The Feng Shui Detective (THE FENG SHUI DETECTIVE SERIES)

He meets occasionally with a group of "mystics" I believe the word would actually be "psychics" that supposedly get together to help each other and the police solve crimes and problems, though they never actually do that thanks to their "gifts" or "powers" or whatever. Mostly it's the MC pulling rabbits out of hats and aces out of his sleeve a la Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle in his weaker short stories.

Some of the plots are pretty good; others are disappointingly predictable. The language the author puts in the mouths of many of his characters is meant to represent some kind of "Asian English"--though it is inconsistent, particularly in the mouth of the MC who goes from near-pidgin English to total fluency with no warning or transition.

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There's also a bit of misused and abused English in the actual narrative--one makes an ascent of a staircase if one must ; an ascension means "rising up to heaven. I know this, I teach ESL for a living. It's my day job.

Another tiny quibble--I doubt very much that Asian men in various countries and they do cover the ground in this book, from Singapore to Hong Kong to India to Viet Nam and back again would be intimidated by his assisstant, a year-old white girl--no matter how loud and bossy she is. I've been a 17 year old white girl, which the author has not. I have empiric knowledge that he is lacking. But for light entertainment, harmless enough. Dec 10, Sharakael rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Mystery lover looking for a light reading. I really enjoyed this book: D It's actually a collection of 9 stories, each an interesting mystery ranging from murder to missing money.

I was looking for something short to read, so this perfect the bill as I could read one story each night. While each story has its own charm and character, the stories were not written as pure murder mystery; few of the stories doesn't really give you enough hints or clues so that you'd be able to solve the mystery yourself. But all the solution was ingenious, p I really enjoyed this book: But all the solution was ingenious, plausible, and very entertaining to read.

Plus, the characters were very lively with personality that befits their nationality. Fortunately it doesn't fit the characters into stereotypes. The one thing that's charming about the book is also the one thing which I thought might select its readers I can see how people from South East Asian countries can read the book and delight in all the small details about the culture, but for people from a different culture I'm Indonesian, so the book is hillarious, but I'm not sure if people from, say, European countries would laugh at the same jokes I did Since I'm picky about order, I'd wait for the second book in the series to be released Down Under I need to read the second book first Suka baca buku detektif??

Detektif yang ini beda dari yang laen.. View all 10 comments. Apr 12, Sae-chan rated it liked it Shelves: Many wrong malay words and expressions. The redeeming factor is the start of each stories. Sep 14, Lila rated it really liked it. This is the first Master Wong mystery. The long suffering Feng Shui practitioner tries to sort out the modern world with his Australian intern, Joyce McQuinnie, who speaks "teenager" and is barely comprehensible to the detective.

Add to this a secretary, Winnie Lim, who refuses to work but who developed a file system only she understands. While not exactly scienti This is the first Master Wong mystery. While not exactly scientific, they all logically pursue cases based on very different assumptions, allowing Wong to see events from a totally skewed perspective that, along with an insight into human greed, somehow gets him to the solution. Jun 05, Robert rated it really liked it. Light weight but sort of fun cultural detective stories set in SEA.

The feng shui master uses as much western logical deduction as feng shui to solve situations that often do not begin as mysteries. The stories reminded me of the "Chinese" Judge Dee stories. Might read some more of this series. Nov 20, Betty rated it did not like it Shelves: May 23, P. Winn rated it it was amazing. Apr 17, Jennifer rated it it was ok Shelves: It was kinda cute, a bit silly, but very confusing. The story jumped around a lot and there were a lot of names to remember. As the story unfolded, I realized that what seemed like a lot of unrelated plotlines were actually related Same thing goes for the characters And yet, because I had a hard time keeping them all straigh I don't know.

And yet, because I had a hard time keeping them all straight because the story jumped around so much , I had a hard time understanding how they related. I kept reading because it was cute and an entertaining bedtime read. But honestly, I didn't really care that much by the end, and I didn't bother to go back and make it all fit together. On the positive side, I think the idea for the series is a good one, and the characters are funny and quirky and could have made for a great series. I really love the way he uses a western gal in her "gap year" to help us see the Asian setting in a lighthearted, adventurous light The main character, Mr.

Wong, was a little bit irritating I think because he never seemed to develop as well as the others, surprisingly. He was a bit caricature-ish. But then again, this isn't meant to be great literature, it's just a pleasant way to spend some down time. Without getting too bogged down, the author managed to quickly bring some depth to a lighthearted story here and there. There were also some wonderful "journal entries" supposedly from Mr. Wong's book-in-progress titled "Some Gleanings of Oriental Wisdom. Taken altogether, I might read another book in the series, if the mood strikes, but But I did finish it -- and I don't finish book that aren't worth finishing!

Dec 07, Melanie rated it liked it. Joyce, auch genannt Jo, ist als Praktikantin bei C. Ihr 'Papi' hat dies arrangiert und C. Joyce ist eher die flippige, auf Teenie gemachte junge Frau. Auch ihre Art ist typisch ein Teenie Verhalten. Zumindest kommt es mir so vor. Wong ist einfach das genaue Gegenteil. Ich denke gerade weil sie so unterschiedlich sind, schaffen sie es, so zusammen zu arbeiten. Das Cover passt zum Fengshui Detektiv. Das Buch ist in 9 kleine Geschichten aufgeteilt, was bedeutet, das jedes Kapitel ein kleiner Fall ist.

This book was not exactly what I expected in that rather than one continuous storyline, each chapter is a small standalone mystery in and of itself. This is not a bad thing at all and in fact I found this book to be extremely enjoyable. I felt as though its events sort of occurred in episodes, like a television show, which was cool. I a This book was not exactly what I expected in that rather than one continuous storyline, each chapter is a small standalone mystery in and of itself.

I agree that a film or television version of this series would be a ton of fun! The mysteries in this novel are really clever and the incorporation of feng shui elements is an original twist. This book is never boring and kept me interested. I like how the author's choice of settings and the cultures associated with them are inextricably interwoven with the story and characters. The events really could not take place anywhere else, and the characters are so well portrayed that one could easily expect to meet them when traveling to these various places in the book.

I thought the unique intermingling of cultures found in these major Asian cities to be really effectively represented in The Feng Shui Detective. I especially found the generational gap and culture clash between CF Wong and Joyce McQuinnie to be interesting, realistic, and of course humorous.

The end of the book sets the reader up for the next one in the series, and certainly I was intrigued. I do hope to read more of this series in the future. Feb 05, Michelle rated it really liked it. Wong is a feng shui expert who companies around Asia call on to help with problems. He is assisted by Joyce Mcquinnie, a European teenager who is doing work experience in Mr Wong's office.

This is a detective-in-another-country book with a difference - every chapter is a different mystery.

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But the mysteries and crimes are almost secondary to the cross cultural misunde c. But the mysteries and crimes are almost secondary to the cross cultural misunderstandings between Mr Wong and Joyce. Along with her teenage slang speech and the strange English phrases we all use, Mr Wong is permanently confused. Plus the reader gets a whistle stop tour of Delhi, Singapore, Vietnam and Hong kong, as well as an introduction to the New Zealand accent in one particular mystery.

As a New Zealander, I took it in good grace, inniwhy: The novel is really a series of vignettes which gently take the piss put of every racial group and dialect in Asia. The blurb refers to Jpyce as Australian, but she refers to herself as English in the book I had, and there are references to London streets, so I'm not sure whether my edition is different. Other reviewers mention a trip to Australia, but C. Wong and Joyce didn't make it there in my book either.

Plus it's written in , and technology has moved so fast much of Joyce's teenage pleasures don't exist anymore. But I'll never see the Australian Women's Weekly in the same light after one of the stories! I'll look out for more feng shui detective novels. Feb 14, Michael rated it liked it. I enjoyed getting a flavor of the different cultures. Dec 01, Heidi Hoelscher rated it liked it. An interesting take on a mystery novel, but a good portion of the beginning of the book only talked about feng shui and then it suddenly jumped to "oh yeah we've been working with the police this whole time" as a way to lend character background without having to actually tell Pros: An interesting take on a mystery novel, but a good portion of the beginning of the book only talked about feng shui and then it suddenly jumped to "oh yeah we've been working with the police this whole time" as a way to lend character background without having to actually tell a story around it.

I liked the feng shui part to build the character of Mr.

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Wong, but they spent a lot of time on it and expected the reader to just accept that he had this other part of his life that we had never read about while we're reading about his busy time only giving feng shui consultations. Other than that, the story was good. The book is a quick read and not to heavy so it's a good way to pass the time if you don't want to commit to something lengthy or super involved but this can also make it a bit boring.

Because of this, it didn't read like your typical mystery novel in that you aren't really going to guess what's going on. The story intentionally leaves out clues so that the character can later announce that they "knew all along" or "suddenly clicked" even if the information had never been presented before. Overall, I'm glad I checked the book out from the library because it was a fun story, but it's not going to take up space on my shelves.

