Dread and Envy
The Frangipani Tree Mystery (Crown Colony, volume 1)
By Ovidia Yu

20 Oct, 2023
Doing the WFC's Homework
2017’s The Frangipani Tree Mystery is the first volume1 in Ovidia Yu’s Crown Colony mystery series.
1936: Singapore still languishes under the boot of the British Empire. Were imperial domination alone not bad enough, the Depression lingers.
Su Lin is considered unlucky, possibly cursed, by her family. Not only is she an orphan, but polio left her with a noticeable limp. Her uncle Chen has a solution: arranged marriage to a man Chen will make sure has suitable prospects (if the uncle has to provide them himself). Vanessa “Miss Nessa” Palin, the spinster sister of Sir Henry Palin, acting governor of Singapore, has a different solution: Su Lin will become Chief Inspector Le Froy’s housekeeper.
Fate provides a third alternative.