Marina Bay Sins

Inspector Low #1

by Neil Humphreys

Throughout his career, Singapore’s bestselling author Neil Humphreys has successfully mixed biting wit with pitch-black satire to highlight the hypocrisy that lies beneath Asia’s sanitized, swinging city. In both fiction and non-fiction, he has shone a light into Singapore’s darkest corners to create riveting stories that both captivate the reader and provoke the conscience. Now, in his new novel Marina Bay Sins, he has taken a parang to some of Asia’s most sacred cows.

Detective Inspector Stanley Low is having a really bad day. His bipolar condition is already ruining another therapy session when a sadistic sex murder-suicide at Singapore’s most prestigious hotel plunges him back into a sordid underworld he was desperate to leave behind.

He has no choice. Dead bodies at Marina Bay Sands are bad for business. They ask questions of a sanitized society no one is keen to answer. As the case spirals out of control, Inspector Low encounters a self-help celebrity couple, an expat CEO addicted to Asian women and an elusive foreign businessman playing pimp for exiled generals… all thriving in Asia’s cleanest city. None of them can get their story straight.

As Inspector Low gets closer to the unpalatable truth, the search for the murderer races to a gripping, horrifying finish. An intelligent, thought-provoking novel, Marina Bay Sins is Humphreys at his satirical best

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime

ebook

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Neil Humphreys is a British humour columnist and author of three best-selling books about Singapore - Notes From an Even Smaller Island (2001), Scribbles from the Same Island (2003) and Final Notes from a Great Island (2006). The last of these was on Singapore's bestsellers list for several consecutive weeks, proving the popularity of his writings among Singaporeans. His latest book in this series - Return to a Sexy Island - was released in June 2012.

Brought up in Dagenham, London, England, Humphreys arrived in Singapore in 1996 and had initially planned on staying in Singapore for only 3 months. However, he instantly fell in love with the island-state and decided to settle there. Humphreys has always lived in Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats in Toa Payoh, a public housing estate in central Singapore, despite moving twice. Although he is a foreigner, he has chosen to assimilate himself into the Singapore culture through living in HDB flats, eating at local kopitiams and trying out many things that the locals do. He often pokes fun at Western expatriates working in Singapore by comparing their living habits with his own, criticising them for their aloofness from the local society and their extravagant lifestyles.

Reviews

[shanghao · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading Neil Humphrey's humour columns in the Straits Times, so this was more of a sentimental impulse purchase.

I'm happy to say that it's worth the exorbitant DHL fee (which cost more than the book but the bookstore only offered that one delivery option), since this is a fast read and quite on point with the Singaporeanisms, impressive for an ang moh. I even got to know a swear word I hadn't known or heard before, "Balls to you", the Singlish equivalent of "Bollocks". I then found out it's supposedly a literal translation of the more vulgar Hokkien term lam pha, which is definitely the prevalent swear word often used in the heartlands, not the anglicized "balls to you".

Setting Detective Inspector Low as a bipolar character made sense, because his personality is truly quite incongruent with the typical acquiescent or rigid coppers there (these are filled in nicely by Low's colleagues Chan and Tan respectively).


The inspector's alter-ego's supposed to be a local Chinaman gangster (an 'Ah Beng') like this one

A minor thing which dampened the relatively flowing narrative was how the book described Yue Liang as this uber-hot sexy thing all the guys go gallivanting for, because she's very obviously based off a real ex "pop star" (whose name is a mirror of Yue Liang's) who in my subjective opinion is objectively not beautiful. So that gave me some difficulties coming into terms with scenes gushing about her looks because my biased imagination refused to come up with any other image aside from the said actual person. Well, at least to me Humphrey did stress more on her antics and personality, which I suppose are not too far from reality.

The mystery itself is decent and believable, albeit a tad formulaic in terms of the red herring placements, characters and pacing.

All in all, it's not anything that rocks the boat (though perhaps it's already too brazen for the pearl-clutching SG authorities, which is why this book doesn't seem to have the wider exposure it deserves), but the satirical jabs took me down memory lane and had me chuckling more than once. It's a voyeuristic journey through the "pristine" sin city that is Singapore, watered down at the author's discretion so the gahmen can "close one eye". I probably will check out the next instalments in this unique Singapore-themed detective series.

