Synopsis

Introducing a sharp-witted heroine for the 21st century: a new amateur sleuth exploring the landscape—both physical and virtual—of New York in a debut novel about love, technology, and murder.

Claudia Lin is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she’s just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency.

A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she’s landed her ideal job. But when a client goes missing, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.

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Review

I do love a good mystery and this one intrigued me with the premise of a dating verification business and a young woman that loves solving mysteries and tends to think of two Chinese detectives and what they might do to solve the case. But this book was more than a mystery of who killed one of their clients, it is also about family and Claudia working to find her true self and what she wants from life despite any pressures from her brother or mother.

The mystery is one that is not easily solved as Claudia discovers. She may think she can follow the clues, but it might put her in harm’s way when everything is said and done. However, I admired her persistence realizing that something wasn’t quite right when it came to the death of their client.

Beyond the crime, there is also family drama when it comes to Claudia’s family. Her sister is very self-absorbed and thinks that her boyfriend is cheating on her, her brother is a workaholic, and she may be her mother’s favorite, but that is not without a price when it comes to her siblings. I found the family dynamics interesting because everyone is flawed but it seems to work for them. I am glad that Claudia was finally able to tell her mother that she was not going to marry a nice Chinese boy and that she preferred women. Her mom’s response was priceless, “two out of three.” It was her way of accepting her preferences but still being a mom wanting only the best for her.

This was an interesting story but I felt that at times the pace slowed and it seemed to get off track. There wasn’t any way to solve the mystery since there are no real clues to point us in the right direction. I did think that the dating verification business was intriguing and in today’s world is something that is needed considering the number of strange people out there and you never know who you are going to meet.

We give it 3 1/2 paws.

About the Author

I was born and grew up in Singapore, and now live in New York. I have a BA in History from Yale University, a JD from the New York University School of Law, and an MFA from Brooklyn College.

My short fiction has been anthologised in The Best American Short Stories. My debut novel The Verifiers is forthcoming from Vintage/Knopf in February 2022.

During the day, and sometimes night, I work as a lawyer at a global investment company.

Some of the things I’m into: picking up different martial arts, reading coming-of-age novels, watching contemporary theatre, and cycling around the city in search of superlative almond croissants.

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