Crime Scene: Singapore

Richard Lord (ed)

As the Singapore police frequently remind us: ‘low crime does not mean no crime’. But the writers in this book remind us that low crime can definitely mean exciting, imaginative crime.

Strong, riveting stories fill the pages of this volume, the first of its kind in the Lion City. Veteran UK crime and thriller luminary Stephen Leather follows a Singapore police inspector as he slowly trawls through available clues to explain a seemingly inexplicable crime. Singapore-based novelist Dawn Farnham offers two new stories: a complex, nailbiting revenge drama and a piquant short piece which looks at one of the more effective ways to leave one’s lover. Pranav Joshi shows how cross-border crime can spur locally produced crime, while local literary guru Chris Mooney-Singh looks at how brutal crime has moved into the realm of social networking.

Also featured are engaging works by Singapore Literature Prize winner Ng Yi-Sheng and actress-writer-radio personality Carolyn Camoens, as well as a savvy satire on one of Singapore’s unique and quirky laws by author Alaric Leong.

This volume proves conclusively that while Singapore may have a shortage of crime, it has no serious shortage of first-rate crime fiction writers.