Crime, Mysteries & Thrillers discussion

Hello fellow Cozy Mystery readers,

Welcome to our discussion about Dial A for Aunties (Aunties #1) by (Jesse Q. Sutanto), your discussion leader is Susan.
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about spoilers

Please note: If you have not finished reading the book spoilers are permitted in this discussion from the start. If you would like to use the spoiler formatting it can be found on the top right of the comment box in the "(some html is ok)" menu.
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Summary

What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family?

You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!

When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is inadvertently shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working at an island resort on the California coastline. It's the biggest job yet for the family wedding business—"Don't leave your big day to chance, leave it to the Chans!"—and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream flowers.

But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?

Hi everyone!

I’m so excited to be the discussion leader for this month’s cozy mystery, Dial A for Aunties! Earlier this year I read Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto and absolutely loved it! I can’t wait to hear everyone’s thoughts on this cozy mystery! Drop a comment anytime and we will keep the conversation flowing :))

Also, a quick introduction about me! I recently moved from Austin to Boston with my husband and our fur children! We have three well-fed kitty cats and one very spoiled basset hound who is turning 15 in December! I’m currently traveling throughout Japan with my hubby! We’re celebrating our one year anniversary/belated honeymoon and it has been a wonderful experience! I’ll be reading during our train rides and the long plane ride back home!


Happy Reading!!

I love cozys. Let me see if I can find this one.


My library has it!!!! It's too late for me to get it but I can pick it up Monday. Yippee.

I love a good cozy mystery! Thanks for the leading the discussion @Susan. Your trip sounds fabulous btw.

@Sheri Yay!! So glad your library has it available! This will be such a fun group read!

@Kelly thank you very much! I also love a cozy mystery- they are so fun and relaxing!! And I Highly recommend visiting Japan. We are having the best time ever. I’m currently on a train heading to Hello Kitty Land lol! My husband is a trooper! 😄

Susan Ahmadi wrote: "@Sheri Yay!! So glad your library has it available! This will be such a fun group read!

@Kelly thank you very much! I also love a cozy mystery- they are so fun and relaxing!! And I Highly recomme..."

Hello Kitty Land. I love Hello Kitty.

Going to start tonight.

I put this on hold. Hopefully it will come in soon.

My copy just arrived! Starting it tonight.

Fantastic!!

I am 30% into the book and loving it so far! It has given me some big laughs already! 😆😂😂

I will start posting discussion questions this weekend! But if you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, pop in here and leave a comment anytime! :)


Happy Reading!

** I meant to say - pop in and leave a comment Anytime!! :))

I finished last night and this book isn't for me. I wouldn't classify it as a cozy because of the silliness. It does have some humorous parts though. I like the title and the book cover is cute too.

I'm on page 166 - a little over 50% through the edition that I'm reading. There have definitely been a few laugh out loud moments and I'm enjoying the interaction between the 5 women - Meddy, her mother and her 3 aunties. I'm up for the dark comedy of this story!

There are a few things that I would have expected them to be a bit more horrified about rather than simply glossing over. I know it's a dark comedy with the focus on comedy and I'm okay suspending disbelief, but there is one specific thing that happens where I would have preferred to see the characters more seriously acknowledge the darkness of the moment.

Overall however, I'm enjoying.

And I've finished! This was a fun read and I certainly found myself laughing at a lot of the dialogue between Meddy and her various Aunties.

I will read the next one in this series but am hoping that that author chooses to have these quirky and eccentric characters solve crimes rather than commit them.

Thank you for the nomination @susan and for moderating the discussion. I will be dropping in for the rest of the month to see what others thought of this one.

Hi, All!
I am very sorry for my delay in posting! I started feeling sick this weekend and am finally starting to return to normal again!

I just finished the book! I didn’t realize it was going to be so wacky! Lol! I was expecting more of a cozy mystery like the author’s Vera Wong story. So if you haven’t read this yet, I wanted to give a heads up that it feels more like a romantic comedy meets Weekend at Bernie’s! Haha! My verdict is 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

@Sheri, I’m sorry it wasn’t for you :( I definitely understand and am glad you joined us for the read!

@Kelly- I totally agree! I think I will also read the sequel and hopefully the family will be crime solving rather than breaking the law lol. I didn’t realize this is going to be a Netflix movie until I read the author’s note at the end!

