Crime fiction set in Singapore

 I discovered 2 crime fiction books set in 'colonial' Singapore, that is over a 100 years ago in Toronto public library and enjoying reading them now during this dreadful pandemic.

Singapore is considered by both the citizens there and visitors to be a 'crime-free' country with a strict government and so it is of interest to find crime fiction set in Singapore. Of course, people are people, even in Singapore...they are good, bad and ugly. Not 'pure and lily-white' just because they are in Singapore!

Both books below are by A.M.Stuart. These novels are from the era of British colonial times and not modern Singapore of today. (Both are available in Toronto public library)

1)Singapore sapphire (2019)

2)Revenge rubies (2020)

Another crime fiction set in Singapore is the " Inspector Singh investigates-Singapore school of villainy by Shamini Flint. This is 3rd in the series of inspector Singh. Singh solves crimes in other countries in the other books. ((available in Toronto public library))

Six books in a series(I have not yet read) about an inspector from Singapore by author Jake Needham are listed below. Unfortunately for me, they are not in the Toronto Public library and  I don't see myself buying these books anytime soon.

1)The ambassador's wife

2)The umbrella man

3)The dead american

4)The girl in the window

5)And brother it's starting to rain

6)Mongkok station

Apparently the books by Needham have been banned in Singapore by the Singapore government and he has been threatened with arrest if he returns to Singapore! If you go to this link and read his interview, he talks about his books being banned and the threats of arrest. https://simonduringer.com/simons-10-q-interviews/crime/jake-needham-2019/

Apparently Alan Shadrake, the British author of "Once a jolly hangman: Singapore justice in the dock" was jailed for a few weeks in Singapore for this book. This book is NOT fiction. Jake Needham mentioned the arrest of this author (who was in his 70s at time of arrest!) in Singapore and it definitely scares me about visiting Singapore with this type of a draconian democracy! 

For those interested in crime fiction set in far east Asian countries , read other books by Jake Needham.

A crime fiction with a female protagonist with a part of the story set in Singapore is Ian Hamilton's The diamond queen of Singapore (2020)  (available in Toronto public library)

Below are two books with crime fiction in the form of short stories. 

Crime scene Singapore: the best of crime fiction is a multi-author anthology set in Singapore. (not in Toronto public library)

Singapore noir: 2014 (available in Toronto public library)

As I come across more crime fiction books set in Singapore, I will  add them to this article. 

To my surprise, the few residents of Singapore I know are not at all critical of Singapore and full of praise! It's only the visitors to Singapore who comment about the lack of freedom (choice of school for their kids) and so on.