vera, as well as the value brought by their personal stories.
Again it was easy to see how Vera was touching their lives in different ways and it filled my heart to read. We all need a Vera in our life. Better yet, be a Vera in someone else’s life. It could make all the difference in the world!
In addition to the character work, I also appreciated so much the topics Sutanto explored in this one, and her note at the end describing her real life inspiration was touching and brought more insight into this story.
I highly recommend reading that Author’s Note at the end.
Thank you to Berkley for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m such a fan and certainly hope we get more installments to the Vera Wong series.
I think these books hold an emotional depth that would be surprising for a lot of Readers. If you haven’t checked this series out, I definitely recommend that you do.