The Angsana Tree Mystery

Author: Ovidia Yu

Crime & mystery | Historical fiction

Published on 6^th June 2024 by Little, Brown Book Group (Constable) in the United Kingdom as part of the 'Su Lin Series' series.

Paperback / softback | 336 pages
198mm x 126mm | 0g

'One of Singapore's finest living authors' South

China Morning Post

'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought

richly to life' CATRIONA MCPHERSON

'Charming' RHYS BOWEN

'One of the most likeable heroines in modern literature' SCOTSMAN

The next book in the Mystery Tree series, exploring Singapore after

the Japanese retreat and in the aftermath of WWII.

Singapore 1949When all the angsana trees on the island bloom at the same time it's a glorious fragrant display that lasts only one day... and the next morning Su Lin comes across an old friend laughing hysterically while holding her dead lover on the thick carpet of yellow flowers by the quarry pool that was their childhood haunt. She instantly realises her friend could not be the killer as she could not have sliced so cleanly through the man's throat with no weapon in sight.

As she tries to help her friend, Su Lin has to figure out where her own loyalties lie. Angsana blossoms aren't the only things disappearing overnight in post-war Singapore as the newly returned British-increasingly on edge because of anti-colonial uprisings in nearby Indonesia-rush to change laws and revoke permits and positions. But more pressingly, Su Lin has to prove her friend's innocence and stop a calculating killer from murdering again...

Praise for Ovidia Yu:

'Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her

admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most

beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while' Catriona

McPherson

'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's

teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture

and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels' Rhys

Bowen

'A wonderful detective novel . . . a book that introduces one of the

most likeable heroines in modern literature and should be on everyone's

Must Read list' Scotsman

'Unassuming, brilliantly observant' SCMP

'Ovidia Yu's writing helped me peel back the layers to understand

Singapore. The story and Chen Su Lin's initiative and tenacity, set against

a backdrop of wartime Singapore, intrigued both the historian and the

mystery lover in me' Kara Owens CMG CVO, British High Commissioner

to Singapore