About the book, from Penguin Random House:

“Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, 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 Gen-Z 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 wrongdoing 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?”

About the Author, Jesse Q. Sutanto (from her website!):

“Jesse here! Thank you so much for dropping by my website. I spent a heck of a long time trying to make it not-terrible. There was a lot of sweating and cursing involved, so if you think the website sucks, please don’t tell me.

A little bit about me: I grew up going back and forth between Jakarta and Singapore and consider both places my homes. I was fortunate enough to do my Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford, which is surely one of the most gorgeous places in the world. I’ve also made Oxford my entire personality so please excuse the obnoxiousness.

I am passionate about women’s rights and diversity in publishing. I regularly do giveaways where I critique queries or the first few pages, and I am especially interested in helping writers from marginalized communities. If you are a writer from a marginalized community, come say hello to me on Twitter or Instagram! I love hearing from other writers, even if it’s just to say a quick hello.”

Why I selected Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers for the May 2024 Giveaway:

• This gnome LOVES that this book features a protagonist who is a “woman of a certain age”—and she is SPUNKY (and takes no nonsense from anyone).
• Vera Wong is the perfect nosy grandma who’s ready to serve up the perfect cup of tea (and some delicious food!) along with some truths that you may (or may not…) want to hear – whether you like it or not.
• The friendships that develop between the main cast of characters is lovely and heartwarming… even for a group of murder suspects (found family murder suspects – is that a thing? In this book, it is!).
• This story is told from several points of view, but it still leaves you wondering who the murderer is (and… you’ll be left feeling A LOT of empathy for each of them).
• Finally, in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, we are happy to feature both an author and a main character of Asian descent. It also might not be a coincidence that we are featuring a Mystery… at Murals in May (hint, hint). This gnome loves some good alliteration.

And please don’t forget! We are grateful to our friends at Downtown Tucson Partnerships and HSL Properties for helping to sponsor the books we’ll be hiding downtown this month!