The dying beach Angela Savage
Text, 2013. ISBN 9781921922497.
Recommended for older teen readers. The main character, Jayne Keeney, is
a private investigator living with her partner Rajiv in Bangkok. In
the tradition of P.I.s she is tough, attractive but not getting any
younger and has a strong sense of social justice. She drinks and
smokes, a lot, yet speaks Thai and so can hold her own in a culture
where gender stereotyping is expected. When a tour guide at the
beautiful resort of Princess Beach is found dead, believed drowned,
Jayne becomes involved when she learns that the guide, named Pla
(meaning fish in Thai) was a strong swimmer and diver. Investigation
into her life shows that she had been involved with an environmental
protest group. The consequences of tourism are shown when Jayne and
Rajiv visit developments in the area that are changing the lives of
the villagers. Golf courses, power stations, and shrimp farms all
mean changed water usage and the destruction of both forests and
mangroves, which in turn leads to the end of traditional ways of
living. Pla has helped the villagers in their meetings with
developers, but who would want her dead? Then there are the
murders that follow and muddy the waters even more. Jayne, of
course, works her way through to a conclusion, but not before she
has several violent confrontations with suspects and faces a cobra
in her shower alcove. A sense of place and culture is clearly
established; Jayne's meetings with the villagers and visits to
temples feel authentic without the Thai villagers and their way of
life being romanticised. There are tense scenes, in particular a
confrontation at a bull fight with a suspect, and temptations, when
Rajiv returns to Bagkok and Jayne is left to work with the
attractive Australian Paul. The plot is skillfully handled with
several red herrings and blind leads needing to be followed. The
novel does have an explicit sex scene so despite not being very
demanding it is better for older readers.
Jenny Hamilton