Singapore Fling

Squeaky clean Singapore does a poor job hiding its sins, and sinners. Like the pursuit of the Maltese Falcon, everyone wants a piece of the stolen gold from China's past. Barbie, a continent-hopping English teacher with shadowy talents, becomes enmeshed in the chase. It starts with her friend's missing boyfriend, whose murky past and dubious acquaintances confound the search. As well as catching up with her friend, Barbie reunites with her son Jon, whom she hasn't seen in eight years. Together they relive and explore their troubled relationship, exposing family puzzles and betraying decades-old secrets. The pursuit of clues by the three detectives leads to more than the quest for the missing boyfriend, as the alleyways of Singapore cough up improbably shady players in the game. Is everyone someone else? Who can our heroes trust? And, is the gold real, or only an ephemeral stand-in for a forbidden treasure?

Singapore Fling is the fourth in the series of Teacher Abroad mysteries.