Most people have aunts, but not everyone has aunties. It’s hard to explain the difference to the uninitiated–aunties have nothing (or very little) to do with blood relation or age. To be an Auntie requires a certain kind of energy or vibe, that perfect storm of love and judgment, and the ability to strike fear in the hearts of anyone who hears, “The aunties are coming over!”
The Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery Series features a group of aunties known as The Calendar Crew: April, Mae, and June. They’re my protagonist Lila’s godmothers and, despite their names, they’re not related to each other. They’re all family nonetheless.
The Calendar Crew have lent a helping hand in the earlier books in the series, but in my latest book, Murder and Mamon, they are the main focus. They’re used to being all up in everyone’s business and knowing everything about everybody, but the tables are turned when it looks like someone has a personal score to settle with our nosy but loveable aunties. Now it’s up to Lila to delve into the Calendar Crew’s secrets and figure out who’s targeting them before anyone else gets hurt.
In honor of the Calendar Crew, I’m sharing a list of books that have big Auntie Energy. Because as much as the diaspora likes to poke fun at aunties, it’s a known fact that aunties get things DONE.
Aunty Lee’s Delights by Ovidia Yu
The Aunty Lee Singaporean Mysteries were my first introduction to an auntie as an amateur sleuth. The titular Aunty Lee is a rich widow who, instead of becoming a lady who lunches after her husband passes, decides to open a restaurant and build a culinary empire. Due to her interesting status–a woman whose marriage raised her social status but whose restaurant work allows her to mix with different classes–she is well-placed for gossip and much more. When a murder and disappearance occur close to home, “…investigating the murder is rookie Police Commissioner Raja, who quickly discovers that the savvy and well-connected Aunty Lee can track down clues even better than local law enforcement.
“Wise, witty and unusually charming, Aunty Lee’s Delights is a spicy mystery about love, friendship and home cooking in Singapore, where money flows freely and people of many religions and ethnicities co-exist peacefully, but where tensions lurk just below the surface, sometimes with deadly results.”
Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
You can’t mention aunties in mystery without talking about Jesse Q. Sutanto’s hilarious rom-com murder mystery mash-up. Darkly comedic, it has an amazing premise: What do you do if you accidentally kill your (scummy) blind date? Call up your mom and aunties to handle things, of course!
Toss in wedding business hijinks, a bridezilla, and the surprise appearance of your first love, and you have a page-turning, laugh-out-loud romp. There’s also a sequel, so if you loved these characters, you get to enjoy them all in the follow-up, Four Aunties and a Wedding.
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Another Jesse Q. Sutanto book? What can I say, the woman knows how to harness the chaotic energy of aunties and turn them into the ultimate amateur sleuths. Just look at this snippet of back cover copy:
“…one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.”
Tastes Like Shakkar by Nisha Sharma
OK, so this book is actually a romance, but hear me out. On top of the spicy romance (and delicious food), there’s a central mystery: wedding planner Bobbi Kaur is planning her best friend’s wedding, an event that not only brings her immense happiness, but could also make or break her advancement in her family’s event planning business. Too bad someone seems determined to sabotage the big day. Bobbi teams up with her love interest to sniff out the saboteur, to no avail. So she decides it’s time to call in the big guns: the bride’s ride-or-die aunties.
“With the return of the meddling aunties (who are scary good at finding information) and a lot of hilarity and hijinks, Bobbi and Bunty’s romance is an event you don’t want to miss.”
The Plot Is Murder by V.M. Burns
Burns’s Mystery Bookshop Mystery Series is one of my ultimate comfort reads. Not only does each book feature two mysteries in one–the contemporary American mystery that is the main plot interwoven with snippets of the British historical mystery that protagonist Samantha Washington is writing–but Sam has the best mystery-solving crew in her grandmother, Nana Jo, and her grandmother’s nursing home friends.
Nana Jo and her friends might seem a bit old to be in the auntie category, but this is the best example I have of auntie being a vibe rather than a specific age/generation.
P.S. For examples of different types of aunties, check out this great piece by Mira Jacobs titled: Aunties I Have Loved and Hated (Sometimes at the Same Time). She’s talking specifically about Desi aunties, but there’s a lot of crossover in the Auntie universe.
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