Shelf Control #114: Miss Moorthy Investigates by Ovidia Yu #HistoricalFiction #Mystery #TBR

Wednesday, the 18th of November, and time for Shelf Control once again! Shelf Control is a weekly feature hosted by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies, and celebrates the books waiting to be read on your TBR piles/mountains. To participate, all you do is pick a book from your TBR pile, and write a post about it–what its about, why you want to read it, and such. If you participate, don’t forget to link back to Lisa’s page, and do also leave your links in the comments below as I’d love to check out your picks as well!

Today my pick is a recently acquired cozy mystery, which I picked up after coming across the author by chance, on account mostly of its setting. The book is Miss Moorthy Investigates by Ovidia Yu and the setting is Singapore in the 1970s.

A couple of months ago, in a YouTube/booktube video discussing cosy mysteries on which I happened to leave a comment, I came across the author’s name in another comment which mentioned that Ovidia Yu’s mysteries were set in Singapore. This immediately interested me since I haven’t read very many books set in Singapore (I think Crazy Rich Asians was one series that fell in that category), and I love mysteries (as I’m sure you know by now), so she seemed a perfect author for me to explore. Looking further I found that she has a series set in 1930s Singapore, one featuring Aunty Lee which I think is contemporary, and then this one which seems to be a standalone, which is set in the 1970s. Since this was a short one and a standalone, I thought I might be a good place to start so I ordered it.

1970s Singapore–safe, strait-laced–is terrorized by a bizarre killer, ‘the Strangler’. The Strangler targets single, successful career women, and removes their hands. Miss Moorthy (based on the author’s friend), is a school teacher, and feels safe despite all the rumours around. But then her colleague Evelyn Ngui is murdered and her free-spirited flat-mate Connie encounters the murderer–and that too, in their apartment. Now Miss Moorthy must investigate. But will she be able to find the killer, and with all the secrets she’s uncovering, will she be able to come out alive?

This sounds really delightful since it combines what sounds like an interesting mystery with a setting which I certainly want to explore. All the more so since it is one I don’t really know much about (the time period in the place I mean). So certainly want to pick this one up soon.

Have you read anything by Ovidia Yu before? Which book/s and how did you like it/them? Any other mysteries or books set in Singapore that you enjoyed? Looking forward to your thoughts and recommendations!

Book cover image and info from Goodreads as always (here)

Find Lisa’s pick this week, set in a dystopian future, The City in the Middle of the Night (here)