Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

After a brief hiatus of flying through books and writing reviews, I am back from a family trip and just finished this book.

I absolutely loved Jesse Q. Sutanto’s first book in this newish series, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (Berkley, 2023). It was a five-star read for me. I thought it was fresh and witty. So, when I spotted the paperback of Book #2 in the series in an airport bookstore, I snapped it up, thinking it would be a great, light read for my flight. Things aren’t always what they appear, however.

Vera is back with her usual bossiness and lack of boundaries, much to the chagrin of all who know her. Many of the minor characters from Book #1 return as part of her new “found family.” But, with the new murder mystery to solve, along comes an entire new cast of minor characters, who she simply adds to her existing one. It’s a lot of people and backstories to keep track of, especially those not directly involved with Book #2’s murder mystery.

Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping [on a Dead Man] (Berkley, 2025) has Vera trying to help a young woman who is searching for her missing friend Thomas. The young woman, Millie, is hard to keep track of, though. Pretty early on the reader can sense something is off with Millie.

Vera has to use social media to try to put together the pieces of this puzzle, and through her online snooping, she starts to build a circle of people who thought they knew Thomas, or Xander as he is known by some, when in reality, most of these people didn’t know him at all. Not Thomas, not Xander. Only Millie really knew Thomas, and Millie is a puzzle herself.

Let’s start with the good news. This book really shines a light on the world of social media influencers and how the whole thing works. It also shows how easy it is to manipulate your audience using clever editing and narration. It serves as a cautionary tale to those who think they can become rich and famous at this new “sport.”

TJ’s teenage daughter Robin who helps Vera create her viral videos is really good at all of this, and Vera uses this to get to know Robin better. It is through Robin’s work helping Vera that she develops a better relationship with her father.

One of the best qualities of the character Vera is her ability to give people just what they need, starting with a homemade and delicious meal, and ending with the kind of tough love mothers dole out to their loved ones. Vera always calls a spade a spade, and she also seems to be learning when to go softly and when to barge in with guns ablazing. I just love how she gathers all of these lost people together and they all seem to fit together in her found family.

Now for the not so good news. While I love Vera, and I really enjoy the relationship between Vera and her son Tilly, which naturally includes police officer Selena, his girlfriend, the initial snap, crackle, and pop of Book #1 is missing here. The dialogue was not as sharp and witty this time. Book #1 seemed so fresh and original, and perhaps because this is Book #2 the originality has worn off a bit.

I also found the plot to drag and take way too long to get to the climax, very quickly followed by the resolution and ending. And, since the plot itself is so much darker than the first book, I was hoping for it to hurry up while also dreading getting there. The foreshadowing is pretty strong, so I knew what was coming, but I also was really hoping I was wrong.

It is for the pacing of this novel and the plot itself that I am settling on three stars, although if there was a 3.5 possibility in good ole Goodreads, I would probably give it that.

The end of Book #2 sets us up for a Book #3, and it is pretty evident that we will follow Vera and her (new) BFF Winifred to Paris, of all places. Being optimistic that Sutanto will sharpen her pencil (keyboard?) and bring back the snap, crackle, and pop of Book #1, I’ll definitely be there for the Paris adventure!

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SPOILER ALERT (stop here if you don’t want to read the spoiler!)

It’s hard to issue a trigger warning for a novel where the triggering content is so integral to the plot itself, but the main conflict of Book #2 involves human trafficking, and while I absolutely know this exists in real life, and because I absolutely abhor the very thought of it, I would not have actively chosen to read this book had I known that was going to be the main focus. Please be aware of this if this sort of content, including mental and physical abuse, would be upsetting to you to read.