Exclusive interview with author Shamini Flint and a review of his latest Inspector Singh novel, A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul
By Gabrielle Pantera • Rating: 4 Stars
“My dream is that my crime novels will raise awareness of and engage people in a discussion of the social, cultural and religious issues that plague Asian society,” says A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul author Shamini Flint. ‘The general idea behind the Inspector Singh novels is to write traditional whodunits with an Asian twist. I usually highlight at least one issue of contemporary importance, whether racial or religious issues in Malaysia, draconian laws on drugs or homosexuality in Singapore or the spectre of terrorism in Bali.”
Bali is a wonderfully exotic locale for Flint’s second mystery with Inspector Singh. The characters and the plot drive the story equally. The overweight Singh is comparable to the detective Hercule Poirot. The differences in culture and history move the story along. The suspense level kicks up a level and the ending will surprise you.
In A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul, Inspector Singh is sent (although he doesn’t know why) to the idyllic island after a terrorist’s bomb goes off, since he deals with homicides, not terrorism. Joining Singh is Australian cop Bronwyn Taylor. The police find a skull fragment that was there before the explosion. The investigation leads them to the wealthy expat wife of the murdered man and her friends. Who killed him and how is it tied to the bomb?
“The Bali bombings of 2002 were a seminal event in Asia,” says Flint. “The island of Bali captures many of the contradictions of Asian society…economic, religious and cultural. I was determined to send Inspector Singh to Bali to investigate a murder in the aftermath of the bombings, but also to trip over all the fault lines within that society. There is no doubt that writing books that are not always complimentary about Asian society, or its political classes, does make me nervous sometimes.”
Flint is Malaysian. “Whenever, I return to Malaysia and my passport gets stuck in the Autogate at the airport, I assume I’m in trouble. Fortunately, not many people in authority in Southeast Asia are big readers. Inspector Singh has received very good reviews in the international press and a few angry ones in the regional Asian papers.”
Flint says he did a lot of online research into terrorism in Southeast Asia. He was studying the roots of fanaticism, the social and cultural backdrop to suicide bombers, the ideology and the methodology of terrorists. “One day, as I was trawling through the Internet, I was suddenly blocked from various sites by the Singapore authorities with a message suggesting that I was attempting to access banned material,” says Flint. “I printed out a copy of the manuscript and waited for someone to arrive to arrest me, rehearsing my excuses that I was just doing research for a book and wondering whether that’s what the terrorists usually said too.”
Flint says he doesn’t know if his novels make a difference, but that he does enjoy the process of trying to influence people. “I have an Aunt in Malaysia who recently confessed to voting for an opposition figure in a general election after fifty years of being too afraid to step out of line. Who says people can’t change?”
In his research, Flint visits the sites described in his books. “In Bali, this involved going to the bomb sites in Kuta, the hospitals and the police station in Denpasar and a bed and breakfast in the artist colony of Ubud. I knew Bali quite well before writing the book as I have family there. When writing a Singh novel, I usually read an enormous amount about the place…history, politics, geography…anything I can get my hands on really. Once I feel I have the destination in some sort of mental context, I spend a few weeks on location. I wander fairly aimlessly around the place, exploring back alleys and the quality of the beer. Inspector Singh is very fussy about that.”
Flint says there’s a lot of interest in optioning A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul. “I am really keen to see Inspector Singh in the flesh although I can’t think who might play the role.”
Flint says some of his children’s books have been short-listed for awards including the Red Dot Award and the Hedwig-Anuar Prize.
Flint’s agent is Elinor Cooper at AP Watt. “After I had found a UK publisher for the Inspector Singh novels a number of agents approached me about any further writing. Elinor was enthusiastic about my work. She is also a perfectionist so I am currently editing a stand-alone novel for the third time at her behest.”
A Bali Conspiracy Most Foul: Inspector Singh Investigates by Shamini Flint • Hardcover, 304 pages, Publisher: Minotaur Books; Reprint edition (July 19, 2011). Language: English, ISBN: 9780312596989 $ 25.99
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