The first body is in Singapore, on a bed in an empty suite in the Marriott Hotel. The second in Bangkok, in a seedy apartment close to the American embassy. Both women. Both Americans. Both beaten viciously and shot in the head. Both stripped naked and lewdly displayed. The FBI says it’s terrorism, but the whispers on the street are that a serial killer is stalking American women across Asia.
Inspector Samuel Tay of Singapore CID is something of a reluctant policeman. He’s a little overweight, a little lonely, a little cranky, and he smokes way too much. Thinking back, he can’t even remember why he became a police detective in the first place. He talks about quitting all the time, but he hasn’t. Because the thing is, he’s very, very good at what he does.
When bodies of American women start turning up, Singapore CID calls in Inspector Tay. It’s a high profile case, and he’s the best they have. Then why is it, Tay soon begins to wonder, that nobody seems to want him to find the women’s killer? Not the FBI, not the American ambassador, not even his bosses at CID. When international politics takes over a murder case, the truth is the next victim.
Singapore, Sam Tay, and Justice Rendered Jake Needham is a Twitter discovery for me. I was caught up for a while in John Burdett’s Thai mysteries starting with Bangkok 8, so the notion of another writer using an Asian setting for thrillers appealed to me. Thus, The Ambassador’s Wife and my introduction to detective Sam Tay.Â
Inspector Tay is on the Case The wife of the US Ambassador to Singapore is brutally murdered, beaten and posed in a Marriot Hotel and Inspector Samuel Tay is called upon to investigate the murder. However, his investigation is obstructed by the US embassy people particularly FBI Agent DeSouza who tells Tay to back off and let the FBI handle things. Despite a lack of evidence, DeSouza informs Tay that the murder was an act of terrorism. But Tay will not back off.Â
It is worth reading, I would recommend it to anyone who likes international mystery/intrigue/thrillers This is my first Jake Needham book, I confess, I had started another but got distracted and never quite got back to it until now.Â