THE FRANGIPANI TREE MYSTERY is set in 1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore where the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem far away.

When the nanny looking after the Acting Governor's daughter dies suddenly, Mission-School-educated local girl SuLin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - takes her place.

But then another murder at the residence occurs and it takes all SuLin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life.