[Jason Lundberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast-paced, exciting murder mystery from one of Singapore's most celebrated observational writers. Detective Inspector Stanley Low of the CPIB (who appeared briefly in Humphreys' first novel Match Fixer) is a fascinating anti-hero: he's belligerent, uncouth, cynical, saddled with bipolar disorder and nostalgic for his undercover gangster alias Ah Lian. I was reminded a bit of Lionel Essrog, the PI protagonist (and Tourette's sufferer) of Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, but pushed even more to the edge. The internal battles for DI Low's identity approach Jekyll/Hyde levels, and complicate his investigation into what at first appears to be a murder-suicide at the Marina Bay Sands, but which turns into a conspiracy that feels ripped from current Singaporean headlines.

Crime fiction is still a small genre within Singapore literature, but Humphreys has set the bar very high here. I also suspect that the lack of coverage for this novel in the local press is because it bravely pokes the bear, and either exposes or reminds us of the hypocrisies of life in the city-state, an alternative to the government's carefully managed squeaky-clean official narrative. Like any major city, Singapore has its seamy side; Marina Bay Sins is unafraid to bring it to light, and to do so with unforgettable characters and a kick-ass story.

[Aest · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dua kali cubaan untuk habiskan tapi still tak boleh. Turned off sebab banyak sangat mencarut. Mungkin akan try baca sekali lagi ke depan nanti.

[Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Get out of the way." The inspector sidestepped the apprehensive secretary and pushed open the door to a separate glass-partitioned wall at the back of the office. An Indian man, in his early forties and dressed smartly in a white shirt and dark tie, rose from behind his chair. Low gritted his teeth and pointed at the swivel chair. "You. Sit. Now."
Samy puffed out his chest. An Indian businessman didn't become successful in Singapore by kowtowing to the voice of the majority every time. "You can't come here into my office, into my company and tell me..."
Low flashed his police ID. "I'm Detective Inspector Low and I'm CPIB, which means I have a license to do whatever the fuck I want. Now sit down before I knock you down."

Murder in a good mystery novel is a double injury - a wound to the singular individual, and a wound to the society in which the individual is a member; a gash, a crack, from which the dark blood of social illnesses and questions spurts forth.

Marina Bay Sins (an obvious re-rendering/rending of Marina Bay Sands, the iconic, newest entertainment plaza in Singapore), plays off the original name of the establishment while it reacts against everything it represents: clean and shiny illusions, money and power, the island's public/publicised image of a gleaming, sleepless, conveyor belt metropolis. The novel is gritty, tough, realistically vulgar - a surprisingly pleasing and accurate change from moralistic novels scrubbed clean and meant for all ages - and steeped in local colloqualisms so brilliantly written, so natural and unaffected that one can forget about the experience of reading an actual book and begins to register each chapter as a sequence from a tv series (starring a leaner, more intense Sunny Pang as Detective Inspector Low, perhaps) - a reflection and testament to how inadequately the written form has served to convey the experience of encountering spoken Singlish thus far. Far, far better, than stories in which all the characters speak grammatically correct English; education, but not real, as in, truly real, things one can expect overhearing while making a beeline for the coffeeshop and making a mental reminder to pick up The Straits Times on the way. This novel immersively reassures the reader that it knows the experience as well as this reader does, and leaves one, truly, yearning for literature situated within home shores, tinged by mannerisms and phrases so-familiar one wouldn't even think twice about it until one sees it in a book. I am easily delighted by this, because it seems so hard to acknowledge and write in Singlish, which has origins in speech patterns rather than writing, without sounding self-conscious, nostalgic or affected (this book is neither).

Stylistically, the vulgarity emblematises the rejection of the ideology of impressions, the tendency for the polite, push-under-the-carpet, stick-to-the-official-script, sanitised atmosphere, shattered by the murder and its ensuing investigations. Instead, one finds the proverbial 'dark underbelly' beneath an impeccable reputation, like sweat on the shirt collar of an immaculately attired manager of a five star hotel, or gore spatter in a tourist spot on a pleasant day. The quest to solve the murder walks the reader through various, unpalatable and contentious possible aspects of the sunny island Singapore - corruption, abuse of power, class divisions, struggles with mental illness, ways to get rich and famous, the ironies of an economy driven by practical monetary gain - pausing momentarily to delve into smaller controversies that are seemingly trivial but all too comfortable currency, such as the authenticity of local fare (if the roti prata stall from Jalan Kayu opens another outlet elsewhere is it still the same?). Stanley Low is a finely crafted, solid and very humanising character, an every-'lower-middle-class'-man with serious issues, who isn't as tired a cliche as this sentence has made him sound.

This sets the bar for any locally situated crime novel, or any literature aiming to sketch in minutiae a picture of what it 'typically' feels like to live and be here.

