Dead in the Dog

June 25, 2012
The unusual setting, Perak State in 1954 British Malaya, boosts this first in a new series from Knight (A Plague of Heretics and 13 other Crowner John medieval historicals). As British colonial rule wanes, a growing independence movement has resulted in an increase of terrorist acts aimed at foreigners. In addition, the desire of Malayan Chinese to have a Communist state succeed British rule has led to conflict between them and native Malays. Against this backdrop, military doctor Tom Howden, the new pathologist in the region, must solve the murder of planter James Robertson, who was gunned down in his car. The killing bears similarities to the assassination of the British high commissioner several years earlier, but given Robertson’s rocky relationship with his attractive wife, Howden suspects a personal rather than a political motive. Those for whom the exotic locale is the book’s chief appeal won’t mind the disappointing windup.

July 1, 2012
A young pathologist's national service duties take him to an exotic land and plunge him into a murder investigation. Commonwealth troops are battling Chinese communists in Malaya--part paradise, part hellhole--but disease is the real enemy for doctors and their patients. As they sit in The Dog, the local hangout for male and female officers and the local rubber plantation owners and their spouses, newly arrived pathologist Tom Howden's gossipy friend Percy fills him in on the local scandal, much of which revolves around gorgeous Diane Robertson and her unfaithful husband, James. Long rumored to be having it off with his manager Douglas Mackay's wife, Rosa, James has reportedly turned his attention to nurse Lena Franklin, earning the enmity of her swain, anesthetist David Meredith. Not to be outdone, Diane is having an affair with senior surgeon Maj. Peter Bright. When someone fires on the Robertsons' house, everyone assumes that the communists were behind the suspiciously small-scale attack. Later, when James is found shot to death in his car outside The Dog, the civilian police and the army confer and agree that they may have to look amongst their own for suspects. Inexperienced Tom's autopsy shows that James must have been killed elsewhere. Tempers run high, and suspicions extend even to the company commander, who seems to be losing his mind. Knight (Grounds for Appeal, 2012, etc.) has based the case on his own experiences in Malaya in the 1950s. What it lacks in mystery is more than offset by the forensic and historical details of a little-known war in a faraway world.

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July 1, 2012
Knight, author of the Crowner John mystery series, begins a new series set in 1950s North Malaya, then a little-known outpost of the British Empire and home to lucrative rubber plantations. Newly minted pathologist Tom signed up for a three-year stint in Her Majesty's Far East Land Forces, lured by higher pay and visions of tropical beaches. But the brutal heat and humidity he finds in Malaya, combined with increased bandit activity and the death of an English planter, whose body Tom discovers in front of The Dog (aka the Officers' Club), make for anything but a peaceful posting. Drawn into local gossip and intrigue in his efforts to solve the murder, Tom realizes that this far-flung jungle may provide all the excitement he could ever crave. The exotic, unusual, and lushly described setting will appeal to fans of Inspector Ghote and Inspector Singh, and the tautly paced mystery will draw mainstream mystery fans of all kinds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)