Book Review: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint

A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really do enjoy a good mystery novel. They can make do without the sex and violence of normal crime or thriller stories and yet still keep you intrigued. Shamini did have a good reason for eschewing sex and violence, her mother edits it all out. Fortunately she left the humour and intrigue in.

This is my first Shamini Flint novel, and features the fat Indian Inspector from Singapore, Inspector Singh. Singh is the atypical hero, someone you would prefer not to know. Yet you find yourself wanting the inspector to triumph in his battle to find the truth. You also wish that he went somewhere a little less humid, so as to avoid sweating.

Shamini takes an interesting approach to writing a murder mystery. She picks a topic or issue she wants to explore and then writes a murder to bring the fat inspector onto the scene. In this way, her novel is as much social commentary as it is murder mystery. I was quite interested in the look into law in Asia, especially the conflicts and overlaps between the different court systems there.

If you like mysteries, then you'll enjoy Inspector Singh Investigates.

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