Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (On a Dead Man)

VERA WONG'S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) by Edgar Award winning author Jesse Q. Sutanto is the second in the series about this feisty, take-charge Chinese grandma. As such, it blends appearances by previous characters with a whole new set of people who need Vera’s help. One is Millie, a young girl who is clearly distraught about the disappearance of her friend, Thomas. Turns out he was also known as Xander Lin and appeared online as boyfriend to Aimes, a young internet influencer, trying to find herself. Xander was represented by the same firm, run by TJ (who has a charming teenage daughter, Robin). Readers learn that Xander had asked the people in his life, including his honorary grandfather, Qiang Wen, to help him set the record straight and reveal something big. Afraid of disrupting their own lives, they refused his request and are filled with despair when Xander’s body is found. Vera, generally unafraid of anything, steps in and pushes the group to solve the mystery of Xander’s life and death. I found the mystery to be quite puzzling and I really enjoyed the way a sense of community was developed with each other and with Oliver, Julia, and Sana who appeared in the first Vera Wong book. Although tackling some serious subjects, this is a fun, entertaining read – particularly the dialogue between Vera and her son, Tilly and his girlfriend, a cop named Selena Gray. Looks like there are more Vera Wong stories (including bickering with her neighbor, Winifred) in our future – likely away from her teahouse and its San Francisco setting. I am looking forward to them. VERA WONG'S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) is a LibraryReads Hall of Fame selection for April.

Medgar and Myrlie by Joy-Ann Reid

I first heard about MEDGAR AND MYRLIE by Joy-Ann Reid when I saw an interview with her on pbs NewsHour:

 

Reid, an MSNBC host, subtitles her text “Medgar Evers and the Love Story That Awakened America” and delves into his life and civil rights work as well as deeply into that of his wife, Myrlie, after Medgar’s assassination in June 1963. Medgar Evers was a soldier stationed in Europe during WWII. He came home to Mississippi where he later worked for the NAACP in an era when headline news dealt with the murder of Emmett Till, the Montgomery, Alabama bus boycott, lunch counter sit-ins and retail boycotts, and integration of state college campuses. Reid argues that Evers’ activism “was the foundation on which later efforts by SNCC, CORE, and other organizations were built.” She conducted more than a half dozen interviews with Myrlie (who was NAACP National Chair in 1995) and also provides significant research – more than a fifth of the book is devoted to notes, bibliography, and an index. MEDGAR AND MYRLIE received a starred review from Booklist (“Reid’s spotlight shines brightest on the commitment the Everses made to the movement and to each other”). A love story involving Mississippi, America, and each other. Reid writes, “he pressed her to understand that he did his work because he loves her and their children.”

The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin

THE MUSIC OF BEES by debut author Eileen Garvin deserves to be on your “to be read” list, especially if you are looking for a “feel good” story. Forgive me, but this novel has received plenty of “buzz,” including a LibraryReads selection for April and a starred review from Booklist which compared this quest for “belonging and stability” to writing by Anne Tyler or Sue Miller.  Eileen Garvin, a beekeeper herself, definitely increased my interest in learning more about bees, including picking up our library copy of Paige Embry’s Our native bees: America's endangered pollinators and the fight to save them. The characters in THE MUSIC OF BEES each face different challenges, but manage to form an unlikely bond. Alice is in her mid-forties, a widow redefining her priorities who essentially adopts two young men: Jake, now confined to a wheel chair after a foolish high school accident and Harry, a former felon with a serious self-confidence problem. Together, they work to expand an apiary for bees and fight a large pesticide company. A bit simplistic? Yes, but readers will enjoy growing with and rooting for these three and their friends and family.