It's a mystery

The first time I read a detective novel it was an accident. I was about seven years old and my local library was selling off excess children's books for ten cents each. I had thirty cents to spend so grabbed what I thought was three Enid Blyton books, then one of them turned out to be The Mystery of the Fire Dragon, the thirty-eighth volume about the adventures of Nancy Drew, girl detective. (Actually, that accidental purchase probably kicked off two lifelong passions: mystery stories and books set in Asia.) From Nancy Drew it was just a hop, skip and a jump to Trixie Belden and The Three Investigators. Fast forward a few years and I still love reading mystery novels. Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden have given way to grown-up amateur and not-so-amateur detectives. Here are a few of my favourite series and writers:

• Shamini Flint's Inspector Singh series. The author is Malaysian and based in Singapore; her gruff yet delightful detective has solved crimes in, to date, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia, India and China, and rumour has it his next adventure will be in London. Can't wait!
• Colin Cotterill's Dr Siri Paiboun series, set in Laos and starring an eccentric elderly coroner
• Cleo Coyle's coffeehouse mysteries, set in New York City
• Laura Childs' tea shop mysteries, set in Charleston, South Carolina
• Barbara Nadel's Inspector Ikmen books, set in Istanbul
• Two series by Mary Daheim: the Bed and Breakfast series and the Alpine (Emma Lord) series, both set in Washington State.

All good! While I may have once harboured dreams of becoming a detective myself, these days I put my attention to detail to use in more prosaic ways ... working as a copyeditor, and finding lost stuff around the house ...