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

Vera Wong Zhuzhu, a 61-year-old woman who owns a tea shop in San Francisco’s Chinatown, is excited because she will be having her entire family over today. This includes her son Tilly, his police-officer girlfriend Selena, and other people Vera grew close to the previous year while she solved the mystery of a young man, Marshall, who died in her tea shop. There is Marshall’s twin Oliver, Marshall’s ex-wife Julia, and their adorable daughter Emma, as well as Vera’s other friends Riki, Sana, and young Adi. Vera dotes on Emma, who refers to the older woman as grandma. She thinks of all these people as her found family.

As Vera prepares an elaborate feast for them, her neighbor Winifred calls out to her. Winifred, who is Chinese like Vera, operates a successful French bakery next door to her tea shop. Though Vera finds Winifred annoying, she admits Winifred’s baked goods are delicious. Winifred brags about her twin grandbabies, much to Vera’s irritation. Vera hopes Tilly and Selena soon get married and give her grandchildren whom she can show off. Vera wants to think that Winifred’s grandbabies aren’t worth the hype, but the fact is the babies are adorable and Vera wants to squish their cheeks whenever she sees them.