The "feng shui detective," an elderly Singaporean named C.F. Wong, doesn't wear a trench coat or pack a .38 revolver. He does happen to be an expert geomancer who doubles as something of an Asian Sherlock. Called to examine a series of baffling phenomena, Wong unfailingly comes to rational conclusions. Alas, his astute mind never earns him much in the way of income, but he has hopes.
What does a feng shui detective do for his clients, you might wonder? The following exchange, in the first chapter of this wonderfully amusing work, provides a hint of the shenanigans to come. An inexplicable fire has broken out in an American's home and Wong discusses its cause with the wife.
"I have told the police," she said . . . "They weren't interested."