Charming, chaotic, and sometimes ridiculous.

Jesse Q. Sutanto is the Chinese-Indonesian author of Four Aunties and a Wedding (2022).

She currently lives in Jakarta with her husband, who is English, and their two daughters.

In 2021, Sutanto published her hit novel, Dial A for Aunties. I enjoyed it.

 Wedding is the 2nd book in the series. 

Quit somewhere in the middle where nothing actually seems to be happening. This book didn’t work for me.

It’s supposed to be a cozy murder mystery — but I’d call it more of a light comedy. 

Our heroine, Meddy Chan, is getting married. 

… she can’t wait to marry her college sweetheart, Nathan. Instead of having Ma and the aunts cater to her wedding, Meddy wants them to enjoy the day as guests. 

As a compromise, they find the perfect wedding vendors: a Chinese-Indonesian family-run company just like theirs. …

… family aren’t just like her own, they are The Family—actual mafia, and they’re using Meddy’s wedding as a chance to conduct shady business. 

Her aunties and mother won’t let Meddy’s wedding ceremony become a murder scene—over their dead bodies—and will do whatever it takes to save her special day, even if it means taking on the mafia.

It makes no sense.

Oddly, the wedding is in Oxford, England. 

Not my favourite Thomas Perry. But — as usual — the dialogue and dumb mistakes made by almost every character are believable.

But some of his fans consider this one of his best books.

 … I loved almost every word of the book, from beginning to end — particularly the conclusion — as it is full of memorable characters, each of them infused with one or more tragic flaws, in a plot that variously places them in league and at cross-purposes with each other. …

The focal point of STRIP is arguably Claudiu “Manco” Kapak, a 60-something owner of an L.A.-area nightclub and a couple of strip bars that are collectively a cash cow for him.

The entertainment establishments are popular and provide their own independent revenue stream; their income, in turn, provides a cover for Kapak’s money-laundering services.

Kapak’s life begins to change when he is robbed in broad daylight by a masked thief. His reputation is such that he cannot permit this breach of decorum to go unpunished. …

BookReporter review

Good. Very unusual.

This is another in the popular Alex Delaware series.

Psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware works with Detective Milo Sturgis in an unsettling case of altruism gone wrong.

Unnatural History (2023) finds a handsome, wealthy photographer slumped in bed, shot to death.

The victim had recently received rave media attention for his latest project: images of homeless people in their personal “dream” situations, elaborately costumed and enacting unfulfilled fantasies. 

The book is well written. Interesting. Entertaining, philosophical dialogue.

But almost nothing happens in terms of plot development.

I can’t recall a murder mystery with fewer successful leads. 😀

The ending I found a bit of a letdown.

Aurora (2022) was written by David Koepp, one of the most successful screenwriters of all time.

Great story. A surprisingly upbeat take on a dystopian future.

It’s an account of what happens if a CME, or coronal mass ejection, causing geomagnetic storms, hits the Earth.

In Aurora, Illinois, Aubrey Wheeler is just trying to get by after her semi-criminal ex-husband split, leaving behind his unruly teenage son. 

Then the lights go out—not just in Aurora but across the globe. 

A solar storm has knocked out power almost everywhere. 

Suddenly, all problems are local, very local, and Aubrey must assume the mantle of fierce protector of her suburban neighborhood. 

Across the country lives Aubrey’s estranged brother, Thom.  A fantastically wealthy, neurotically over-prepared Silicon Valley CEO, he plans to ride out the crisis in a gilded desert bunker he built for maximum comfort and security.

But the complicated history between the siblings is far from over, and what feels like the end of the world is just the beginning of several long-overdue reckonings—which not everyone will survive . . . 

Some of the best have endorsed this book including Linwood Barclay and Blake Crouch.

Very good.

Sleeping Beauty is a 1973 novel by Ross Macdonald.

This one I found surprisingly sophisticated. The plot quite complex.

Private eye Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands – including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of nembutal, a six figure ransom and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach.

Murder Takes a Vacation (2025) is super popular right now.

It’s an easy read murder mystery with a charming protagonist.

“She was a large woman,” Lippman writes. “OK, fine. She was fat.” But Mrs. Blossom is comfortable with her body although she occasionally feels self-conscious when she senses others are judging her.

She is in her late 60s now, widowed and a grandmother, but thanks to a winning lottery ticket she found in a parking lot, she has money for the first time in her life. One of the things she does with it is take her first trip to Europe.

On the cross-Atlantic flight, and again when she reaches Paris, younger men begin showing Mrs. Blossom a great deal of attention. She rather likes this, although she wonders if they might be after her money. But soon, after she boards the cruise ship to tour the Seine, she becomes aware that she is being followed. Eventually her stateroom is ransacked and a stranger tries to mug her. …

Book Review: An aging widow’s European river cruise turns deadly in ‘Murder Takes a Vacation’

Metzger’s Dog (1983) has a bit of a cult following.

A surprising and quirky story.

Leroy Chinese Gordon (Wonderful name!) is a bit of an idiot savant, minor criminal, tool and die guy who lives in Los Angeles.

He has lovingly hand-built his own anti-aircraft gun and mounted it in the back of his Ford van.

He has two close friends who have particular skills (lockpicking and sharpshooting) and who comprise his “gang.”

He has a beautiful (Of course!) and smart (Surprisingly!) girlfriend named Margaret.

Chinese himself is ruled by his roommate, Dr. Henry Metzger, a cat.

The Nature of Things review

While stealing cocaine from a University lab, the misfits grab a locked box — which happens to contain research papers.

The CIA desperately wants the papers back. They assume the Russians stole them, using the cocaine as a cover story.

Meanwhile, Chinese has problems selling the cocaine.

AND there’s a vicious junkyard dog, a huge, black brute that wants to kill the gang. Until tamed by Dr. Henry Metzger.