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A review by tiltedwhirled
The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
4.0
This is Book 3 of the Crown Colony series by Ovidia Yu. As the book opens World War II looms on the horizon. The Japanese have been making incursions into China. There is the possibility of an uprising against British rule in India. And Su Lin has lost her job at the detective shack. She was sacked in favor of white girl who arrived recently from India. Britain has sent over yet another incompetent bureaucrat who doesn’t believe that a “local girl” should have access to the sensitive information that goes through Inspector Le Froy’s office.
Su Lin has taken refuge in her uncle’s shop and is working as a typist for a British woman and as an English tutor for the wife of a Japanese diplomat. Nothing can keep her from investigating when she finds that same incompetent bureaucrat murdered in the file storage room though. Soon enough Su Lin is investigating on her own and eventually with Le Froy as people continue to be murdered.
This is currently my favorite cozy mystery novel series. The sociopolitical environment in Singapore in the late 1930’s is fraught with tension on all sides as the world readies for war and the British colonials are both more uptight but also distracted by the very real threat from Germany, Japan, and also the political uprising that threatens in India. Su Lin and the other Singaporeans are both affected by and removed from all of the tensions going on around the world. This whole novel feels like the world is bracing for a blow that has yet to come.
Su Lin has taken refuge in her uncle’s shop and is working as a typist for a British woman and as an English tutor for the wife of a Japanese diplomat. Nothing can keep her from investigating when she finds that same incompetent bureaucrat murdered in the file storage room though. Soon enough Su Lin is investigating on her own and eventually with Le Froy as people continue to be murdered.
This is currently my favorite cozy mystery novel series. The sociopolitical environment in Singapore in the late 1930’s is fraught with tension on all sides as the world readies for war and the British colonials are both more uptight but also distracted by the very real threat from Germany, Japan, and also the political uprising that threatens in India. Su Lin and the other Singaporeans are both affected by and removed from all of the tensions going on around the world. This whole novel feels like the world is bracing for a blow that has yet to come.