Crime mystery set in Phnom Penh
- Book: Death in the Rainy Season
- Location: Cambodia, Phnom Penh
- Author: Anna Jaquiery
All through September, the rains cause “havoc along the Mekong River and the Tonle Sap Lake, ruining rice crops and destroying houses…”
It is the end of September 2011 and the monsoons are in full swing, the rain blasts across the country, the deluges are regular and insistent. Commandant Serge Morel is taking a well-earned break up in Siem Reap where he is enjoying the wonders of Ta Prohm. Meanwhile, down in Phnom Penh a French national is found brutally murdered, his face unrecognisable, it was a vicious and frenzied attack that left his body slumped against the wall in a hotel.
Morel is summoned to investigate and join forces with local investigating officer, Chey Sarit. He finds himself in an unenviable position, as the Cambodians are pushing for the murderer to be identified within the Western community, they do not want to see one of their own tarnished with the murder of a Westerner. Back in France there is pressure from Morel’s boss to bring the case to a swift conclusion, as the dead man, Hugo Quercy is the nephew of a Minister. Morel is half Khmer yet here he is in Phnom Penh “ .. a tourist, a passing observer, being asked to help solve a murder in a country that remained a mystery to him”.
As Morel delves deeper into Quercy’s life and gets to know his family, friends and work colleagues, he finds a rather murky world on the periphery, in which Quercy seemed to be involved through the NGO he was running – fighting underage child sex, and a personal mission to research the evils of land-grabs/illegal logging. The author is clearly passionate about the iniquitous nature of both, and highlights that over the past 15 years the government has leased nearly half the country’s land to private investors, and that the logging is to make way for rubber and sugar. (She cites: “the casual indifference to people’s rights that I encountered in Cambodia seemed at first extraordinary. But soon it began to appear routine.” Fred Pearce, The Land Grabbers).
With thought and contemplation, Morel cleaves his way through the detection process, and with the odd glass of Otard Cognac to hand, he reflects on individual motives and the broader panoply of life, always mindful of the vagaries of detection by the locals.
Setting is a big character in this book. I could imagine myself sloshing through the monsoon downpours with Commandant Morel, sharing his Tuk Tuk down Sisowath Quay, visiting the Foreign Correspondents Club and observing the local customs. It is hot, it is energy sapping and it is Phnom Penh! Enjoy.
This review first appeared on our blog, together with a top author interview, hot tips for your trip to Phnom Penh
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