Sep 08, R. The Singapore office of C. Wong by his main client. Wong is a Feng Shui consultant who would like nothing better than to sit in his office working on the book of oriental wisdom he has been writing for the last several years but somehow life keeps interrupting him. Wong is currently trying to stop the haunting of a dentist's office, find a young wom The Singapore office of C. Wong is currently trying to stop the haunting of a dentist's office, find a young woman a psychic said is destined to die, and solve a kidnapping.

The mystery part of the book moves right along from Singapore to Sydney with an exciting climax at the Opera House. The things I liked best were the short excerpts from Mr. Wong's book on oriental wisdom and the way he explains the art of Feng Shui. I hadn't realized that Feng Shui is a lot more than moving a couch or hanging a mirror.

A Feng Shui expert must take into account a vast number of things like birth dates yours and everyone around you , the date a building was built, where are nearby rivers, mountains, plumbing, etc. The list is endless. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next title in the series. Sep 05, Mike rated it really liked it Recommends it for: I picked this book up because I have read the author's column, "Traveller's Tales", in the Far Eastern Economic Review many times with great pleasure. As a humorist he does not disappoint and this book is further proof of it.

It is a detective story, but it is also a good 'clash of cultures" story. The author I believe this is the first in the series introduces a set of unusual and interesting characters. Not exactly, but several of them do fit the mold of specific persona I picked this book up because I have read the author's column, "Traveller's Tales", in the Far Eastern Economic Review many times with great pleasure. Not exactly, but several of them do fit the mold of specific personality types that I myself have known in Asia-born Chinese.

While that gives me a an extra pleasure, I think that anyone who likes moderate to light fiction will enjoy this book. If you only like highly intricate tales think Laurie King's Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes or grim, dark tales think Raymond Chandler then you might find this too breezy. Personally, I look forward to getting to the other books that involve the same cast of characters there seem to be 2 or 3. Setelah menyelesaikan buku ini, saya membaca juga edisi hard cover bahasa inggrisnya terbitan Minotaur kalau tidak salah.

Kenapa harus dua edisi? Iseng saja dan kebetulan pula dapat, apalagi saya suka sekali seri ini biarpun waktu itu baru mulai buku pertama. Tokoh tokohnya unik dan terkesan komikal tapi tetap selaras dengan alur ceritanya. Saya tidak akan panjang lebar menguraikan ceritanya, tapi ada satu poin plus lagi buat buku ini, yang baru saya sadari setelah membaca ulang edisi bahasa i Setelah menyelesaikan buku ini, saya membaca juga edisi hard cover bahasa inggrisnya terbitan Minotaur kalau tidak salah. Saya tidak akan panjang lebar menguraikan ceritanya, tapi ada satu poin plus lagi buat buku ini, yang baru saya sadari setelah membaca ulang edisi bahasa inggris nya dan bahasa indonesianya tahun ini; Terjemahannya bagus.

Tidak aneh atau kadang terasa lucu. Biasanya saya sering ketemu terjemahan yang kurang nyaman dibaca begitu kalau membaca buku terbitan non-Gramedia.

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Tapi buku terbitan C-Publishing ini terjemahannya pas, yah saya bukan penilai terjemahan yang profesional sih tapi sebagai pembaca buku yang baik setidaknya saya bisa membedakan mana buku yang kurang enak terjemahannya dan mana yang bagus. Jadi, bintang 4 untuk Nury Vitacchi dan bintang 3 untuk penerjemahnya.



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Dec 04, Katharine Ott rated it liked it Shelves: Despite the fairly mundane and far-fetched mysteries solved by feng shui consultant C F Wong, I enjoyed his character quite a bit and even more so the evaluations during the course of his investigations of people and places according to feng shui principles. Wong's Book of Oriental Wisdom and bizarre interactions between Wong and a cast of characters who traverse the scales of lunacy, the reader is taken on a bizarre roller coaster ride that eventually brings them to Australia.

It is here Master Wong is forced to contemplate the extremely inauspicious design of the Sydney Opera House "broken rice bowls Can a fate foretold by palmistry be altered? Why would a ghost haunt a dentist's office? And was the demise of Wong's valued air-conditioning unit suicide or Night and Long Exposures in Pondicherry. Gray Noodle Gate Incheon Chinatown. Guns, Hookers and Durian: Water Dai Wedding in Xishuangbana.

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