Dial A for Aunties
by
Jesse Q. Sutanto
What do you do when you accidentally murder someone? For Meddy Chan the answer is simple. Call her aunties. Meddy may feel trapped and frustrated by her overbearing aunts and mother, but she knows that when she needs help, her immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family will drop everything and do whatever is required, in this case disposing of a dead body.
The story begins on the eve of a big wedding gig for the family business. When they meet to discuss the details, Meddy’s mother announces, “I found the perfect husband for you!” Meddy soon learns that her mother has posed as her daughter on a dating app and arranged a date for that night.
You might be able to guess what has happened when Meddy makes the call. What follows is a slapstick series of events when the family swoops in to help, complicated by their responsibilities at the lavish resort wedding. Throughout, we begin to understand the family dynamic and learn about Meddy’s romantic past and a heartbreaking college breakup, brought to the present when her old love appears at the resort.
We also learn about the pressure Meddy feels to be dutiful daughter and niece. She knows that her family loves her, but can she trust them to understand her need to break away?
I thought this book was just okay and very over-the-top. And despite its good family themes and conflicts, you have to like dead-body humor to make it work. It’s the first of three books in a series, soon to be on Netflix. A little too silly for me to read the next ones, but that’s just my taste!
Thanks for visiting—come back soon!
Book Club Mom 
I loved this book. I think growing up in a mixed household prepared me for the absurdity and ways of thinking. I have to say, it’s unlike any mystery I’ve read before.
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I’m sad to see you didn’t get on with this when I think I recommended it? So sorry! I did enjoy the nonsense of it all but I can see why you didn’t quite have the same experience. I’ll do better next time!
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Thanks for the review. I’ll give this one a miss.
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I believe this book could be a beach read because of the slapstick tone. Meddy’s mother posing as her daughter on a dating app? Right away, there’s drama!
Thanks for curating books for us here, Barb! 😀
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Thanks for your review, Barbara. It doesn’t sound like something I would enjoy either, but as you say, just a matter of taste.
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Excellent review, Barbara, and honestly straightforward.
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A balanced review, Barbara
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Thank you for the review! It sounds interesting but the humor is always tricky for me. I can take some dead body humor but if it gets too silly they’ll lose me. I didn’t know it was going to be on Netflix though, maybe I should just watch the first episode to give me an idea.
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I had mixed feelings too — ultimately, I think I rated this book higher than you did (and I’ve read the other two as well), but I agree, it can be very over the top, verging on completely ridiculous. I didn’t realize it’s coming to Netflix! I actually loved this author’s book release last year (I think), Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers — it’s still very silly, but not in the same sort of extreme way.
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Accidentally murdering someone is definitely not the kind of problem to have!
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Sounds a bit off the wall for me too, and I actually liked the show “Reno 911.” Which shows I have no taste whatsoever…….
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Hi Barbara, I am a people watcher and I’m often at a hospital so I often see large extended families gathered during a health crisis. I can understand how a young family member would feel a need to escape. A fun sounding book.
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