For those of you who might, inexplicably, not already be fans of the middle-aged, perpetually grumpy Samuel Tay, late of the Singapore CID – you’re in for a treat in Mr. Needham’s latest book. Although Sam is retired – he was pretty much eased out of the force – he …
I have come very late to the Mark Forsyth Fan Club, but I am already a fully-paid up member. Mr. Forsyth showed us just how formidably clever and witty he is in The Etymologican – my first review of 2020, incidentally. “The Etymologican” is all about words and is an …
On a visit to Hong Kong last year, I revisited Tai O after a gap of at least 30 years. There were lots of changes, obviously, but reassuringly there was also still a distinctly “rural” feel both to the village and to the whole island of Lantau, which is a …
Stretched out on my sofa, nursing a very painful torn meniscus that has seen me pull out of 2 marathons and one half marathon this winter season, guess what I’m reading? One of my Christmas presents from my sister. ”Fifty places to run before you die.” Talk about rubbing salt …
Having just read “This United State”, moving straight to “Dragonfire” was another disturbing look at what could happen in the ambitious world of politics in which we live. What made this book even more fascinating is that it centres on a part of the world where I live, Asia, and …
Inspector Singh, of the Singapore police force, might just have to look to his laurels. Courtesy, of all unlikely people, his wife, Mrs. Singh. In this funny, laugh-out-loud 5th instalment of the Inspector Singh series, we see the Malaysian-Singaporean Sikh going to India for the first time, to attend, of …
I am not sure at which point enthusiasm becomes embarrassing, but I’m going to risk it anyway. In Shanghai last week to visit my son who works there, I re-read all the Inspector Chen novels with great pleasure. As I have said before in other book reviews, there is nothing …
You shouldn’t have to know a place and/or physically be in a place to enjoy a book, but there really is nothing like sitting in the Himalayas, relishing a book about the Himalayas. John Masters’ “The Himalayan Concerto” was written in 1975, published in 1976, and purports to take place …
It was my son’s moving to Shanghai with his job that prompted my fearsomely well-read sister to recommend the Chief Inspector Chen mysteries, and having just concluded the third in the series, back to back, I am beyond hooked. And as soon as I have written my reviews, I …
