By Ovidia Yu Fiction/Constable/Paperback/320 pages/$23.95 

Quietly, without much fuss, Ovidia Yu has become one of the key chroniclers of Singapore history via her long-running Crown Colony cosy fiction series. The Tembusu Tree Mystery is the 10th instalment since the series debuted in 2017 with The Frangipani Tree Mystery. 

The series has obviously been commercially successful enough that publisher Constable is keeping up the steady stream of a book a year to feed reader addiction. 

For the uninitiated, the heroine of the Crown Colony stories is Chen Su Lin, a Peranakan orphan brought up by her formidable grandmother Chen Tai. Since debuting as an intrepid 16-year-old and aspiring reporter in the first book, Su Lin has matured into an independent woman who, despite suffering a bout of childhood polio, has parlayed her talent for languages into an asset that helped her survive World War II. 

As Singapore emerges from the ashes of the war, Su Lin seems to be rebuilding her life, but there are challenges in store. Life as a relative newly-wed with her one-time boss and former police inspector Thomas Le Froy is proving slightly rocky as he seems to be keeping secrets from her. 

Another storm brewing on the home front is the slow decline of her indomitable grandmother and the looming question of who will take over the shady business empire Chen Tai has built. 

The ever-pragmatic Su Lin is also focused on practical matters, having taken on a new job keeping accounts and managing the reopening of the posh Imperial cinema owned by the rich Khoo family. 

This grand event is, of course, disrupted by a murder. Tony, aspiring musician and Khoo scion, is found dead under a tembusu tree. The body count starts to climb and, as usual, Su Lin and Le Froy are drawn into hunting for the murderer. 

One of the pleasures of reading this series is the trainspotting, as familiar landmarks and personalities pop up in the course of the narrative. The Imperial cinema is a thinly disguised version of the Cathay Bu...