The Feng Shui Detective

by Nury Vittachi

Thomas Dunne Books, January, 2004.
Hardcover, 279 pages.
ISBN: 0312320590

The Feng Shui Detective by Nury Vittachi

Singapore resident C.F. Wong is a feng shui master who is greatly respeted within his field. But the order and neatness which calms his soul is in short supply at his office, which is constantly disrupted by his harridan of an office manager and his new, Australian teenaged intern, Joyce Mquinnie. While inspecting the apartment of Dr. and Mrs. Tsai-Leibler, a fire breaks out which nearly kills Mr. Wong and clients. To make things worse, a ghost is haunting Dr. Leibler's dental offices. The ghost's antics are quite disturbing to his patients and his business partner. Then Wong is called in by his two psychic friends to consult on the case of a missing girl (his friends have been hired by a Malaysian witch doctor). Now Fong's hunt for the missing girl will take him from the hip nightclub scene to the shores of Australia -- with the irrepressible and loud Joyce right by his side.

American readers are in for a welcome case of culture shock with The Feng Shui Detective. The worldview of the characters (with the exception of Joyce) is so different from the American one that reading the story really is like taking a trip across the globe. Wong, who would love to spend his time quietly writing his opus Some Gleanings of Oriental Wisdom, is constantly dragged out into the real, noisy world by his bubbly intern, Joyce -- with hilarious results. Joyce, a typical Western teen, is appalled by Wong's culinary habits. He finds her Starbucks lattes to be equally foul. Along the way, readers will learn many helpful feng shui tips -- the explanation of why one should clean up one's office is especially enlightening. This is a wonderful, wise and very funny mystery which will appeal to a broad range of readers. C.F. Wong is a hit.

--Claire E. White

The Feng Shui Detective is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the July-August, 2004 of The Internet Writing Journal.