[Ashy Khaira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stanley is an inspector with bipolar who solves his cases with unconventional methods.He feels no remorse using the perks of his bipolar condition in questioning the suspects.a murder of an expat and a prostitute leads him on a wild goose chase to find the killer.But what he never expects is the twist of events.One small slip of a name changes the whole direction of the investigation

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a tough read for me somehow. It's not driving enough to keep me reading, thus taking me more than a year to complete. Considering that I was very attracted to the book through the back cover synopsis, this was disappointing.

[Ridel · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a mystery, this police procedural is mediocre. There is nothing exceptionally interesting about the double murder in Marina Bay Sands. The rest of the police are incompetent and our hero seems to be the only one with any common sense. That brings us to Inspector Low, who is allegedly bipolar but seems to just swear a lot. There is a bit about the lows and highs, but I feel this is a bad treatment of a mental illness. An unliked, angry detective is a dime-a-dozen in the fictional world.

That said - Marina Bay Sands will really hit the spot if you're from Singapore, or have been there long enough to enjoy the novel's setting. It brings up a lot of the 2010s in terms of cultural shifts and the way money flows into this city state. The Singlish feels about right (I've only travelled to Singapore and claim no special relationship) and the authenticity of the characters is worth the short read.

But if you're looking for a great mystery or police procedural, I would stay away. The various twists are poorly foreshadowed and you don't even feel clever after the final reveal.

Three callouts - as a North American, I'm surprised at how the suspects / public treats law enforcement. I think this is a British thing, but American police procedurals are written with an undercurrent of "the police will brutally ruin your life and there's nothing you can do about it" and so the casual disdain of the public's interactions with the Singapore police are almost unbelievable.

Combine this with the naive Sergeant Charlie Chan, who has no backbone and acts like it's his first day on the job. I don't know about Singapore, but sergeants typically have 5+ years on the job. There's a sequence where Charlie is actively working against Inspector Low in front of suspects, which is really some sort of culture difference because I'm used to the whole "partners watch each other's back" concept.

But what really makes this book unlikeable is that the solution to the mystery is never foreshadowed. There is insufficient detail written at the beginning of the book for you to find the various twists to make any sense. A lot of the last act is spent doing work that should have been in the first act -- who were the other suspects and their motives? How could there be other suspects if the room had no entrances? The window cleaning company could have been guessed at by a reader, but a good author would have pointed it out without spoiling the import. The big twist is that the name Rosie is critical, but the reader doesn't know anything about why until the final pages of Marina Bay Sins. I... do not see me returning to this series.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do like Inspector Stanley Low. Refreshingly direct, his belligerence could be written off as a symptom of his bi-polar disorder but, in truth, I just don't think he gives a monkeys and I like it. Yes, his mental health does shine through in the highs and lows, and manic moments of his investigation, but in truth, Low likes the thrill of the hunt. The chase to find the guilty party. And he hates to lose.

In Marina Bay Sins, we find Low called in on an investigation that is technically outside of the remit of his role in the CPIB - Singapore's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau - but to which he is most definitely linked. The murder victim, an Australian by the name of Richard Davie, was Low's informant, feeding him information on suspicious gambling practices, an activity heavily legislated within Singapore. With a second body found in the victim's hotel suite, and no clear method of entry to the room more than 40 floors up it really is the most intriguing of mysteries.

I really enjoyed this book, found the pacing just right and the mystery puzzling enough to keep me hooked right the end. With a number of suspects, it's not immediately clear who the guilty party might be. even when we feel we've settled on the who there are still many questions over the how and the why of it all. Nothing is quite as straightforward as it first seems and I enjoyed that, the truth hidden very much in plain sight. So much so that even Low was blind to it all. Neil Humphreys uses sleight of hand, the kind of trickery that would see him get a lifetime ban from any card table in the Marina Bay Sands Hotel casino. Loved that ending. Completely blindsided.

There is a special blend of gruffness and humour in this book that made it a completely addictive read for me, finishing it in just a couple of sittings. There is Low's innate sarcasm, offset against his colleague, Detective Inspector James Tan's patriotism and Detective Sergeant Charles Chan's naivety, and when combined it just brought a smile to my face. Capturing the essence of the Singaporean culture, and with many colloquialisms (helpfully explained in the back of the book), I really enjoyed being transported to Singapore and can't wait to make a return journey with book two.

Fun, fresh and a surprisingly quick read. Recommended.

