Mr. Wong Goes West
 Mr. Wong Goes West cover | |
| Author | Nury Vittachi |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Design by Committee |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Comedy Crime |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
| Published | February 2008 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Preceded by | The Shanghai Union of Industrial Mystics |
| Followed by | none |
Mr. Wong Goes West is the fifth novel in The Feng Shui Detective series, first published in 2008.
Plot summary
Pursuing his passion for money, Feng Shui master CF Wong set up Harmoney Private Limited, a firm acting as middleman to potentially lucrative transactions. His first venture though ended in disaster when a supplier of highlighter failed to provide the product with a suitable ink colour. The buyer refused to complete the deal and withdrew payment, but the seller claims contractually, Harmoney was obliged to purchase the merchandise and demand full payment, with not-so-subtle hints of consequences if payment was not met.
Desperate for a venture to produce quick cash, CF Wong reluctantly agreed to a special commission - to help ensure smooth promotional launch of the world's most luxurious office and business conference site on board the world's largest and most expensive aircraft, known as Skyparc.
But when he learned members of the British Royal family were among the main investors of the project, his enthusiasm began to grow, overcoming his initial unwillingness to fly on the aircraft from Hong Kong to London.
When they arrived in HK, his assistant, Joyce McQuinnie, was looking forward to enjoying the luxurious facilities but suddenly, a murder on the aircraft while it was undergoing finishing touches at the HK airport raised security alarms and another round of background checks on everyone who was supposed to join the promotional launch, and Joyce unexpectedly found herself blacklisted and taken out from the entourage.
While CF Wong was tasked to ensure no "bad vibes" remained in the aircraft after the murder, Joyce decided to catch up with her friends based in HK, former schoolmates when she had been a student there before. To her surprise, she learned that the suspect in the murder case was none other than her former school friend with OCD, who was aloof in person but highly communicative over the internet.
Events took a stranger turn when Joyce was approached by a mysterious man named Jackson, who wanted her to clear the suspect and even had high enough authority to enable Joyce to rejoin the junket.
CF Wong and Joyce got busy investigating the murder during the flight to London, not realising a menace greater than a murderer on the loose threaten the aircraft.
Recurring characters
- CF Wong - A feng shui master based in Singapore, whose main passions in life were money and food.
- Joyce McQuinnie - An Australian girl who initially planned to spend her gap year researching about feng shui (and thus the internship forced to CF Wong by his main patrons, who were business associates of her father), and got so hooked on the feng shui and the exciting crimes investigated by CF Wong, that she was still his assistant after two and a half years.
- Winnie Lim - Office manager for CF Wong who managed to spend a lot of money to get almost no work done. CF Wong hesitates firing her because she was the only one who could make sense of her unique filing system.
- Dilip Kenneth Sinha - A master of vaastu shastra and fellow member with CF Wong of the Union of Industrial Mystics.
- Xu Chong-li - Another member of the Union of Industrial Mystics who specialised in Chinese astrology.
Non-Recurring Characters
- Cecily-Mary Crumley - Customer of Harmoney Pte Ltd, she was a buyer for a major European office supplies company - Offbox.
- Arun Asif Iqbal Daswani - Contractor to Harmoney's first venture, and 'the only known Indian member of the Chinese Mafia'.
- (Sir) Nicholas Handley - Chief executive of Skyparc.
- Robbie Manks - Executive of Skyparc and PR consultant of The Family.
- Paul Barker - Former classmate of Joyce from Island International School (HK). Murder suspect of the crime at Skyparc.
- Nina Madranini - Former classmate of Joyce from Island International School (HK). Italian whose family migrated to Australia, law student at HK University, chair of HK's branch of Pals of the Planet, an environmental movement.
- Jason McWong - Former classmate of Joyce from Island International School (HK). Boyfriend of Nina, of Scottish father and Chinese mother. Environmentalist and an animation programmer.
- Nicola Teo - Spokeswoman for HK Airport.
- Dmitri Seferis - Murder victim and staff from BM Dutch Petroleum, the company supplying "green fuel" to Skyparc to enable Skyparc to claim to be environmentally friendly.
- Chin Chun-kit - HK policeman assigned to watch over the crime scene.
- Abel Man Chi-keung, Professor - Law professor and a friend of Pals of the Planet.
- Sammy Bulowski - Senior interior design executive of Skyparc.
- J Oscar Jackson Jnr - An American in the confidential service of the Prince of Wales.
- Kaitlyn MacKenzie - Staff who allowed Paul Barker to sneak on board the Skyparc and was dismissed as a result.
- Tammy Poon Pik-kwan - Senior member of Skyparc maintenance team.
- Danny Tang - Chinese-American intern in the Skypark maintenance team.
- Ryan Dexler - Australia, Skyparc chief of security.
- Eamonn Turlough Daniel Malachy - Irishman, Captain (pilot) of Skyparc, former RAF.
- Max - Friend of "Army" from Gordonstoun.
- "Army" - Short name for Edward Peter Andrew Armstrong-Phillips, grandson of Princess Marjorie, fictitious youngest sister of the Queen.
- Janet Moore - Non-executive director of Skyparc.
- Enrico Balapit - Filipino-American, senior flight officer of Skyparc.
- Ubami Sekoto - First Officer of Skyparc.
- Joyce's mother - No name credited.