A.S. Fleischman's Malay Woman

Malay Woman is a 1954 thriller by A.S. Fleischman.

A.S. ‘Sid’ Fleischman (1920-2010) Fleischman was an American professional magician working in vaudeville. When vaudeville died he turned to writing fiction. He wrote half a dozen spy thrillers, most of them paperback originals published by Fawcett Gold Medal between 1951 and 1954. He later wrote screenplays and subsequently found success as an author of children’s books.

The story begins in Singapore. Jock Hamilton needs to leave and leave fast. He books himself on a flight to Melbourne, but the police are onto him at the airport. He makes his escape and decides to take a steamer up the coast and then head for his friend Gabb’s rubber plantation, Silver Jubilee. He can’t think of anything else to do. He is just a little concerned that when he telephoned Gabb his old friend claimed not to know him. The important thing is to stay a step ahead of Inspector Kris.

Jock has left behind his plantation in Sumatra and his wife Eden. Eden is dead. Jock doesn’t think he killed her. He’s fairly sure he didn’t. Although to be honest he’s not overly sure of anything. He doesn’t remember anything of what happened. The important thing is that somebody shot her.

Jock’s life started to fall apart when he caught his wife with her lover, or at least with one of her lovers.

Now he’s on a coastal steamer, he’s a stowaway and until the ship is safely at sea he’s hiding in a closet. And he overhears a conversation between an Englishman named Edgett and a Dutchman named Hoven. They are discussing their plans for the murder of one of the female passengers, an Australian woman named Kay Allison. It’s none of Jock’s business but he can’t just let a woman get murdered.

Kay Allison has a rubber plantation as well, called Jade Tiger.

Jock comes up with an idea to keep Kay alive. The steamer reaches Kuala Tang. Gabb’s plantation is not far away. And Jock, who had decided he wanted nothing more to do with women after Eden finds himself, finds his life complicated by two women - Kay Allison and Gabb’s new wife Monique. He also has another murder to deal with. He still has the even bigger problem of being wanted for the murder of his wife. He will need to clear his name but he has no idea where to begin.

He does have one clue that would have made things clear but he takes a long time to recognise its significance.

The background to the novel is the Malayan Emergency, a guerrilla war fought between communist insurgents and the British. Both Gabb’s plantation and Kay Allison’s are targeted by the communists. Kay is particularly vulnerable, a woman trying to run a plantation on her own (she is a widow). It all adds to the feel of paranoia, and Jock Hamilton had reason enough for paranoia already. He is still convinced that someone wants to kill Kay, but he has no idea of the identity of such a person and nor does Kay.

The author makes effective use of the setting and the historical background (which will eventually play an important part in the plot).

This is a kind of mystery thriller. There’s not a great deal of action but there’s a pervasive sense of danger with plenty of possibilities for betrayal. There’s romance as well.

The plot is solid enough, Fleischman keeps things moving along and his prose is more than serviceable. It’s pulpy, but not too pulpy.

Jock Hamilton is a nice enough guy but he tends to allow himself to be swept along by the tide of life. He’s reluctant to confront problems. His first priority should be to find out what happened on that fateful day in Sumatra, and whether he did kill his wife or not. He keeps putting this off. He’s also a bit of an innocent.

Malay Woman is a very solid entertaining thriller. Highly recommended.

Stark House have reprinted Malay Woman in a two-novel paperback edition paired with Fleischman’s excellent 1953 thriller Danger in Paradise.