Malaysia | The Detective Hawksworth trilogy | Novel | Asia Society

Malaysia | The Detective Hawksworth trilogy | Novel

Detective Hawksworth trilogy
April 16th, 2020

The Detective Hawksworth trilogy

Daniel Moss, Bloomberg Opinion Editor 

Gang warfare and equally treacherous colonial politics of 1890s Singapore and Malaysia are the shoals that a hard-boiled British investigator navigates in William L. Gibson's Detective Hawksworth trilogy. The books, titled `Singapore Black,' `Singapore Yellow' and `Singapore Red,' wind Hawksworth through late Victorian Singapore, Malacca and Penang. He tracks priceless religious icons, pursues a child kidnapping ring and chases murderers of the scion of a prominent Chinese merchant family.

The easy-to-read and sometimes racy pieces of noir fiction are also about journeys of identity: of David Hawksworth himself and the rapidly expanding settlements and commercial of Singapore and Malaysia. Hawksworth is a man who must uphold British law without ever having set foot in the U.K., believing himself an orphan who grew up in Penang, speaking as much Malay as English.

As we learn more about his mysterious provenance, we see the economic and cultural forces that shaped what grew into two vibrant sovereign nations.

Details 

Category: Novel
Director: Author 
Year: 2014

Purchase it here or visit your local library website for free e-book borrowing.

Daniel Moss Bio 1

Daniel Moss, Bloomberg Opinion Editor 

Daniel Moss

Daniel Moss is columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, covering Asian economies. Now based in Singapore, Moss returned to Asia in January after almost two decades in London, Washington and New York.

Prior to joining the commentary team, he held a number of leadership roles at Bloomberg spanning economics, politics and markets. He ran economics news during the global financial crisis, has testified to Congress and is a regular contributor to Bloomberg Television and podcasts. Dan’s first foray into Asia was as Bloomberg Bureau Chief in Kuala Lumpur from 1996 to 1998, spanning the last year of the boom and the first year of the upheaval that followed. He is a graduate of the Australian National University and was a director of ANU Foundation USA from 2016 to 2019.

Read Daniel's latest writing here. 

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