Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – Book Summary

This is a summary based on my understanding of the novel. Please also note that this summary contains spoilers. You may want to read the entire book first before proceeding

Meddy Chan lives with her mom and she’s also very close to her aunts – Big Aunt, Second Aunt & Fourth Aunt.

Since Meddy is 26 and has long been single, her mom set her up for a date with someone she met online. It was her mom who set up her dating profile and talked to the guy online.

The date was okay but on their way home, the guy made a pass on Meddy and she didn’t like it. She tased him and they crashed into a tree – it was the guy who was driving Meddy’s car and he died. Meddy took the body home since she’s not sure what to do.

Read more: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto – Book Summary

She showed the corpse to her mom. Her mom called her Aunts. The 5 of them thought of ways to dispose the body. They decided to hide it in a large cooler, inside Big Aunt’s bakery. They will hide it there temporarily until tomorrow’s event is done. Tomorrow would be a very grand wedding they need to attend to. That’s their family business. Big Aunt does the cake, Second Aunt does the make up, Fourth Aunt is the entertainer, Meddy’s mom is the florist and Meddy is the photographer.

The next day, they found out that the cooler where the dead body was hidden has been transported to the island where the event would be held. Big Aunt overslept and her assistant didn’t know that it was supposed to be left behind.

When they arrived at the event they immediately tried to get the cooler back. While trying to get into the kitchen, the hotel owner showed up. They got scared because Meddy’s blind date was the hotel owner.. when they saw who it was, only Meddy was stunned because it turned out to be Nathan. Nathan is her boyfriend she left in college.

Nathan never met Meddy’s family even when they dated for 3 years. Meddy wanted to keep it that way. When Nathan got a job offer in New York, Meddy broke up with him because she can’t leave her family and she doesn’t want Nathan to decline the job offer so he could be with her.

Nathan was shocked too, but was pleased to see Meddy. Now Meddy was even more distracted – she had to think of ways to dispose the body, and now Nathan is around, whom she haven’t stopped thinking about even after 4 years.

Despite their attempts to transport back the cooler, they still failed. The wedding ceremony has began and the dead body is still around. They also discovered that the dead body is Ah Guan’s – the guy they get lilies from, and not a hotel owner. Also, he looked different from last night because it turns out he was still alive when they put him in the freezer. He fought his way out until he froze to death.

During the ceremony, they was a commotion because the gifts were missing. The made of honor took it, and was counting on Ah Guan. They were friends and they were planning to steal it. When it was discovered to be missing, the maid of honor, Maureen, wanted to pin it on Meddy. Since Meddy has Ah Guan’s phone – she was able to put the jewelry back to Maureen’s room.

When the gifts were sorted and they were back to the event, Meddy was shocked during the parade of groomsmen because Ah Guan was there. It wouldn’t be noticeable that he’s lifeless because the rest of the groomsmen were drunk and could barely walk straight.

Ah Guan is on stage along with the other drunk groomsmen. Meddy suggested to the Wedding Planner to have the groomsmen removed from stage – but the groom opposed. The drunk groomsmen ended up falling on the pool. The bride fell too when she tried helping Meddy carry Ah Guan’s body.. Meddy went into the pool to save the bride. Soon enough, people discovered the dead body.

The sherriff was called. He asked questions and without further evidence, he pinned it on Nathan. While in handcuffs, Meddy talked to him. She felt guilty, she told Nathan that it was her who killed Ah Guan. He said he knows. He figured it out because she and her family has been acting so strange with the cooler. He doesn’t want Meddy to confess and he’s willing to take the blame.

Meddy still wants to confess because she doesn’t want Nathan to take the blame. She decided to tell her mom and Aunts about her plan – but when she got back to her room, her family is there, tied and held at gunpoint by Maureen.

Maureen ordered Meddy to take back the ceremony gifts and she would release her family. Meddy had no choice but to follow. She went to the bride’s room and talked to her – and discovered that the bride and Maureen are inlove. Meddy went back to the room, carrying the ceremony gifts but she also brought the bride with her. When Maureen saw the gifts she eventually confessed that she was honestly just hoping for the bride to talk to her because she is in love with her. After hearing that, the bride appeared and hugged Maureen – they are in love with each other!

Along wih the bride and Maureen, Meddy and her family talked to the sherif. They explained that Ah Guan was actually a thief, disguised as one of the groomsmen. He hid in the cooler while trying to not get caught stealing the ceremony gift. They assured that they got these details from the groomsmen (who turned out to be paid actors because the groom didn’t have friends). The sherif considered this since he wants to solve the crime and put some credit towards his name.

It has been solved – their plan worked.

In the end, Nathan was finally introduced to Meddy’s family. During their dinner, Nathan proposed – Meddy said yes!!

The End of Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto