The author knows the areas of the world which he writes about and the people living and working there. He nails Americans attitudes and beliefs. The detective in Singapore who is the main character is not the most likable person, but he is methodical in his solving of the crime. As far as figuring out who the killer is you will probably figure it out, In the first 50 pages. I liked the story so I did not care that the mystery was solved for me long before the end of the book. This is the first book in the series, and I plan to read the rest of them. They are now all available on kindle, which is good as it can be difficult to find the print versions of any of this authors books, in the USA. ( )

The author knows the areas of the world which he writes about and the people living and working there. He nails Americans attitudes and beliefs. The detective in Singapore who is the main character is not the most likable person, but he is methodical in his solving of the crime. As far as figuring out who the killer is you will probably figure it out, In the first 50 pages. I liked the story so I did not care that the mystery was solved for me long before the end of the book. This is the first book in the series, and I plan to read the rest of them. They are now all available on kindle, which is good as it can be difficult to find the print versions of any of this authors books, in the USA. ( )

Jake Needham's novel, The Ambassador's Wife (2011) featuring Inspector Samuel Tay sets the stage for a great international law enforcement series. Tay is introduced on page one as he reluctantly answers his cell phone one morning in his home city, Singapore. Approaching 50, the son of a Singaporean-born Chinese mother and an American-born Chinese accountant father, the police inspector appears to be a character on the downward slope of a burnout trajectory. He has a sour outlook on Singapore, its citizens, and the American Embassy that is revealed in most of his conversations and interactions with others. Tay does not really need his inspector job because his deceased father left him a small fortune in real estate. His boss has noticed the personality decline and, aware of Tay's financial situation, has suggested retirement before self-destruction can occur. However, the reader is given access to Tay's continuous internal monologue and sees an interesting complex and mostly hidden personality containing quick emotions and strong motivations. Tay's cynical outlook consistently conceals a sensitive, hesitant, self-doubting, but caring person.

A challenging criminal case gets Tay's juices going in more ways than one, and he starts to work his way out of his current depression. A particularly gruesome murder in the Singapore American Marriott hotel puts the police in the limelight and they must solve the crime as quickly as possible. The police Officer in Charge of the Criminal Investigation Division, the elite Special Investigations Section, doubts whether his 20 year tenured Inspector Tay can successfully handle the case because of his age and attitude. But, Inspector Tay convinces his boss that he is willing and capable of performing his duties.

The mystery story is interesting, exciting, and challenging without being overly convolued. Tay investigates the murder as the reader learns more about the inner life of the character. His brash exterior is contrasted with his internal thoughts establishing a character that is enjoyable to follow in this novel and will be great to follow in subsequent Inspector Tay novels. Mr. Needham published book two of the Tay series this year and will publish book three in 2014. I recognize even this early in the series that Tay is the Singaporean equivalent of John D. MacDonald's character Travis McGee in Florida and Robert B. Parker's character Spenser in Boston. I highly recommend The Ambassador's Wife to readers who enjoy novel series, with the suggestion of allowing Inspector Tay to grow on them. The character's cynical demeanor, like that of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe, is a test of readers' persistence and intelligence that will pay off with additional insightful action for years to come in Mr. Needham's series. ( )

If Larry David and Richard Lewis were to have a child together, and yes, that's a bizarre thought, but if they could, the result would be someone like the police detective, Samuel Tay, in Jake Needham's book, The Ambassador's Wife. Tay is someone who always seems to see his cup as half empty; he's a loner, age is creeping up on him, and at no time does he suffer fools gladly. And yet, for me, he is one of the more interesting characters in this genre of mystery story. He's a twenty year veteran of the Special Investigations Section of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Singapore Police Department. When the wife of the American Ambassador to Singapore is found tortured and murdered at the local Marriott Hotel in Singapore, Tay is immediately called in to investigate. The crime is puzzling because no one was registered in the room where the murder was committed, and there is no evidence of the ambassador's wife even being in the Hotel on the day she died. At first the identity of the body is unknown, so it is up to Tay to figure out who the woman is and how she came to be found in those circumstances. When it becomes clear to Tay that the FBI will also be investigating the crime, and the CIA is probably involved in some way, things become complicated.


There were several reasons why I liked this book so much. One was the location. I knew nothing about Singapore before I read this mystery, so I found Needham's descriptions of the city as seen through the eyes of Sam Tay to be informative and often funny. One of the best observations from Tay was his description of the heat and humidity. He reflects that if he owned Singapore and Hell, he would "rent out Singapore and live in Hell."

Another reason I liked the book was because Needham took his time in revealing plot developments. Along with moving the plot forward, he also continued to fill me in on the kind of man Sam Tay is. One of the best sections on that was when right in the midst of the murder investigation, which at that point needs Tay's full concentration, he suffers a personal crisis that momentarily stymies him. He seems so sure about his views on everything around him, but he discovers he too has vulnerable moments when he hasn't a clue how he feels or what he should do. It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that he too can be human and at the mercy of every day life.

After reading about half of The Ambassador's Wife, I bought Jake Needham's next book in the Samuel Tay series, The Umbrella Man. Now that I've met Sam Tay, I look forward to reading more about him, and how he tackles his next case. I encourage anyone who likes good mysteries with well fleshed out investigators to do the same. ( )

The Ambassador’s Wife. Jake Needlham. Date? There does not seem to be a date on the Kindle for his book. It is a step above the “Kindle Trash” I complained about in another annotation. Singapore is the exotic location of this police procedural. This is the first of a series apparently published for the Kindle. Inspector Samuel Tay is called to the elegant Marriott hotel in Singapore to investigate the murder of an unknown female whose body was left spread on the bed in an obscene position. It turns out the victim is the American ambassador! He is running into on dead end after another when he is notified that another body displayed in a similar position has been found in a hotel in Bangkok near the American Embassy. Tay seems to be the only person interested in finding what really happened to these women. He runs afoul of the CIA, FBI, and the Embassy before he identifies the killer. I enjoyed this—the locale and the low key Tay made this an interesting book. Lots of unnecessary gross language though. I’ll probably download the next one. ( )