Book Review: Dial A for Aunties

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Publisher: Berkley 
Publication date: April 27, 2021
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

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?

Dial A for Aunties follows Meddelin Chan, a woman who has a wedding business with her Chinese-Indonesian immigrant mother and three aunts. Her mother does the flowers, Big Aunt makes the cakes, Second Aunt does the bride’s makeup and Fourth Aunt provides entertainment. When Meddelin accidentally kills her blind date (!), the four women instantly and without question come together to help Meddelin dispose of the body.

Meddy and her family have a huge wedding they are working the day after Meddy’s date gone wrong. Her date’s body gets accidentally shipped to the wedding venue. What follows is a madcap adventure with Weekend at Bernie’s vibes.

Normally, I’m not a fan of madcap comedy – I hated Weekend at Bernie’s. However, it works in Dial A for Aunties. I think because it didn’t seem quite as ludicrous reading it as it would have seemed watching it on screen.

Jesse Q. Sutanto also wrote Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, which I loved. Dial A for Aunties is not quite as funny as that book is, but it is still funny, and I enjoyed it enough that I plan on reading the second book in the four-book series, Four Aunties and a Wedding soon.