[Sean Goh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet the bipolar Detective Low(huehue). He’s got anger management and authority issues, and that makes him a brilliant Detective, trampling all over prim and proper procedure with impunity. Humphreys mixes social commentary with a dark, dark murder conspiracy, and the result is glorious.
Although there’s a scene where a man manages to speak intelligibly while having a gun barrel jammed deep in his mouth. Guess clarity won out over realism.
___
That was the trouble with CNB work in Singapore, too much paperwork and not enough drugs. The CPIB was different. Corruption was a treadmill. Match-fixing alone kept Low on the streets. And then there were the internal cases, former bosses, the stat board tenders, the religious groups siphoning church funds and the sex-for-grades and the sex-for-tenders and the-sex-for-contracts. He was buried in sex. No one had babies in Singapore because they were too busy having sex.

For all its grand plans and proclamations, Marina Bay Sands was a Singapore Pools outlet with better carpeting. Nothing more.

Please lah, I never work with Ang mohs, especially after last time. They got very big mouths, always want to talk, talk to news, talk to TV, talk to police, now they talk cock on Facebook. Singaporeans always better. Been trained to be quiet, from kindergarten, trained to nod heads, say yes, don’t ask questions, like sheep, sheep better. Just tick boxes. Tick boxes, don’t talk. I only work with people who like money and tick boxes. That’s why you’re a lousy Singaporean. You’re like an ang moh. You don’t tick boxes. You ask too many questions.
And never work with people who are too blur. Little bit blur, can, just nice, don’t ask question. Blur like sotong, cannot, always cause problem one.

He’s a government scholar, which means he’ll instinctively say yes to all his paymasters without questioning. Reasoning and initiative are skills best left to his superiors.

Suicides in Singapore are invariably the worst. We don’t have access to guns or drugs, but we all have access to high-rise buildings. So we jump. It’s easy, accessible and so incontestably efficient. Even in death, we’re so damn kiasu.

He was going to make his voice heard the modern Singaporean way - anonymously.

[MarkMyWords · Rating 1 out of 5]

This, for me, was a frustrating read. The plot was all over the place but the most disappointing aspect was the continuous use of local Singaporean phrases and words, that even if you were reading for a few hours, you would forget the meanings, which were provided in a glossary at the end of the book...which WASN'T in alphabetical order, so you had to scan several pages to locate the meaning, by which time you had forgotten the context and had to reread the passage for it to make sense! This made the whole book a stop-start affair for me. If the author was writing for a Singaporean audience, all well and good, but I would have thought a more general approach appealing to the western reading world would have made this a lot more palatable (and popular). Not for me; I won't be reading any more works from this author, but if you are Singaporean or have lived there long enough to pick up enough of the local phrases and slang (50% of which seems to be derogatory to women and most relevant to the underworld of Singapore) you may, just may, perhaps enjoy this novel. Cheers, Mark.

[Karan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm sorry I can only give this three stars because I enjoyed it and I can see how if you are familiar with Singapore, it would be so much better. The main character is a good and interesting and unusual guy, though I'm not entirely sure I get him. The rest is interesting, lots of vernacular, a small glossary of terms, kind of cute, and some local color that you could only get by being there.
The story is kind of ordinary, or so it seems: a rich foreigner and a prostitute end up dead in a hotel room at the swankiest hotel in Singapore and the police, the government ("gah-min"), all want it resolved yesterday. Our hero DI Stanley Low is dogged, but dogged by mental illness. He has two equally well-drawn cohorts who are as different from each other as they are from him and somehow they all make up a good team.
The ending was completely unexpected, and the whole thing ends up feeling a little like - well, read it yourself and see.

[Di Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read the third in the Inspector Low series (Bloody Foreigners) and enjoyed it so much, I've gone back to the beginning ... and I'm not disappointed! Hard to like, yet easy to admire, Stanley Low is a different character, but he gets the job done. The plot is convoluted enough to keep the reader guessing, but not so much that you lose track. It's gripping and Low's character adds to that ... you keep wondering what he'll do next. This book gives a different insight into Singapore (a place still on my to-be-visited list), although it's an aspect that not many people see, I would imagine: the underworld of any city is eye-opening at any time, but this also creates an exotic atmosphere which adds to the plot immensely. One of the most enjoyable parts of the writing, for me, is the dialogue, which comes over naturally, and while the Singlish is foreign, somehow the gist is clear and I know exactly what's being said. Definitely a series worth reading. I've already started book two!

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This murder mystery is set in Singapore, and therefore contains plenty of Singlish. There is a glossary, though, which you'll need if you've never encountered Singlish before.

It's quite well written, although there were times I felt the internal monologue would switch a bit too abruptly from one character to the next. A couple of times I got confused about who was thinking this. Also, some of these characters were so minor as to really not need any internal monologue.

The mystery itself had me hooked, but I found the ending a bit disappointing, to be honest, although I admittedly didn't see the twist coming. But overall, I'm glad I read it.