Questions Part I
I chose a few from the Readers’ Guide at the end of the book and a few are from my own noggin :) feel free to answer any or all of these!

- How many stars would you rate this book and why?

- There are a few moments when Meddy freezes. Her quote from the book says “Now we know, when it comes to fight or flight, I am neither. I am: freeze like a hamster and then melt into a useless shivery puddle.” Which of Meddy’s ‘freeze’ moments frustrated you the most?

- Which moment of the book was your biggest LOL moment?

- If you could spend an entire day with one of Meddy’s aunts (including her mother), who would you choose? And what would you want to do?

- (from the readers’ guide) Which of Meddy’s aunts would you most want in an emergency and why?

Questions Part II

- (from the readers’ guide) If you were to accidentally kill your blind date - who would you call to help dispose of the body? Would it be someone in your family? Disclaimer- of course in a real-life situation we all know the first thing to do would be to call the police!

- (from the readers’ guide) Do you think Maureen is a redeemable character? Would you have been able to forgive her if you were in Jacqueline’s position?

"a romantic comedy meets Weekend at Bernie’s! Haha! "

Hilarious.

Questions Part II - who would I call to help dispose of the body?

Did any of you watch the Sopranos TV show from way back?

It was about a an extended mafia family (Tony was the head mafia man and he had a sister named Janice) and I still remember the episode where Janice's live in boyfriend slapped here one morning, she didn't say a word, went upstairs and got a gun, came back downstairs to where said boyfriend was sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper, shot him in the head and then called her brother Tony, told him what she had done (but not why), he didn't ask any questions but came right over with a friend and they got rid of the body.

Out of all my friends I think I only have one girlfriend who wouldn't rat me out to the police or want me to call the police myself.

I would forgive Maureen but I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her.

I'm going to answer Questions Part II first as I'm still thinking through my answers to Questions Part I.

1. If I accidentally killed someone (and calling the police was not an option), I would call my sister. She would be suitably horrified but would immediately default to "they must have had it coming" mode and help me.

2. I don't think Maureen is redeemable. If that's how she acts under stress, I'd be worried having her in my life in any way. What crazy plan would she come up with the next time she wants my attention??

@Sheri - I’ve never watched The Sopranos but it is definitely on my TV bucket list! I would also reach out to one of my best friends if I ever found myself in Meddy’s shoes! And I could neverrrr trust Maureen! Lol!


@Kelly - I have always wanted a sister! I have a dear friend who is like a sister to me who would be my first call! My husband is a by-the-book rule follower so there is no way he could handle shenanigans like this haha!

I also do not think Maureen’s character is redeemable! The more I reflect on that part of the story, the more I want to switch my rating from 4 to 3 stars lol. To me, there was nothing likable about her character! So that part of the conclusion fell very flat for me.

My biggest LOL moment was hands down the text message transcript between Meddy’s mom and her blind date!

Susan Ahmadi wrote: "My biggest LOL moment was hands down the text message transcript between Meddy’s mom and her blind date!"

True. She had no idea what she was texting :)

@Susan moving a dead body would certainly be outside my husband's comfort zone too although he's the perfect person to get me out of trouble once my sister and I stumble into it!

@Susan and @Sheri And I agree with the LOL moment being the text message between Meddy's mom and the blind date - it really was laugh out loud funny. Her mom was definitely outside her comfort zone!

How many stars would you rate this book and why? 3 stars because I liked it but didn't love it. Some LOL moments for sure but a few things that bothered me about the behaviour of the characters moved it to a 3 star.

There are a few moments when Meddy freezes. Her quote from the book says “Now we know, when it comes to fight or flight, I am neither. I am: freeze like a hamster and then melt into a useless shivery puddle.” Which of Meddy’s ‘freeze’ moments frustrated you the most? I think you've hit the nail on the head here - most of her freeze moments frustrated me.

Which moment of the book was your biggest LOL moment? Absolutely without a doubt the text messages between Meddy's mother and her online date. Too funny.

If you could spend an entire day with one of Meddy’s aunts (including her mother), who would you choose? And what would you want to do? Her mom and would love to attend one of the weddings they work.

(from the readers’ guide) Which of Meddy’s aunts would you most want in an emergency and why? Probably Fourth Aunt because she seems the most unflappable and level-headed. If you can use the term "level-headed" for any of the aunts - lol.

Thanks @Susan for the pick and for moderating. It was a fun read.

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Thanks Susan.