Shamini Flint's Inspector Singh Investigates is an engaging murder mystery set in the streets of Kuala Lumpur. But is her poor-dressing, heavy-smoking, portly detective going to win over the Indian public?

Published by Hachette India.u00a0 Rs 295

What Singapore-based Shamini Flint wants to do isn't unusual. "I am determined to change the world," her website proclaims. Her intention of bringing about this change "through writing" isn't path-breaking either. What we want to ask the former lawyer, however, is how her current genre of choice - crime fiction - fits into her scheme.

Packing away her lawyer's robe a few years ago, Flint began her second career as writer with picture travel books about a girl called Sasha. She then moved to children's books on endangered species, an environmental fantasy and, eventually, crime fiction for adults featuring a detective called Inspector Singh.

The best part about Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Mystery - the first in a 3-part series that next brings us Inspector Singh Investigates: A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul - is its setting. When, after all, was the last time you had a desi detective roam the streets of Kuala Lumpur in search of vital clues?

For a generation weaned on Doordarshan's soap operas, the premise of Flint's novel is easy enough to identify with. An ex-model in a custody battle with her businessman hubby is accused of murder when the latter is found dead. Added to this prosaic recipe are twists involving the couple's sons, the dead husband's recent conversion to Islam, and even Borneo's rainforest!

Our heroic Inspector Singh (also Singapore-based, incidentally) steps in to ensure a fair trial. Things change when he believes his client isn't guilty, and get more complicated when the victim's brother admits to the murder.

The big problem with crime fiction - and one this novel doesn't escape - is an obsessive devotion to detail. What great crime writers grasp intuitively is the literary device known as Chekhov's gun, where seemingly innocuous elements introduced early on slowly gather significance. As important as attention to detail may be, equally significant is the understanding that there is no place for the unnecessary.

Flint does the right thing by placing things within a cultural context, but loses a few threads when her narrative begins to focus more on differences between Malaysia and Singapore than the actual detective story readers have bought a ticket for.

As for Singh, he conforms to a number of stereotypes - a "maverick", heavy smoker and poor dresser who's not exactly Mr Popular, but wins the reader over anyway. Much like a certain other famous portly detective, yes? Flint describes her writing as an effort to make up for her "evil" past as a corporate lawyer. She's on her way to absolution, but this could take some time.

I think my detective is extremely astute, says the author
Does familiarity with the law help when it comes to writing a great mystery story?
Yes, it does. Most peoples' lives are touched by the law even when they are not particularly aware of it: when you buy a house, when you quarrel with the neighbour over a noisy dog u2014 the law defines the way we interact in circumstances. Further, on a more practical note, a manuscript for a book tends to be a big, fat intimidating document with lots of words. Lawyers are used to that, so we don't find the process of editing and proof-reading as difficult as others.

Have cases you worked on inspired you?
Sadly, I was a boring corporate lawyer so I did not come across the sort of cases I describe in my books very often!