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

On Monday, Vera gets a scam call claiming to be from the Bank of San Francisco, informing her about a purchase of $4,000 on her credit card. As Vera hotly denies making the purchase, the supposed banker tells her they will need to block her card to protect it, and he tells her they require her account number and social security details. Vera provides the numbers and asks to speak to a police officer to file a complaint against the bank for their laxity. The bank teller transfers her call to a man who claims to be a police officer named Inspector Pan, and he asks for her photo ID for the investigation. After he hangs up, Vera emails the supposed officer a copy of her ID.

However, when the email bounces, Vera calls Selena to confirm the officer’s mail address. This is when Vera learns that there is no Inspector Pan and realizes that she has provided her details to a scammer. Selena asks Vera to come over to the precinct to lodge a complaint against the scammer. Vera immediately sets herself to preparing food: She can’t bring herself to visit the precinct without bringing Selena, her future xifu or daughter-in-law, a tasty, nourishing meal. Outside the precinct, Vera spots a girl who looks lost; she is later revealed to be Millie, a recent transplant from China. Sensing she is vulnerable, Vera approaches the girl, offering to take her inside. However, the girl gets startled and hurries away. Vera goes inside and meets Selena, handing her the many containers of seafood noodles and three-cup chicken, which Selena’s fellow-officers grab immediately. Vera feels her stress about the scam dissipate once Selena takes charge. Her feeling of well-being swells when Selena requests Vera to feed her cat Chichi over the weekend while Selena and Tilly take a trip to Tahoe. Leaving the station, Vera spots the same lost-looking girl from earlier hanging around. She gently pats the girl’s shoulder and invites her to tea.

This chapter is narrated from Millie’s perspective. Ever since Millie arrived in the US from Yunnan, China, her mind has been a blur. Sometimes she even has to remind herself that her name is Millie. However, as she accompanies Vera to her teahouse, Millie feels she has entered a lighthearted version of her heavy life. She knows that the people she refers to as Father and Mother would not be happy with Millie doing something so off-script, though she finds herself carried along by Vera’s warmth. (The novel later reveals that Millie has been trafficked from China, and Mother and Father are a married couple who are her handlers in the United States.) Reading the board of the teahouse—“Vera Wang’s World-Famous Teahouse” (22)—Millie thinks that Vera is the famous fashion designer and begins to apologize for not recognizing her sooner. However, Vera corrects Millie’s assumption, telling her she is just a tea shop owner and solver of crimes.

Vera makes Millie sit and brews her a cup of hot tea. When Millie tells Vera she is from Yunnan, Vera switches to speaking in Mandarin. Being able to talk in Mandarin warms Millie’s heart. As she and Vera converse, Millie finds herself telling Vera more about her life than Mother and Father would like. Millie says she was at the police station because she was debating if she should report that her friend, Thomas, has gone missing. Millie met Thomas because they shared a room on the same floor. Soon, she found herself spending more time with him, touched by Thomas’s kindness toward her. Though she was in love with Thomas, she never revealed her feelings to him, knowing it was impossible for them to be together. In the last few months, however, Thomas changed; he remained glued to his phone for most of their time together, smiling at the screen. Millie thinks that he perhaps had found a girlfriend. Then, Thomas went missing a day ago.

Millie does not want to reveal more. Sensing something is weighing on Millie, Vera tells her that she shouldn’t be afraid to speak her mind. Vera asks for Thomas’s picture. When Millie shows the photos, Vera remarks on Thomas’s good looks. She promises Millie to help find Thomas, saying she has access to sensitive information to which most people are not privy.

This chapter switches back to Vera’s perspective. She admits she was exaggerating to Millie about her access to sensitive information, but Vera believes a little exaggeration brightens up life. She starts investigating Thomas’s disappearance by looking him up online. Since Thomas is such a common name, Vera tries to narrow her search by typing in “Thomas handsome San Francisco” (33), which leads her to images of topless men. Vera stares at one particularly handsome Thomas, and, as if on cue, Tilly calls on her phone. Guiltily, Vera answers, confirming to her son that she will feed Chichi the next evening.

The next day, Vera goes over to Selena and Tilly’s, and she admires the warm, colorful touches her future xifu has added to Tilly’s previously plain apartment. The sound of a crash draws Vera to the bedroom, and she sees that Chichi has knocked down a briefcase from the dresser. Against her better judgment, Vera decides to open the briefcase using her hairpin. Inside are three folders containing details from cases Selena is handling: a domestic abuse case, an armed robbery, and the discovery of a John Doe who is suspected to have died by suicide by drowning. Vera freezes when she goes through the pictures of the John Doe’s corpse: He is none other than Millie’s Thomas.

