Book review: Inspector Singh Investigates: A Deadly Cambodian Crime Spree

33) Inspector Singh Investigates: A Deadly Cambodian Crime Spree

The fourth of the series about the portly chain-smoking Inspector from Singapore's police service. This time Singh has been volunteered to hold a watching brief on behalf of ASEAN at the Cambodian war crimes tribunal. The idea is to kill two birds with one stone by 1) keeping him out of his superiors' hair and 2) providing a top murder cop as a delegate as a political exercise. Nobody expects Singh to actually *do* anything other than be obviously present, and he calls on his local counterpart purely out of politeness. Colonel Menhay has quite enough on his plate, between running an investigation into a serial killer who is targeting former Khmer Rouge, and heading up the security for the current trial at the tribunal. But then someone kills a tribunal witness. The UN liaison wants a top murder cop with no ties to Cambodia in joint charge to provide the investigation with credibility in the eyes of the world, and that cop is Singh.

Singh's experienced at working on secondment in other countries, but until now he's always had at least some grasp of at least one of the local languages. This time out he's far more reliant on help from the locals, particularly his interpreter/guide, and has to adjust his methods to suit. And then there are the ever-present ghosts of Cambodia's past, which must be faced to solve the murders in the present. Singh has confronted murder in bulk before, but never on the scale of genocide.

But Singh doesn't let these things deter him from his dogged pursuit of justice for the dead. A justice that requires that the right person be convicted of the crimes, and as ever, Singh is not willing to simply take the first convenient suspect that comes to hand.

As with the Bali book earlier in the series, Shamini Flint has taken a real life tragedy and woven a compelling murder mystery around it. If handled badly it could have been merely exploitative, but this book treats the subject of the Cambodian genocide with great sensitivity. And as with the earlier book, Flint has managing the difficult trick of blending a gentle humour through much of the book without trivialising the crimes she's writing about. Along the way we see how the apparently simple choices people make can haunt them for the rest of their lives. And once again we have the wonderful character of Inspector Singh, with an excellent supporting cast of one-off characters.

This is a powerful story, with characters who make you care about their fate. A worthy addition to the Inspector Singh series.


LibraryThing entry

Happy 400th birthday, King James Bible

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
--John 1:1

And then along came King James VI&I wanting a new English translation of the Word. He set up a committee to do something about it, as one does. And 400 years ago today the fruit of their efforts was published. And yea, it was good. It was so good that it proved that you really can make great art by committee.

It wasn't the best translation, even then, if all you are concerned about is accuracy of translation. There are much better modern translations if what you're after is faithfulness to the original texts. But the joy and the power of the Authorized Version is that it was created to be read aloud, with pleasure in the listening. The committee created a work of literature, one of the greatest works of literature in the English language. The language has changed in the last 400 years, and there are updated versions of the Authorized version. But the committee's choice of words to express the Word lives on still; not merely because it was the book of the dominant religion of the language, but because that committee knew how to write, and write well.

book log: James Herriot - If only they could talk [audiobook]

34) James Herriot - If only they could talk [audiobook]

First of the memoir/novels by James Herriot about life in a rural veterinary practice, abridged to 3 CD length. It's read by Christopher Timothy, who played Herriot in the 1970s/80s tv adaptation All Creatures Great and Small, and it's read very well.

This book covers the period from Herriot's arrival at the practice for a job interview to the end of his first year there. It was a time when modern drugs were just starting to come into use -- before antibiotics, but with some other new treatments providing results that seemed little short of a miracle. Herriot brings the past to life with his gentle, compassionate stories about his patients and their owners in the Yorkshire Dales. It's some years since I read the book, but it appears to have been abridged by selecting some stories and omitting others. Tricky Woo fans will be pleased to hear that the little peke has not been left out.


LibraryThing entry

book review: James Goss -- Torchwood: Ghost Train [audiobook]

35) James Goss -- Torchwood: Ghost Train [audiobook]

2 CD Torchwood story written for audio, and set between second and third series. It's read by actor Kai Owen, for the very good reason that it's a first person narrative from one Rhys Williams, haulage manager. What we get is not just "actor reads book", but "actor in character tells us a story about what happened when he got mixed up in an alien invasion last week".

Rhys has a problem in the form of missing fridges, which to begin with looks like perfectly ordinary pilfering. But as Rhys looks into it, the mystery starts acquiring enough weirdness round the edges to make him think it could be Torchwood territory. Pity Torchwood's having a really bad day, and he can't even get advice about how to investigate his own little problem, never mind actual assistance. Rhys turns private investigator, and finds himself couriering packages that were delivered to Cardiff railway station - after midnight, on a long disused platform. It turns out that there's a Torchwood interest after all, but Torchwood proper is missing or dead, and only Rhys is in a position to put things back the way they should be.

The story's very entertaining, with a perfectly balanced blend of humour and horror, and a lot of running gags that turn out to be plot elements as well. Those plot elements are part of a carefully constructed story where various small details which have been layered in become important as the story gradually unfolds. And it's wonderfully read by Kai Owen. But along with all this, we get some lovely pieces of characterisation. The story revolves around Rhys, but we also see Rhys's view of Gwen and her job, and Ianto and Jack. A great story with plenty of re-listen potential. This entertaining audiobook easily justifies its cover price.

LibraryThing entry

Book log: Reginald Hill -- A Clubbable Woman [audiobook]

36) Reginald Hill -- A Clubbable Woman [audiobook]

Abridged audio adaptation of the first book in the Dalziel & Pascoe series (which I've previously reviewed), on 3 CDs. It's read by Warren Clarke, who played Dalziel in the tv adaptation. This is a good abridgement, which from following along in places on the printed edition I thought cut about half the text while retaining everything needed for the plot, plus a good chunk of the characterisations. Clarke does an excellent job of reading.

LibraryThing entry

Book log: Agatha Christie -- The body in the library [audiobook]

37) Agatha Christie -- The body in the library [audiobook]

Audiobook abridged on 3 cds, reviewed as part of the review of the print edition.

testing the cross-poster

since the last post didn't xp...