REVIEW
Gopal Baratham - "Moonrise, Sunset"
Serpent’s Tail Mask Noir (1 85242 501 6) £8.99
Serpent’s Tail have the reputation of being one of the most innovative and challenging small publishers in the UK and a quick glance through the author list of Mask Noir (their crime imprint) confirms this reputation as deserved. Having already published titles by, among others, Alex Abella, Elsa Lewin, Manuel Vasquez Montalban, and most famously Walter Mosely, Mask Noir have again lived up to their name as promoters of quality international crime fiction with this tale by Gopal Baratham, a neurosurgeon from Singapore.
Moonrise, Sunset is a journey through the many layers of Singaporean society in search of the killer of Vanita, fiancee of one How Kum Menon. How Kum wakes after a draining night of love-making in the local park to find that Vanita has been stabbed through the heart while he has been asleep and is lying, dead, on top of him. After casting off the initial suspicion attached by him being so obviously at the scene of the crime How Cum is unofficially hired by Police Inspector Ossie D’Cruz and the two, together with How Kum’s alcoholic uncle Oscar, set about finding the killer. The book is sometimes horriffic, sometimes hilarious, but never dull and Gopal Baratham combines his basically serious dissection of Singapore society with a traditional whodunit with admirable skill. Definitely recommended and another new name (for me at least) to look out for. Can’t wait for the next one. (D.G.)