[Sue Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marina Bay sins by Neil Humphreys.
An Inspector Low novel2 Book 1.
Detective Inspector Stanley Low – belligerent, bipolar and brilliant. A Chinese-Singaporean, educated in London, with a food in both cities. His mission, to eradicate violent crime wherever he finds it. Low is having a bad day. His bipolar disorder is ruining another session with his psychiatrist, and when a murdered prostitute and a dead expatriate are discovered at Singapore’s most prestigious hotel in the glamorous Marina Sins Bay, he is plunged back into the sordid underworld he was desperate to leave behind. 
A slow but OK read. 3*.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a few clichés such as a crusty coroner and a troubled cop, this works because of the Singapore setting, Singlish phrases and the portrayal of the island nation. Stanley Low, a bi-polar Detective Inspector, investigates murders in a luxury Singapore hotel and encounters gamblers, money-launderers and assorted locals who are entangled with one of the Ang moh (Caucasian) victims. The solution is a surprise, but it is really the characters and the rhythm of life in Singapore which adds to what is a standard police-procedural

[jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

a big big fan of Inspector Low, he’s ballsy, he feels very deeply for the vulnerable and the lower class, he’s determined to finding the culprit. idk wht else to say other than he tries to help as much as possible but ppl js hates him, i love whenever he gets pissed off and starts telling ppl off with the most uncouth words. he’s so lovable. also the twist??? now THIS is a twist i never saw coming.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS. For me, it was my introduction to detective inspector low/ah lian.

Gritty, engaging, and though I so wanted to finish it in one sitting, I had to restrain myself as I didn't want it to end.

The plot twist at the end, damn son!

Absolutely brilliant Neil... love love love it

P.s. each time I read it, I drank out of my exclusive Marina Bay Sands cup 😆

[Alex Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 - Very Good.

The first book and introduction to Detective Stanley Low of the CIPB in Singapore is great read.

A story that really opens up the culture and way of life of Singapore. How they do business, the corruption, the illusion and what’s behind that.

With Murder and Prostitution, Gambling and big money, an entertaining cast and a peculiar yet likeable protagonist, this is a fine start to a series with a big twist that’s very well concealed until the reveal.

I really felt like I was there at times, with the authentic language, the food, the hawkers and the hotels.

It’s a fine effort and I’m lucky enough to have the 2nd book from NetGalley and have purchased the 3rd, so much did I enjoy this one.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new discovery for me, I thought it was fascinating, Stanley low is an intriguing protagonist. I felt drawn into the world of his Singapore and I loved discovering it as I read the book. These are fascinating novels, gritty and disturbing in places but a fabulous read. So good I finished book 1 and started book 2 instantly

[Ummu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story follows Detective Inspector Stanley Low, from CPIB, who is tracking down a murderer. It was committed at the most popular spot in SG, Marina Bay Sands.

The story is good but I don't quite like the ending and the plot twist. I enjoyed it though.

:)

[Cherry London · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a high-pace Asian thriller with a detective that held aggression by the balls. Detective Low was good at his job, but too many years spent undercover had left a definite mark on him. It was a good story, but I thought the amount of F-bombs was overdone, too much for my liking.

[Suzana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book mostly about Singapore. The food, the place and a lot things about it that brought me back to Singapore. With Singlish and a lot of slang. It is interesting. I really enjoyed it. I learnt how the inspector cracked a murder scene and a lot more.

[Zahirah · Rating 3 out of 5]

random thoughts - I wonder how people not familiar with singlish would read this. the characters are too cynical even for my cynical temperament. I find the ranting monologues tiring after a while. entertaining enough.

[Melkiew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to enjoy this book but it took me way longer than expected to complete it cos the plot just didn’t cut it for me. I enjoy Neil Humphrey’s humour and his ability to switch to Singlish as a British author, but honestly that was it for me.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK story with a twist. Inspector Low is not a character that I am interested in, so won't be reading next book in the series.

[Clarissa Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

The usual Neil Humphrey's style of writing. The whole plot was confusing, ending with abrupt note. Overall, it is still entertaining in the Singapore way.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good twists and plot, but unsympathetic characters all round and the ol' "squeaky clean Singapore has a seamy underbelly" basis for the book left me cold.

[charlo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find the use of colloquial slang and local references appealing to singaporean readers

[WR · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this on a whim, light-hearted yet tries to be serious outside-in look at Singapore. The audiobook version sounded a lil strange due to Singlish spoken with angmoh accent.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The highlight for me was the Singpaore setting - the buildings, the food, and the language. The story was too gritty for me, and there were no likeable characters for me.