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'In the third installment of the Le Fanu Mystery series, the intrepid superintendent is promoted to Inspector-General of Police in 1920s Madras, which proves to be more boring than he had envisaged. Instead of pushing papers across his desk, the Le Fanu focuses on the disappearance of a senior Indian Civil Service officer and an apparently unrelated murder. As the two incidents intertwine, the world weary detective is drawn into the worlds of indentured labor recruitment and antiquities theft.. But as bureaucratic politics make his position vulnerable, his superiors send the intrepid policeman across the Bay of Bengal to pursue the cases in the Straits Settlements. Le Fanu immediately becomes embroiled in the activities of secret societies and the British colonial intelligence services. The appearance of a mysterious Chinese woman renders his professional life uncertain as he wonders anew about the British'.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Crime Scene: BRIAN STODDART A Straits Settlement. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , July 2016;
— Review of A Straits Settlement 2016 single work novel 'When the story opens in the 1920s we find Chris Le Fanu undertaking higher duties as Acting Inspector-General of Police for the Madras Presidency with continuing support from Mohammed Habibullah (Habi) and Jackson Caldicott, both promoted to substantive positions as assistant superintendents of the Crime Unit and Special Branch. Unfortunately for LF his work as IG – mainly paper shuffling – is dreary and his private life is unfulfilled. ...'
-
Crime Scene: BRIAN STODDART A Straits Settlement. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
2016
single work
review
— Appears in: The Newtown Review of Books , July 2016;
— Review of A Straits Settlement 2016 single work novel 'When the story opens in the 1920s we find Chris Le Fanu undertaking higher duties as Acting Inspector-General of Police for the Madras Presidency with continuing support from Mohammed Habibullah (Habi) and Jackson Caldicott, both promoted to substantive positions as assistant superintendents of the Crime Unit and Special Branch. Unfortunately for LF his work as IG – mainly paper shuffling – is dreary and his private life is unfulfilled. ...'