Moon Kite

Kain Songhet Mysteries #4

by Barbara Ismail

In the fourth installment of the award-winning Kain Songket Mysteries detective series set in east coast Malaysia, amateur sleuth Aunty Maryam investigates the death of a winning contestant at a kite flying contest. With little experience, the winner is found to have beaten some of Kelantan s best competitors, but no one knows why he suddenly took up the sport. Aunty Maryam s investigation leads her into a labrynth of unexpected relationships in a seemingly peaceful village.

Paperback

Published May 25, 2017

About the author

Barbara Ismail spent several years in Kelantan, Malaysia in the 1970s and '80s, living in Kampong Dusun and Pengkalan Chepa, studying Wayang Siam and the Kelantanese dialect. She holds a Ph.D in Anthropology from Yale University, and is originally from Brooklyn, New York. Shadow Play is the first in Barbara Ismail's series of "Kain Songket Mysteries" based in Kelantan.

Reviews

[Ummu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dislike the ending for this book.
Nik Man's best friend died because Nik Man was threatened by her wife, Sharifah. Sharifah was like that because of her sister, Bahiyah. Seriously, why can't the males in the story be more like man? Okay, maybe I should put it this way: it seems like the female characters are the dominant group in this series. Hmm..

Anyway, read it if you want to know the ending.

[Jin Yao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't bring myself to finish the book. I thought the writing style was mundane and there wasn't much distinction between characters' personalities. Some times the plot gets repetitive as well, and the police does not even seem like a proper police doing investigations.

[F. Hanim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kind of liking this detective book. Fourth instalment (I skipped the first three - probably will check it out later).

The end wasn’t really fulfilling though. Why Nik Man whyyyyyy?!