Aunties Books in Order

The Aunties books follow Meddelin ‘Meddy’ Chan, a Chinese-Indonesian wedding photographer whose life is already crowded with opinionated relatives before murder, mafia, and international hijinks crash the party. At the center of everything are her mother and three aunties, a quartet of women who meddle constantly, love fiercely, and refuse to be sidelined no matter how grown-up Meddy thinks she is.

In Dial A for Aunties, Meddy’s disastrous blind date ends with an accidental death, and panic drives her to call her mom for help. Ma ropes in the aunties, and together they try to hide the body while working the biggest wedding their family business has ever booked at a resort off the California coast. At the same time Meddy’s college ex, Nathan, reappears behind the camera, bringing old feelings and unfinished business back into focus. The story barrels forward with slapstick set pieces, over-the-top cover ups, and a constant tug of war between filial duty and Meddy’s desire to make her own choices.

The sequel, Four Aunties and a Wedding, moves the chaos to Oxford, where Meddy and Nathan are finally getting married. Determined to give her mom and aunties a stress free day, Meddy hires another Chinese-Indonesian family-run vendor team so her relatives can relax as guests. Instead she discovers that her new friends are tied to organized crime and plan to use the wedding as cover for a hit. Once again the aunties throw themselves into the fray, determined to protect Meddy, outwit the criminals, and still get everyone through the tea ceremony and dance floor photos.

In The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties, the focus shifts to Jakarta during Chinese New Year, when Meddy and Nathan travel back to celebrate with their extended family. An old flame of Second Aunt arrives with lavish gifts and an important document that accidentally gets mixed in with the red packets. Trying to return what never should have left his hands pulls the Chans into a long running business feud, kidnappings, and yet another round of florid threats and madcap schemes. The stakes feel higher, but the core remains the same: family first, clever plans later.

Across the trilogy, Sutanto leans into the messiness of immigrant families, where aunties can be emotionally overwhelming one minute and a lifeline the next. Weddings, New Year celebrations, and extended family gatherings provide the backdrop for questions about duty, romantic love, migration, and who gets to decide what a good daughter looks like. The books are packed with food, Indonesian and Chinese cultural details, and dialogue that bounces between languages and generations.

Readers who like their mysteries light on gore and heavy on comedy will feel at home here. You can pick up any of the Aunties books on its own, but reading them in order lets you watch Meddy grow into her career and relationship while her aunts slowly, if reluctantly, learn to let her steer her own life.