Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

This was not the book I was expecting it to be, but I enjoyed it all the more because of it, I think. I went in expecting this to be more on the investigative side of things, a bit of an underdog sleuth figuring out a crime on her own with her own means, but it ended up actually being quite a wholesome found family story. I thought the plot was well-paced and fun, and it was really great to see a nearly entirely Asian American cast who all emphasized their own quirks and the baggage that they held in their lives.

At first Vera was a little annoying, but I actually felt that was pretty intentional. The rest of the cast were revealed very smoothly and I loved the approach of peeling back each of them one by one to get to know them more. Lastly, Marshall...Well, I appreciated that they made him really detestable but especially by the end of it he was almost cartoonishly a bad person, and I was happy they didn't shy away from exposing troublesome people like him.

While I would love to read more about Vera and her cavalcade in the future, I would also be completely content leaving this story and world where it is now. I had a lot of fun with this and it was a light read that was a fun break between other books!