I often make mystery comparisons to one of the greats, Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote. But it’s not a comparison I make lightly, because that show and character brings me ALL the joy, and so does this book. So, this is Jessica Fletcher, if she was a 60 year old Chinese tea shop owner in San Francisco who knows more and better than anyone else. Whereas Jessica is subtle, Vera is anything but. She is pushy, demanding, and downright insulting, but the found family she created in the first book love her for it, and there is even more of where that came from.
In book 2, Vera happens upon a young woman, desperate for help, but reluctant to talk. Well, obviously, Vera is not going to stand for that, so she makes the girls acquaints and sets about, as usual, sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. She lucks into more details on the girl’s missing friend (who has met his end) by snooping into her son’s new girlfriend’s files, the police officer from book one, and Vera is once again off to the races, bring together seemingly disparate characters to try to figure out why this social media influencer died. And of course, what exactly IS a social media influencer.
As with the first installment, Vera won’t take no for an answer and meets a new cast of characters who all have their share of secrets. Combined with her found family from the first book, we have another intriguing and heartwarming mystery, with Vera at the heart of it all, pushing people around and cooking up a storm.
Warning: You will want to have delicious Chinese food and delicious tea while reading this book. Especially this one, where she is a home chef turned social media star, and is spending more time describing the recipes.
