1922: On the footstep of the convent lies a dying girl. Nameless and forgotten, her last wish is to make her final confession.
1924: Happiness can turn on a dime, this is what Nyla Nguyễn learned at her own failed nuptials and now it seems history is repeating itself. Nyla is called back to Saigon to attend the wedding of her former fiancé's son Danny and her cousin Võ. What should have been the wedding of the season, becomes the stage of a gruesome murder. What skeletons hide in the closets of Saigon's High Society?
The story is set in Saigon (a.k.a. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam). During the Interwar years (1918 – 1939), Vietnam was part of French Indochina. And the country was divided into three protectorates: Tonkin (Bắc Kỳ) in the North, Annam (Trung Kỳ) in the center, and Cochinchina (Nam Kỳ) in the South.
Cochinchina was the first to fall into French colonialist rule and was deeply affected by colonialist culture, especially in Saigon, the capital city of the south.
Rendering of a map of Saigon in 1920. View Original Map
Saigon became a metropolis of trade and urban development. While air travel was in its infancy, there were passenger liners, steamboats, and train transportation. The city had a mix of French colonial and Vietnamese Feudal architecture. The Catholics had already built their churches, while the Buddhist Pagodas still collected their alms. It was a time of great inequality of the classes and genders but also one of innovation and rising national identity.
Twelve Moon Tales is an interwar mystery series about the adventures of businesswoman and socialite Nyla Nguyễn and her faithful majordomo Sven Andréasson as they travel the globe. The series' name comes from the twelve animals of the Vietnamese Lunar Zodiac. Each animal in the zodiac will represent one book. The first book in the series belongs to the Rat and begins in Saigon.
Learn more about the seriesAs the first animal in the Zodiac, the Rat was the first to be informed of the gathering to meet Buddha and was able to hitch a ride with the kind and hard-working buffalo. In Lunar Astrology, Rats are intelligent, creative, and adaptive characters. However, these compact opportunists can also fall prey to vanity, nosiness, and changeability.
Learn about Rat's astrology