Creative Truths in Provincial Policing

An exuberant, wildly original and darkly comic tale of family, ambition and talking monkeys u for fans of AM Homes, Ned Beauman, Nick Harkaway and The Number One Ladies Detective Agency. Chief Duong's Anxiety-Dispelling To Do List Step One: solve almost-son-in-law's murder by the lake. Step Two: locate daughter's dowry, return loan in full and destroy money lender's pink contract. Step Three: celebrate prompt success of steps one and two with Binh Linh's ground pork and mushroom dumplings. Chief Duong, Dalat's sometime Chief of Police and Miscreant Management, is dreaming big. A statue on the roundabout. Perhaps a (modest) shrimp farm. A fully-peppermint-painted townhouse. But before that, there is some unpleasantness to be dealt with u a mute son, missing and wanted by the police; a daughter kidnapped by an unscrupulous money lender; a depressed wife who won't leave her bed; an overambitious and some might say conniving Deputya. Can things get any worse? Armed only with his trusty manual Creative Truths in Provincial Policing, Chief Duong tries to keep his spirits up by concocting an elaborate plan that'll put everything right. But it'll mean stepping outside the law for the first time in his life - and, as it turns out, things can get a whole lot worse before they get any bettera