Vera takes photos of Thomas’s file and then replaces everything carefully in the briefcase. When Millie shows up at her teahouse after two days, Vera greets her warmly. She sits her down and gently breaks the news of Thomas’s death by suspected suicide. Millie begins to weep when she sees the photos. When Vera wonders if they should disclose Thomas’s identity to the police, Millie turns pale. She tells Vera that she is unsure if Thomas was even his real name.

Sensing Millie will clamp down if pushes too much, Vera changes the topic. She tells Millie about the other things she has learned about Thomas, such as the fact that he was a social media star who went by Xander Lin. Going by the handle @XandaPanda, Thomas had 1.1 million followers on Instagram and routinely posted pictures of his busy social life and swanky lifestyle. Millie seems appalled. She informs Vera that this cannot be true: Xander must be someone else. After Millie leaves, Vera makes notes about the case, deciding to study the people Thomas/Xander tagged on his profile.

This chapter is narrated from the point of view of TJ, the owner of TJ Vasquez Talent Management, who is having a trying day. His business is in the dumps, he is being questioned by police about the death of his client Xander, and his 13-year-old daughter Robin is upset with him. TJ worries that he will have to shut shop soon, putting his three employees, Kit, Lomax, and Elsie out of work. As TJ frets, Kit announces that a Vera Wang is here to see TJ. For a moment, TJ is elated, believing the esteemed fashion designer wants to meet him to manage her social media presence. However, Vera trundles in with a foldable shopping cart. As Vera asks the baffled TJ a series of questions about Xander, TJ thinks she may be an experienced cop or an FBI agent. TJ answers her questions with carefully worded language, keen to avoid trouble.

TJ tells Vera that he actually never met Xander, though they stayed in touch over text and email. He reached out to the social media star a few months ago, offering to set up collaborations with other influencers and get Xander sponsorship deals. However, TJ does not disclose the last few conversations he had with Xander. Before Vera leaves, she hands TJ cartons of her home-cooked meals and invites him and Robin (whose picture she has seen on TJ’s desk) to dinner on Wednesday night.

This chapter switches to the perspective of Aimes, a popular social media influencer. She is at a café, trying to get the perfect shot of her dirty matcha drink for her Instagram page. However, the shot evades her, and she feels deflated. The only reason she had ordered the drink was to capture its green-brown swirls. Just then, Vera plonks herself across Aimes, offering to help. She takes Aimes’s phone, shoots a nice picture, and hands the phone back to an astonished Aimes. Vera goes on to address Aimes by her name and tells her she sought her out because of Xander’s death. According to Instagram, Aimes is Xander’s girlfriend, which means his demise must be making Aimes very sad. Vera brings out comforting pork rib soup for Aimes to eat.

Unable to resist the soup’s aroma, Aimes digs in. Vera tells Aimes she is a private crime investigator looking into Xander’s death. She found out Aimes’s whereabouts because Aimes tags pictures from the same coffeehouse every morning. When Vera asks Aimes about her relationship with Xander, Aimes replies that he was a perfect boyfriend. Vera says that answer is boring and doesn’t tell her anything about Xander. Aimes begins to sweat in panic as Vera is hitting too close to home. Aimes says she doesn’t know much at all about Xander’s parents or background, which Vera finds baffling. Vera ends the meeting by inviting Aimes to dinner at her tea shop on Wednesday at 7 pm sharp.

Vera is enjoying herself investigating the death of Xander. She wonders if she could write a self-help book on how to solve murders. She decides to title it “The Ancient Chinese Secret to Solving Murders” (64). The first chapter would be about calling one’s mother, since mothers like Vera have more access to information than people think. However, if someone doesn’t have a mother or a great relationship with theirs, they can slip into Vera’s DMs. Dreaming of more chapters for her book, Vera gets off the Chinatown bus stop and runs into Winifred. Winifred is pompous as ever and announces that she is converting her French bakery to a Korean one, as Korean baked goods are the latest craze. When Winifred claims she has Korean ancestry, Vera rolls her eyes. However, though Vera doesn’t admit it to Winifred, the Korean goodies she gives Vera to taste are delicious.

Winifred follows Vera into her teashop, commenting on Vera’s slow business. Winifred suggests Vera diversify like she is doing. Vera retorts that she is diversifying as a crime investigator and is currently handling an active case. Winifred calls Vera’s investigation snooping and declares that Vera must get friends her own age. Vera reflects to herself that it’s true that most of her friends are younger people. To get Winifred off the topic, Vera tells her more about her present case and shows her Xander’s photo. Surprisingly, Winifred remarks that she has seen Xander around. She says he is the grandson of Qiang Wen, the man who runs a dumpling shop nearby. Vera is affronted that she did not know this since she is friendly with Qiang Wen.